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Let not then your good be evil
spoken of, for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but
righteousness and peace, and the glory of the Holy Ghost.
For he that in these things serveth Christ is except for the power
of the truth. Amen. All right, verse number
16. Let not then, what does the then
refer back to? What's the significance of that?
No, it's going back to verse 16 where it's talking about the
brethren being grieved by meat. All right. So in other words,
part of this whole chapter we were talking about before the
last couple of weeks has to do with eating things offered to
you. Idols are not eating. It's whether to stop eating. So there's a question. Some that
eat, some that don't eat. You don't want to judge one another.
If you're genuine Christians, we should respect whatever they
do. The good that they do would be to slow them. Yes, Barbara?
Stop them. such a stop, stop letting him,
so that they were letting him, that church was letting him.
And who is referred to in that word, your? The church in Rome. Church in Rome, and by extension,
those believers, generally speaking, today in our country, and around
the world. So, what does it mean to have,
and to give some illustration of how our good might be evil
spoken of? In addition to the eating and
drinking, Any other instances of that that you might think
of? It happens all the time. Give me an illustration. Anybody
have hands on that? I can't give an illustration. It just happens all the time.
You must know the work of illustrations. We just try to do good to somebody
who feels the right thing and then people turn on you when
they're... Sometimes that's true. Any illustrations? Anybody have
a hand on that? Tell us about it. Those that preach the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ faithfully, is that a good thing or a bad
thing? What do the modernist liberals and apostates think
of it? They mess it up. That's right.
The modernist liberals don't even talk about love. That's
all they want to talk about. They don't talk about holiness
or about sin or about anything that pertains to the gospel.
Who do they leave out as the object of love, however? Who do they leave out? Who do
the modernists leave out? as the object of their love. Who do the moderates leave out
as an object? Who do they not love, even though
they talk about love? Lord Jesus Christ. Who else do
they not love? Other Christians. What kind of
Christians? Genuine Christians. Genuine Christians. They hate the fundamental Bible.
They hate the Christians of these moderates apostates. Yes, Bill?
A lot of times when you turn on television, especially during
the broadcasting, you're listening to a preacher there. They're
talking about their social life and their difficulties with their
friends and their family members and getting things done the way
they want. There's so little talk of the
Bible anymore from a lot of these preachers. I mean, it looks like
things are getting really bad. with a lot of them right now,
it's becoming very dangerous. They're forgetting the true object
of worship is the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what it's
really all about. I'm not sure what you said. I'm
not sure either. Tell me. In this case, it could
be, for instance, you choose to eat meat. and your brother's
grief by it, then he's going to speak evil of that. He's going
to speak, you know, I say, well, you know, she shouldn't be eating
meat, blah, blah, blah. So the point is, don't do something
that's going to cause your brother to stumble, so that he's going
to speak evil against what you're doing. And maybe some of the
things that are neither him or very not biblical ground, but
just the general things, if you insist on either eating or not
eating, privately, quietly, so you don't stumble in what he's
looking at you. In other words, do it by yourself. That's just
one thing. This is not some sin. I'm talking about things that
are questionable things. They're not either right or wrong
for our scripture, but there's some like it, some don't like
it. So that's a very important thing,
that our good sometimes is evil spoken of. Then it defines the
kingdom of God in verse 17. What in general do we mean by
the kingdom of God? Any hands on that one? That's
part of it. What else? Different ones have different
views on it. In general, I think many people
believe, for dispensationalists, the kingdom of God is a heavenly
thing. Just like the Lord Jesus told Nicodemus, in the morning
I can't see the kingdom of God, spiritual kingdom of heaven,
where the millennial reign of Christ is on this earth. Not
always that follows, but that's what generally some have used
as a distinction between the two, of whether the kingdom of
God can do heaven. But this is the reign of Christ
for the millennial reign of a thousand years on the earth. See, that's
the kingdom of heaven down here. When heaven is on earth, the
kingdom of heaven is now on earth that Christ has reigned. Many
have felt those distinctions, whether right or wrong. There's
all kinds of differences of opinion on it, but... Yes, Anna? Straighten her out. The term
Kingdom of Heaven is typically used in the book of Matthew.
Yes. In Matthew, the Lord is the King of the Jews. Right. And Matthew, he didn't
think of his being for the Jews. So there's a lot in there about
the tribulation and the Selenium and so forth. And the Lord Jesus Christ offered
the kingdom to the Jews. And they rejected it. There was
a point around Matthew 13 where basically he knew that they weren't
going to receive it. He always knew that they weren't
going to receive it. But he changed the ministry at
that point. Yes. Because the Jews made it
very obvious they were not going to receive the Lord. That's true. So those are the characteristics
of the community. If indeed we think, oh go ahead
Anna. But then it seemed like they kept fluctuating. They didn't
seem to know what they wanted because on like a week before
the crucifixion, roughly speaking, they had the, you know, Hosanna. Hosanna. Somebody used this expression
that I've never forgotten. They were flippity-jippity. That's a good one. I don't know
what it means, but it means they just didn't know what they were doing.
A flip-flop. A flip-flop. My grandma did that. I don't
know who it was, but that's a good phrase for people who don't know
what they're going to do. One way or another. Flip-flops. Okay. My mom would say that too. My
mom? Okay. You remember. So, now, the qualification,
some of the identification in verse 17 of the Kingdom of God,
it's not what? Meat. Not meat? What else is
it not? Not drink. But what is it there? How many things? Three things.
Three things. What does the first mean? Christ. What is Christ? What's he talking
about? What is right? How do you define it? Christ
standing before God. Christ standing before God. How
is that arrived at? In Christ. In Christ? Is it by good works? Will it
give us righteousness? It won't have it. So, like I've read the
Book of James, just sent it to the printer today, and the very
back page, I define what James is about as a distinction. You
know, Paul is always talking about righteousness by genuine
faith in Christ, and that gives us righteousness. But James talks
about good works and living for the Lord. It doesn't give us
righteousness, but that's what the emphasis is, rather than faith in Christ. And so we need both. We need
righteousness by faith before God, but then after we're saved,
we need to have good works as well. And so that others can
see and glorify our Father which is in heaven. All right, so righteousness
is, what do the modern-day liberal apostates believe they can get
righteousness by? Or the Roman Catholic Church, or other things.
What do they say? Yes or no? Good works. That's
right, good works. That'll bring righteousness.
What does it say in Isaiah? Is it 64-4? All our righteousness
is without Christ. I think it's 64 in Isaiah. I
can't remember the verse. 64-6. 64-6, yes. God says that. All our righteousness is without
Christ. In other words, we've got to be righteous. Let me ask
you this. Those who are genuine Christians,
do they always live in a righteous manner? No, they do not. Many do not. It's sad. But the
Kingdom of God, that's what our goal should be. Righteous standard.
After we're saved. 6416. In the books of heaven,
is every born-again Christian genuinely righteous? And God
said, And so we have righteousness before God, see? So we've got
to aim it before the people as well. What's the second characteristic
of the kingdom of God, for genuine salvation? Peace. How would we
define peace? That's a term I don't know. Could be an actual term. What
is that? A tranquil state of the soul
whereby something great and assured is earned. That sounds good. With a very nothing. No matter
what. Yeah, you're kidding now. You're
not quite there yet. That's very good. That's what the psalm called. Is it the peace that passes over
sin? Oh, that's in the scripture. Scripture verse. And also Romans
5.1 says what? Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
That's where we get peace. Not through justification. justified
and give peace after we're justified by faith. So a peace I give,
not as the world gives. That's right. Let not your heart
be troubled. Let it be free. So there's all
these different versions that have to do with righteousness,
a righteous standing before God. And what's the third characteristic
of the feeling of God or genuine Christian faith? Joy in the Holy
Ghost. Well, the part of the fruit of
the Spirit is what? How many parts of the fruit of
the Spirit are there? Nine. And which part is this?
Love, joy, peace. It's the second part. Love, joy,
peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,
the fruit of the spirit. Now, Dr. Schaeffer all the time
would talk about these things in her classes at Dallas Theological
Seminary. And he would say that there are
three things that must be taken care of before we can have the
fullness of the Spirit of God, control of the Spirit of God.
Two are negative, one is positive. One that negative is what? Grieving out the Spirit of God.
What is it that grieves the Spirit of God? Unconfessed, no unconfessed
sin, I agree. So if we're grieving the Spirit
of God, we can't be filled with God's Spirit. What's the second
negative? What is it that quenches the
Spirit of God? Disobedience. Disobedient, not
following the Word of God, saying no to the Word of God. What's
the positive? Walk in the Spirit. Continuous
walk in the Spirit. Continuous action in the power
of the Spirit of God. If one of those three things,
two negative and one positive are true, then there can be the filling
of the Holy Spirit and the control of our lives by God the Holy
Spirit who indwells us. The fulfilling of the Spirit
of God or control of the Spirit of God exists in every Christian. And even in some Christians,
does it exist 100% of the time? No. See, what about the other
gifts of the Spirit? No Christian. No Christian. All
the time. It has to be, as we're, have
these three qualifications, yes, that we're still controlled.
Now, there's a, what was it I was going to say? Something about... This is very important. We have
joy in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God is one of the
fruits. The Spirit of God is controlled
and filled by the Spirit is joy. And can you have joy even though
you're sick? Can a Christian have joy when
he or she is sick? What if they're in bed and ready
to die? Can they have the Spirit of God
give them joy? Yes, they can. Sometimes it's not the case,
but many times it is. Sometimes when I visit different
ones in the hospital, they seem more dressed than the preacher
that's visiting them. It's possible that victory, no
matter where it is, flat on your back, wherever, that the Holy
Spirit of God can give us His joy and peace. So these are the
three things, the Kingdom of God, three characteristics. Then
in verse 18, in these things, what is referred
to in these things? Righteousness, peace, and joy.
Righteousness, peace, and joy. If in these things you serve
Christ, how can these three things serve the Lord Jesus Christ?
Witness to the glory of God. Witness to the glory of God,
that's right. In other words, you serve the
Lord Jesus Christ if you have his righteousness, if you have
his peace, if you have his joy. There is service. Huh? Oh, okay. That's all right. So these are
very important things. And these things, and if you
do serve the Lord, what does this mean? Acceptable for God.
There's two characters. Yes, Barbara? Well-pleasing.
Well-pleasing, that's right. There's two particular groups
that could be pleased if we're serving Christ. The first group
is what? Acceptable for God. The first group is what? in the
second group? Now, sometimes God, like always,
God sees us. But do people always see what
we do? Do they find joy in peace? No. But if we serve the Lord
Jesus Christ, God is always pleased with us. We ought to serve so
people can see it, too. I think of that verse in Matthew,
chapter 5. I don't remember the verse. Let
your light so shine, just for a minute, that they may behold
your good works. and glorify your father, which
is in it. I put it in the very back of the book of James, because
I think that's exactly what... It's the outer appearance so
people can see. Pardon me? He used to know what
that was. It's five, I think. I don't remember
the exact verse. But let your light... I think it's five. Five? I think
it's five. I could be wrong. I have to look
at the back of my handbook. Alright. Sixteen. Sixteen. I'll read it of course.
That your life may shine before men, that they may see your good
works and glorify your Father, which is your name. Matthew 5, 16. 5, 16. Matthew. Matthew 5. You were saying it
was James and so on. No, no, no. I said Matthew. Because
I thought it was Matthew. Oh yeah, good. I put it in the
book. James. James, I had it in the
back of my book there. But I said Matthew. So Matthew
5. So I got that nailed in. You know the verse? Can I read
14 and 16? Yes, go ahead. You are the light
of the world. The city that is set on the hill
cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle
and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth
light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine
before men. Very good. That's good. That's
good context, isn't it? The light must shine before men. You want to say something? Let your light... Yes, that's
very good. And who's the light of the world?
What do you say about us, who are genuine Christians? We're
the light of the world. You're also the light. See, that's
right. So, we've got a little light of mine, let it shine,
let it shine, let it shine. This is important. Now, when people
in the dark night, black night, with no light at all, if you
have one light, can people see that if they're not blind? Yeah.
They can see the light. You know, some people are blind,
they can't see, but I mean, people, the light, it shines up even
if it's a tiny light. Because something of a contrast
is great. And so, lightbearers we should
be. So, these survey questions... Oh, excuse me, Anna. Oh, like,
um, sometimes at night time, after you've turned off all the
lights, then you start to notice little tiny lights. Like, you
see light coming in through the window from the street light,
or you see, oh look, that electronic device gives off light, so then
you know it's all these light sources. Yes, and sometimes you
see the little light of the stars, little time light, but you see
them if you look out there in the dark world. So, light is
important, and we can shine with the light of the Lord Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit giving us joy, peace, and longsuffering
in the home. Then in verse number, except
for that first career in 1978, yeah, 19, Now here's a command. Who's the
astrophotographer here again? Anna? Go ahead, go ahead. Oh,
go ahead. Go ahead. In the scene of Egypt and how they had the
plague of darkness. Yes. And so there was no light
at all. That's right. Even during the
day. How many plagues were there in
Exodus? Ten. Ten, that's right. One of them
was darkness, gross darkness. You couldn't see. What would
it be like in the lake of fire? What is one of the terms that's
used to refer to hell? Outer darkness. Outer darkness. Fire doesn't have to be flaming
up. It could be burning, hot. Our
son, Dave, was almost burned to death when his foolish friend
came in and lit the Christmas tree, which is related to my
Christmas. And then he went out the door and locked the door
so Dave couldn't get out. Dave thought he heard Father-in-law's
voice, get out the window, Dave. So he got out the window. He
was scared. Go out the bathroom. Go out the bathroom. But he had
how many percent? 40% of the body burned? 30%.
I don't know why I brought that up, but we're talking about fire. See, now that particular, see,
he was burned, but he wasn't on fire. He was just squirted.
He said it wasn't my fault. He said it was burning inside. So burning can be either big
flames or small flames. So that's in verse number 19. We have let us, who is he asked
to refer to again? Christian Roman by extension
to us here. Here's a command. Now what does
the therefore go back to? What do you think? It's past
verses. Past verses. And it's acceptable. Serving Christ, probably. Therefore,
what are we to follow? What does follow mean? What does
follow mean? Go after something. Go after
something. Pursue it. Pursue it. Things that make... A person, I think. Pardon me?
Or a dog. Yes, you can follow that. Someone
that can move. The wise man follows. Start. That's right. The moving start.
Follow me. Follow. I will follow thee, Lord
Jesus. Follow. Follow me. Follow me. Follow me. And then,
that's the 19th. Follow. After. What kind of things
should we follow after for January Christmas? Yes, Barbara. Make for peace.
Pardon? The things that make for peace.
Right. Make for peace. A lot of times
they're things that are warlike. He's talking to these Christians
this chapter 14 about the eating and so on and so forth. Some
eat, some don't. But in other words, you may have your opinion
of it. It's not scripture, not the Bible, one way or another.
It's not a sin to eat, not a sin to not eat, but try to be peaceful
in your church. That's why I think they're talking
about the Church of Rome, Rome Italy. And what else? What other
things? Not only things to make for peace,
what else? Yes, Barbara. Yes, as you say, build up, edify.
How does somebody edify someone else? Anybody? Let me ask this question. Do all genuine Christians necessarily
want to be edified? It means to build up, see? Some
of them would say, what? I'm already built up. You know,
I can't make me more built up than I am. Don't talk to me.
But you try to edify, build up. Now, if somebody doesn't want
to be edified or build up, is there any way possible that you
can work it? What do you think? Barbara says
no. Bonnie says no. Bill? Edify Jesus Christ. Pardon me? Edify Jesus Christ. Edify him? All right, Barbara.
I mean, that's true. They have to have the Lord first
in their lives in order for their desire to be edified. So you
have to praise that end first, and then as the Lord works on
their heart, you can perhaps be more personally edified. Yes. Before you edify someone else,
what must first happen? You must be edified. You must
be edified. Somebody can't lift the fireman to the floor, I can't
lift up some of your legs. I can pick them up. We've picked people up before.
That's building them up, standing them up. Anyway, but it takes
two people, those that are edified themselves and those that want
to be edified, to build up the things that will work. It's a
great thing if they're able to work. Yes, Joxy? It's interesting
that you edify one another. Yes. It's not all me giving it
to you, but it might. That's mutual. Mutual identification. You need it. Exactly right. I
mean, those that identify someone else are not the only ones that
can be edified. The person you're edified can edify you as well.
It works both ways. Absolutely. In fact, when you're
trying to help someone else, it really helps yourself too,
because it's not sometimes natural to help people. It's not unnatural.
Who wants to help that person? I've got enough business myself.
But I can help one else. It builds you up to it, helps
you as well, to help someone else, even though some people
don't believe it. Then, in verse number 19, let's
read 20, 21, and 22 together. In fact, 23, finish the chapter.
For me, for the work of God, all things indeed are pure, but
a deceitful man who heedeth with offense. He is good in every
deed of us, but he will drink wine, and then he will provide
that bread which comes with it, for his offending is made weak. As for faith, have it to thyself
before God. Happy is he that condemneth not
himself for the sin which he has committed. And he who doubteth
is damned for evil, because he has not faith, for the sufferer
is not of faith, but of sin." So in Verse number 20, what is
true of me? What should not be true using
meat in this verse 20? What might have happened just
rather than 10? Well, it's a stop sign, destroying out the work
of God. Stop destroying, okay. Okay. Well, if we choose to eat
meat as opposed to eating rabbits, like the conflict that's going
on here, then, you know, if it's destroying our brethren, then
we're destroying what God has done in their lives. Yes. Because
we're causing them to sin and to stumble. Right? Then it's
fumbled. And don't destroy it. Does destroy
mean lose your salvation? What do you think destroy means? Could be break up his life, break
up his testimony. Could be even shipwreck the person.
Could be shipwreck. Not that they're not saved, but
their faith could be completely derailed. Could be derailed.
They could be walking for the flesh and not back in the spirit
even though they're saved. They may not walk for the Lord.
The work of God. What is the work of God here?
What is the work of God do you think here? The work that God
is doing in that person's life. Verse 20. The work of God. Don't
destroy God's work. Man is not saved by his or her
works. But God has done the work in
the life. By the work of Christ. Dying
on the cross for the sins. God then works a work and regenerates. the ones that trust the Lord
Jesus Christ. Don't destroy the work of God
by your meat. Then, how does it define all
things here? How does this sentence define
all things? Probably speaking of, again,
eating or not eating, but what is true of all things in this
verse? Well, I was just thinking of
drinking. Here, Barbara. Pure. Pure. In other words, in and of themselves. Now, I think speaking of the
eating and drinking before others that are just questionable things.
Tammy? Well, it's sort of like where God told both Peter and
Paul that what God's foot is is called unclean. That idea may be. Right, that's
right. In other words, that's not some sin or something in
the Scripture. Obviously, anything in Scripture, sin is not pure,
but all these things he's talking about, these questionable things,
they're not in Scripture, but they're pure. It's not that he
said you can't do it or can't do it. But, so, it says all things
are pure. But, what's the conclusion then? What makes it evil? Even though
it's not, because it's the Scripture, what makes it evil? If you do
it with a fence, it's evil for that man who eateth with a fence. So if you refuse to consider
that you may be a silly block of wood, then you go ahead and
do it anyway, and they're grieved and troubled by what you're doing.
Grieved and troubled. For me, it's just that I have
to work with that. Like some people, they want it, they're
going to eat meat. I don't care what anybody says, they're going
to eat meat. So this person eats it. And there's someone in the
church body that is very offended by meat, eating meat. You know,
so... So that would be offensive to
them. And so, you don't... So you don't think this is how
you eat meat, and everybody should... For that one person, it does
seem sort of strange. For that one person, nobody eats
meat. Because it would describe the fellowship. Let's say if
you want to go to the closet to eat in at your house and just
quietly go separate, try not to fend all of them. With a fence, that's right. Yes, and you could fend other
people too by your eating, that's right. That's right, all awful,
but you're right. So edification is very important. Then in verse 21, what is good
here? It's good to not do anything
that causes your brother to be at least a 10. Okay, fine. Weren't
you on a diet when you had cancer or something where you didn't
eat meat? I didn't want to eat meat for...
Macrobiotic. What is it? Macrobiotic. Macrobiotic
diet, yeah. You would be with the family,
with your mother and father, but you wouldn't eat meat. And
they understood. It was something in regard to
that particular diet. It was something in one of your
cancer diets. Maybe it was part of the cancer diet. Amino acids
as well. What is it? Amino acids in lentils and rice
and pippa beans. And so like I said, you didn't
eat meat, you didn't take the meat. Sometimes your mother,
just a little bit won't hurt you. Right now, I prefer not
the beef because of the extra, you know, all the different ingredients
in it and some fats and oils and I stick to either the chicken
or turkey, something like that. It's the fish, something that's
not... Of course, I don't eat the fish because it's so poisonous.
I don't know whether it's good or bad because of the... Additives. Not the additives, but mercury
from Japan, you know. It's filtered in all the different...
West Coast, who knows what. Anyway. So that's an illustration
of it. It's an illustration, yes. They
were destroyed. Neither eat flesh nor anything
whereby their brothers come with. They were fattened and made to
eat those three things. Anna? It seems like there would
be a point where one can become too paranoid about I mean, hypothetically,
there would be a problem with everything. So then, would you
eat nothing, and then you die of starvation? Right. Well, each
of us has his own and her own diets and so on and so forth
that have to be... For instance, I don't like anything
that has to do with GMO, genetically modified organisms. Poison. And they put this fertilizer
It does a good job of making the thing grow, but also it poisons
those things. And the people that do that make
billions and billions of dollars. I like organic, if I can find
it. Sometimes you go to a store or to a restaurant, you don't
know whether it's organic or GMO poisoned. You don't know
what it is. That's why I like to shop over there at Wegmans,
because they're labeled, organic, organic, all over, labels, all
kinds of things. We need a place where we can
do the whole reading. That's why you have a bill. Even a lot
of foods that are labeled as organic are not as pure as you
might think because Monsanto has genetically modified the
seeds for many of those plants. All the oats and the wheat are
modified. But Monsanto is the one that's
pushing this GMO stuff. With this Roundup, that's what
the fertilizers are called. But if it's genuinely organic,
it has nothing to do with Roundup, nothing to do with Monsanto.
Completely separate, pure. Those are pesticides that round
up. There are other modifications
where they treat the seeds. Not so much in the hatching of
the seeds, but the way they modify the nature of the seed itself.
There was a show on Channel 12 a couple nights ago on that. They were explaining that it
seems that all wheat and corn and oats are of modified, come
from modified seeds now. Who produced that? Those who
were in favor of GMO? Monsanto. Monsanto produced that?
Monsanto, yeah. See, that's a lie. They've got
a whole bushel of it. Monsanto, a big company? Oh, it's huge. That
is a lie. Huge bushel. And they get all this fertilizer,
not fertilizer, but the things that make things grow, and Roundup
is the name of this thing that they fertilize. And so the organic... That's the fertilizer. I'm not
talking about the fertilizer. I'm talking about the structure
of the seed itself, not the fertilizer. Well, I know, but the seed itself
can be fertilized, can be bad. That makes the seeds bad. See,
the fertilizer is what makes the seeds bad to start with.
So the organic food is sort of the regular... Some of the seeds
there are bad. They're tampered with. The seeds themselves are
bad before they put them on the... Well, that could be true. The
poison is... Oh, it is. They've modified the
seeds because they have copyrights on it now. For example, seedless oranges,
seedless watermelon, those seeds themselves have been genetically
modified some way so that the watermelon produces very little
seeds, so that the orange produces very little, very few seeds. so that the seed itself has been
tampered with even before it makes it to the ground. And then
once it's to the ground, then they put the grounds up again on top
of that to make it worse. It's sad that over, even though
35 or so different countries label GMO products, the United
States, no. They don't label. They refuse
to label. Why shouldn't we have a choice of a tainted product
or one that's not tainted, organic? There we go. It's sad. Funny
enough, eating or not eating, it's up to us each. We have to
make our decisions, do we not? A lot of people say, oh, you
know, our organic, that costs a lot more than the non-organic.
Well, if it's food that's good food, it's a few more cents.
For instance, organic bananas. You go over to a regular supermarket,
you see regular bananas, $0.49 a pound. Organic bananas, $0.59,
$0.10 more a pound. But anyway. It's worth the time. It's worth the time. I think
it's worth it. But neither eat flesh or drink
wine, for they were rather brothers offended or made weak. Then in
verse 22, hast thou faith against me, good believers? What do you
think he's getting at here? What do you think? 22. Hast thou
faith? We're asking. Like good believers?
Yes. Ellen? Barbara? Either one. Let me start
here. Now I totally forgot my part.
Okay! Barbara will love Barbara, though. I know! Barbara, give me some
Barbara. Um... I'm sorry, I lost it. That's okay. I lost it. Okay.
Anyone else have a hand? Find it? It'll come to you in
a little bit. So, we have faith. We have faith. What does it say? What do you
do with that faith, in verse 22? I worship myself. Alright. Before God. In other words, you
have faith that eating is fine, or eating is not fine. That's
enough. You just said what I was trying
to say. Oh, good. Thank you. So, in other words, just take
it before the Lord. And then, there's a happiness
mentioned in verse 23. What kind of happiness is this? Yes, Barbara? That you don't
condemn yourself and what you're doing. Alright. And so, in other
words, you condemn yourself, because you're hurting the brothers
in Christ. But it's very tough. If you think
everything's right to eat, but it's not right to eat, it's hard. But this scripture,
this chapter, the whole chapter of Romans 14, says that if it's
a questionable thing, and one believer says it's okay, one
believer doesn't, just make some peace. Make some peace. Have
it before God. Or if you want to eat or not eat, Go to your
own home, right, in a closet or something. Yes, Chuck? Just
out of respect, respectfully, you know, don't engage in that
as part of a problem that might be there. You see, that's right.
That's it. That's exactly right. They don't consider it a sin
to you. Right. But they'll tend not to choose
not to do it. Yes. In their presence. That's
very good. Yvonne? Scratching my head. Oh, OK. Well, every hand that's
raised, I try to calm her. You're like a cat. Excuse me. Yeah, I think it was like that
when you met. All right All right And you don't eat, and you're
happy. It makes you happy because you've
helped somebody else, and you're not offending them. But a lot
of people say, I don't care what they say, or offend them anyhow,
or do whatever. Well, I do what I'm going to
do. That's a selfish way to go. But
I don't know, today, just what things would be like that are
not essentials, whether it's to have this, I don't know, microphones
on or off, or whatever different things about that. playing the
piano this way or that way, or some other, something that may
have difference with it, but it's not in the scripture one
way or another, but we have to be careful we're not hurting
or harming a brother. Condemneth not himself. In what
sense condemning? Yes, Pastor David? Judging of
a sword. Judging of a sword, that's right. Judging not himself,
think what she allows. And we allow many things, but
we should not allow These are questionable things. Then in verse 23, it's referring
to an illustration here about doubting. What would that indicate? What does that indicate? Doubting.
Doubting. What's it talking about? They don't really know if what
they're doing is right or not. So they think that maybe they're
sitting against God. So they are condemned in that
faith because they don't have faith about what they're doing.
If you doubt what you're eating or whatever, drinking, he's then
judged if he eats because he does not have faith. In other
words, a Christian should have a faith whether it is right or
wrong to eat or not to eat. And the last part of the verse,
whatsoever is not of faith is what? Again, in these doubtful
things, these doubtful things, you have to have faith in what
you're doing, either eating or not eating. If you have a doubt,
that's a sinful thing to do. This is a little bit esoteric,
a little difficult to understand all these things, but I think
that chapter 14 talks about religious liberty, Christian liberty, and
things that are not specifically forbidden in the scripture. They're
doubtful things. We've got to be careful we're
not offending, needlessly, other beliefs. What do you mean by
esoteric? very deep-seated, very down-to-earth
as we can understand, more pensive natures. Well, it's not that
hard to understand. Well, I know, but to get all
the details, all these verses... Yes, John? If you're not fully
persuaded in your own mind, then to engage in that activity would
be a sin to you. He's right. What I'm saying is
all these verses are not so... It's just very crystal clear,
except the meaning, but to get the context, you have to dig
deep a little bit to understand. That's all. Any other comments
on Chapter 14 before we move on? We don't have to move on
tonight. Well, I guess not. I mean, the particular specifics
of early church are one thing. I mean, it was a very big thing
in the early church. It may not be so big in the church
of the 21st century, at least in this country, but in this
time period, it was a concern for many Christians whether what
it once was associated with for them. They had come out of a
certain culture where meat was associated with evil, heavily
associated with evil. And so they could, in the early
stages of Christian life, they could disassociate that meat
with that wickedness and evilness. And so they didn't want nothing
to do with it, at least initially. And maybe in time, as they matured
spiritually, they understood that it was nothing. But at least
for a while in their life, it was something they didn't want
to have any part of. Some of the things today which
we may consider, for instance, preachers that preach in t-shirts
and shorts. There's nothing spiritual against
one another, but sometimes it offends a lot of people. It's
a little strange, a little difficult to cope with. All right. Stop right here. But the comments
before we close. Let's close. Our father, we do
thank you for the words. Some difficult to understand
each one and what they talk about. We thank you that we have the
privilege. of doing that which is right
in Thy sight. If we have faith in Thee, we ask Thee Lord that
we may serve our Savior and that we may serve Him with perfect
righteousness in Thy sight and even righteousness in our own
state. What we do in peace and joy may
we serve our Savior and He can give us rich rewards. Help us
as we go back and come to our services in the Lord's Name.
and direct us and move us each step of the way, and may we glorify
our Savior. Thank you for these who are here
tonight, those listening by the means, and may our Savior be
our primary person to serve and to love. In Jesus' name we ask
and pray. Amen.
Romans 14:16-15:1 Bible Study Discussion
| Sermon ID | 4211785300 |
| Duration | 44:03 |
| Date | |
| Category | Bible Study |
| Bible Text | Romans 14:16 |
| Language | English |
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