So we turn now in our Bibles to
Romans chapter 13.
As Christians, what should be our attitude towards
government?
Paul declares, Let every soul be subject unto
the higher powers.
For there is no power but of God,
and the powers that be are ordained of
God.
The Bible does not allow for civil disobedience.
We are commanded by the Scriptures to be
in obedience to those governing bodies that are
over us.
Paul wrote this at the time in which
Nero was ruling in Rome.
And we oftentimes say, well, you know, we
should be in obedience as long as we
agree with what is being legislated.
I do feel that there are rare occasions
where the law of God does supersede the
law of man.
And on those occasions, I must be obedient
to God.
In this period of the early church, when
they were required to declare that Caesar was
Lord or be executed, they chose death by
martyrdom rather than acknowledging the Lordship of Caesar.
When Peter was ordered by the magistrates or
by the council actually of the Jews not
to speak anymore in the name of Jesus,
he said, whether it is right to obey
God or man, judge ye, we know that
we cannot but speak the things which we
have seen and heard.
And so when it becomes a matter of
my conscience, then I must be obedient to
God.
But for the most part, I am to
be obedient to those governmental forces over me.
I'm to obey the law.
Being a Christian does not give me an
immunity from the law for the powers that
be are ordained by God.
Now, this is an issue that we sometimes
are prone to question.
Did God ordain this particular government?
The Bible tells us that the powers that
exist are ordained by God.
It is interesting to me that Nebuchadnezzar challenged
that truth.
When he was told by Daniel, who was
interpreting his dream, that the great image that
he saw was the ruling empires that would
govern the world.
And he said, thou, Nebuchadnezzar, are the head
of gold, but your kingdom is going to
be replaced by an inferior kingdom, the shoulders
and the chest of brass, of silver.
And that will be replaced by a yet
inferior kingdom, the stomach of brass, and that
by a kingdom of iron, the legs.
Nebuchadnezzar turned right around and made an image
90 feet high of all gold and demanded
that the people worship it, which was open
defiance to the declaration that your kingdom is
going to be replaced by the Medo-Persian
empire.
And as the result of this defiance of
God by Nebuchadnezzar, because of his pride, the
Lord allowed him insanity until seven
seasons had passed over him, until he knew
that the Most High God ruled in the
governments of man and set over them those
whom he would.
That was the lesson that God was teaching
him during that period of insanity, where he
went out and lived with the animals in
the fields and ate grass with the oxen.
The purpose of that was that he might
recognize that God rules and God establishes those
on the throne whom he wills.
And he was only on the throne of
Babylon by the divine decree of God.
And after his insane period, he acknowledged that
the God of heaven ruled and those who
exalt themselves he is able to abase.
For he had surely been abased, but he
recognized that God is the one who establishes
the kingdoms and the thrones of man.
Why does God then allow evil men to
reign, if God is the one who establishes
it?
Basically because men want evil men to reign
over them.
And in order that they might be brought
to judgment, God will allow those evil rulers
to lead the people in order that they
might receive that rightful judgment of God.
But I am told here is a child
of God to be subject under those higher
powers because they have been established there by
God.
Whosoever therefore is resisting the power is resisting
the ordinance of God.
And they that resist shall receive to themselves
damnation or condemnation.
That is, you will be brought into judgment
and thrown in jail is actually what he
is telling you.
For rulers are not a terror to good
works, but to evil.
Wilt thou then not be afraid of the
power?
Do that which is good, and you will
have praise of the same.
In other words, be a decent law-abiding
citizen and you don't have to worry about
the authority.
The only time I worry when I see
a black and white is when I'm exceeding
the speed.
You know, if I'm going the speed limit
or under, I don't worry when I see
the highway patrol go by.
But if I'm exceeding the speed, then I
think, uh-oh.
You know, you look in your rear view
mirror and you see him down a mile
or so, the lights flashing, and the first
thing you do is look at your speed
and see how fast you're going.
And if I'm exceeding it, I think, uh
-oh, you know, and I sort of ease
back to the speed limit and stay in
my lane and cruise along.
And breathe a great sigh of relief when
he goes shooting past.
You know, all right, you know.
But for a little bit, my heart begins
to beat.
But if I look down and I see
that I'm in the speed limit, I think,
oh-ho, that's great, you know, he's not
after me.
There are only a terror to the evildoers,
not to the good.
And thus, if you are living a good
life, you need not to be terrorized or
be in terror of the authorities.
For he is the minister of God to
thee for good.
But if you are doing that which is
evil, then be afraid, for he bears not
the sword in vain, for he is the
minister of God, a revenger, to execute wrath
upon him that is doing evil.
Wherefore, ye must needs be subject, not only
for wrath, but also for conscience' sake.
So as a child of God, I am
to be a obedient citizen, and in subject,
a subject, an obedient subject to the authoritative
government over me.
For this cause, pay taxes also.
For they are God's ministers attending continually upon
this very thing.
I agree with that, they're attending continually on
this very thing.
Render therefore to all their dues the taxes
to whom the taxes are due, custom to
whom the custom, fear to whom fear, and
honor to whom honor is due.
Render to each one their dues.
We are not to try to escape our
taxes, nor are we to try to smuggle
Rolex watches into the United States that we
bought overseas.
Pay the custom to whom the custom is
due.
This is something that the scripture commands us
to be faithful and obedient, not to cheat
on your tax reports.
Fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
Owe no man anything but to love one
another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled
the law.
For this, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou
shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou
shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not
covet.
And if there is any other commandment, it's
briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself.
Love works no ill to his neighbor, therefore
love is the fulfilling of the law.
Jesus was asked one day, what is the
greatest commandment?
And he answered, thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart, with all
thy soul, and with all thy strength.
Then he said, the second is likened to
the first.
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
And in these two, you have all the
law and the prophets.
Everything that God has commanded man, how we
ought to live in relationship to God and
the relationship to each other, is all summed
up in these two.
Love God supremely and love your neighbor as
you love yourself.
And if you do that, you will be
doing all that God requires of you.
Love is the fulfilling of the law.
And so it is interesting that the law
was placed really, for the most part, in
negatives.
Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not kill,
thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt
not covet, and so forth.
And it was mainly placed in negatives, but
Jesus turned around and put it in the
positive.
And Paul here follows the example of Jesus
Christ, and he too puts it in the
positive.
And he says, look, all of these commandments,
not commit adultery, not kill, not steal, they're
all summed up in this saying, namely, thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
That's the summation of it.
For love will not work ill to his
neighbor.
If I'm loving him, I'm not going to
be lying, stealing, cheating, or whatever from him.
Especially if I love him as I love
myself.
So, love is the fulfilling of the law.
And that, he said, knowing the time.
God expects us to be aware of the
time in which we live, and of the
time of God's workings.
For this purpose, God gave us prophecy, which
is history in advance, so that we would
be alerted and aware of the days in
which we live.
Knowing the time, we are not ignorant of
the times, nor should we be.
For we are not the children of darkness
that the day of the Lord should catch
us as a thief.
But we're children of the light, and therefore,
knowing the time, it's high time that we
wake up from our sleep.
I believe that, for the most part, the
church is in a general state of lethargy.
I think that it is indeed tragic that
men are so concerned with their scholarly research
to determine whether or not there were two
authors of the book of Isaiah, or perhaps
three, and their concern of the authorship of
Isaiah is so great, they don't pay any
attention to what Isaiah said.
I think it's tragic when a man becomes
so scholarly that he thinks that he is
smart enough to challenge the Word of God,
or to challenge the writers of the Word
of God.
And I think that it borders on blasphemy
for a man to suggest from his position
of scholarly achievement to suggest that Matthew was
embellishing his account of the story of the
life of Christ, and that he actually inserted
things that really didn't happen in order to
make the story more exciting.
And he does this in the name of
biblical scholarship in an evangelical
college.
It's sad indeed that people are sleeping
today because this kind of scholarship puts you
to sleep.
It's high time that we awake out of
this lethargy.
I do not know how we seem to
just be sleeping when all
of these decisions were being made by the
Supreme Court putting prayer out of school, the
favorable mention of God out of our schools.
How we were sleeping when the humanists took
over the public school system.
My wife ordered some of the McGuffey readers
this last week.
They came yesterday.
And she started reading me some of the
things out of the McGuffey readers.
These are the reading textbooks that the children
used to have here in the United States.
Stories that had a moral to them.
Stories that extolled the virtues of honesty and
of goodness.
Teaching the children as they were reading that
they don't have to fear.
God is watching over and He is near
and they can call upon Him.
Now what's so wrong about teaching morality and
honesty and trusting God to a child?
What is so criminal about that that it
has become against the law of our land?
And where were we when this was going
on?
The church was sleeping and while we slept
the flood tide of evil was open.
And now such a flood of pornography has
filled our nation.
But we're not alone.
In fact we're probably a step behind some
of the European nations in that horrible
anything goes.
The West has been totally demoralized and totally
immoral.
You go to Europe and you actually feel
that you are in a post-Christian era.
For the most part the church is dead
in Europe.
And you can feel it walking down the
streets.
You can sense that spirit of anti-Christ
that is everywhere.
And we slept and the church was sleeping.
But it's high time that we wake out
of our sleep.
For now is our salvation nearer than when
we believed.
The night is far spent.
I really cannot see how we can sink
much lower.
I really cannot see how we can go
on much longer.
How many more years can we exist adding
$192 billion to the federal debt?
How much longer can the banks keep holding
Brazil and Mexico and these other countries that
are unable to pay their debts?
Now is our salvation nearer than when we
believed.
The night is far spent but the day
is at hand.
The Bible does face reality and it does
see the darkness of the night.
But thank God the Bible gives us a
hope.
After the dark night is over a new
day is going to dawn.
The day of God's glory that is going
to cover the earth.
And that hope sustains us in the dark
night.
But let us cast off the works of
darkness.
And let us put on the armor of
light.
Let us walk honestly as in the day.
Not in rioting or revelry.
Not in drunkenness.
Not in immorality and shamelessness.
Not in strife or in envy.
These are all a part of the flesh.
And the life after the flesh.
But put you on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And make no provision for the flesh to
fulfill the lust thereof.
I believe that today there is an evil
spirit that has invaded the land.
And this evil spirit operating through
the pornography.
I believe that people can become addicted to
pornography just as much as they can become
addicted to alcohol.
Or to drugs.
And it has the same powerful hold over
their lives.
As does alcohol or drugs.
They are drawn to it.
They are attracted by it.
And when they get away from it they
say, I'll never do that again.
And they are shamed by what they have
done.
But somehow they seem to be lured and
drawn back to it again.
And it can get a hold on a
person's life.
And he can become a slave to this
spirit and power that is there.
Operating through this it can get a hold
on a person's life.
And you can become a victim.
Desiring more and more and more.
And different types of pornography.
And it seems to be a progressive thing
like drugs and all.
Where you have to go deeper and deeper
and more and more.
There are many homes today being destroyed.
Because of pornography.
Because of the, what Paul called here, chambering.
Or immorality.
The Greek koiti.
Or the desire for the forbidden bed.
Many marriages being destroyed today because of incest.
Many marriages being destroyed today because of the
pornography and these things.
And it is tragic to see
a person that is a victim of these
things.
I believe that it is a work of
Satan in the last days.
And I believe that our only power against
it is prayer.
I believe that it is definitely a spiritual
battle.
And the Bible says the weapons of our
warfare are not carnal but mighty through God.
To the pulling down of the strongholds of
the enemy.
But I think that we have to use
spiritual weapons.
I don't think that just nagging a person
or getting on a person's case for it
is going to do it.
That's using carnal methods.
It is a spiritual battle and we must
combat it with the spiritual weapons that God
has given to us.
And in this case that weapon of prayer.
An intercessory prayer.
Paul tells us that we might take them
from the captivity of the enemy who is
holding them captive against their wills.
If a person opens his mind and opens
the door to these kind of things.
It can actually get a hold on that
person's life.
We have an interesting case in the Old
Testament where Amaziah had sent his troops against
the Edomites.
And he had experienced a victory against the
Edomites.
And so he wrote to the king of
Israel in the north.
Jehoiah has.
And he challenged him to come out and
fight.
And Jehoiah has sent back a message and
said, Look, you went down and you had
victory over the Edomites.
Stay home and enjoy the victory.
Why should you meddle to your own hurt?
But Amaziah flushed with the victory over the
Edomites said, Come on out you chicken and
face me, you know.
And so Jehoiah has came out with his
troops.
And they defeated the troops of Amaziah.
They came to the city of Jerusalem.
And they took many captives.
And they broke down the walls of Jerusalem.
And they carried away the treasure out of
the temple.
Why?
Because he didn't have enough sense not to
meddle to his own hurt.
To meddle in places where he had no
business being.
And there is a lot of meddling that
is going on.
As a person begins to meddle with things
that he has no right to meddle with
as a child of God.
And when you do, it is always to
your own hurt.
And even as they tore down the walls
of Jerusalem, so that he lost his defenses.
So Satan will tear down your walls.
And you'll begin to lose your defenses against
him.
And you'll find that you don't have defenses
when he comes attacking again.
You've meddled around and now you've been defeated.
And the walls are down and you have
no real defenses against the enemy anymore.
You're a victim.
And he is holding you captive.
But we are told that we should take
them from the captivity of the enemy who
is holding them captive against their will.
How do we do that through prayer?
Satan is holding many people's lives today as
captives.
Captives of their own lust.
But God has ordained that you be the
instrument through which God delivers them from that
captivity.
And it comes by intercessory prayer.
Holding that person before the Lord.
And binding the power of Satan that is
holding them captive.
We have the authority in the name of
Jesus over all the principalities and powers.
For they are subject unto Him.
And when we come against them in the
name of Jesus, they must yield.
And thus through the power of the name
of Jesus, we can set people free from
the captivity of Satan.
We can set them free from that binding
force that he is exercising over them.
That blinding influence that he has.
Because people who are being held captive by
Satan are also blinded and they don't even
realize their problem many times.
For the God of this world, the Scripture
said, has blinded their eyes and they cannot
see the truth.
And so through prayer, I combine that work
of Satan so that their eyes can be
opened.
Through prayer, I can set them free from
the power of Satan that is holding them.
That influence that is keeping them bond, a
slave and captive to those things.
And I need to exercise this intercessory prayer
in delivering them from the power of the
enemy that they might come into the glorious
liberty and freedom in Jesus Christ.
Therefore, because we are living in a dark
world and the night is far spent, the
only way we're going to survive is by
putting on the Lord Jesus Christ and not
making any provision for our flesh to fulfill
the lust thereof.
It is a heavy spiritual warfare and it's
becoming heavier every day and is going to
continue heavier every day until the Lord snatches
us out of it.
Things are not going to ease up.
Evil days, the Scripture said, shall wax worse
and worse.
And Jesus said, because the iniquity of the
world will abound, the love of many shall
wax cold.
Talking about the time of His coming.
In fact, He said, when the Lord comes,
will He find faith?
Yes, He will, if we will determine to
walk and to live after the Spirit and
put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make
no provision for our flesh to fulfill the
lust of them.
How opposite that is from the world today
where the doors have been opened for man
to live after His flesh in any manner
that his mind can imagine.
And we think of the words of Jesus
concerning His coming and as it was in
the days of Noah, so shall it be
at the coming of the Son of Man.
And one of those conditions of the days
of Noah, it said, and every man did
that which was right in his own eyes.
They didn't restrain themselves from anything.
And we are living in that kind of
an age today where there seems to be
no restraints.
Men living after the flesh.
Fourteenth chapter, Paul deals now with another issue.
Him that is weak in the faith, receive.
But not to doubtful disputations.
Don't get into arguments with them.
Don't doubtful disputations.
A person who is weak in the faith.
And in this case, the person weak in
the faith is the one who has very
limited or narrow convictions.
For one man believes that he can eat
anything.
Another who is weak in the faith is
a vegetarian.
There are some religious groups today that advocate
being a vegetarian.
There are some who believe that we should
follow the dietary law of Moses and thus
we shouldn't eat lobster or shrimp or pork
or the other forbidden unclean animals of the
Old Testament.
But there are others that say, I like
pork chops and I like lobster.
So, those that are strong in the faith,
eat meat.
Those that are weak in the faith, eat
vegetables.
Now, should we get in big fights and
arguments over this?
Should I say to that vegetarian, Oh, that's
stupid.
There's nothing wrong with eating meat.
That's just plain dumb.
And should he point his finger and say,
Aha, you can't be a Christian because you're
eating meat.
Man, God's going to damn you to hell
because you're eating meat.
You know, it's sad that these kind of
things have brought this kind of division within
the church because someone is convicted of something
and they want to convict everybody else of
the same thing or make everybody yield to
their convictions.
Paul says, Let not him that eats the
meat despise him that doesn't eat meat.
And let not him which eats not the
meat judge him that eats, for God has
received him.
So, in this matter, our convictions are to
be personal things.
In these areas where the Scripture does not
give us precise, definite teaching.
There's a latitude.
And I am to have sympathetic understanding towards
those whose convictions are narrower than mine.
And I am also to have a sympathetic
understanding for those whose convictions are broader than
mine.
And that's where I have my problems.
I can sympathize with a person who's a
vegetarian.
That's alright.
He doesn't want to eat meat.
That's fine.
But some fellow who has convictions that are
a little broader than mine and is doing
some of the things that I don't feel
that I can do as a child of
God, I have an awfully hard time not
judging him.
How can he do that?
And so that's where my problem lies.
No problem dealing with those who have stronger
convictions as long as they leave me alone.
You know, don't lay your trip on me.
But when it is the other way around,
how I would love to lay my trip
on some people.
Rebuke them for the things that they are
doing which they feel the liberty to do.
Now, naturally this is in Scriptural limitations.
There are things that the Scripture tells us
are wrong and with that there is no
question.
But in these areas where the Scripture does
not speak specifically, then we are to have
this latitude in the receiving of each other.
For who are you to judge another man's
servant?
You see, who are you to judge me?
I'm not your servant.
Now, if I were your servant, then you'd
have a right to judge me.
But I'm the Lord's servant.
Therefore, the Lord is my judge and He
shall judge me.
In the same token, you are not my
servant so I have no right to judge
you.
Again, you are the Lord's servant and so
He will judge you.
For before a man's own master he either
stands or falls and Paul says, yes, he
will be held up for God is able
to make him to stand.
And I like this.
God has helped a lot of people to
stand that I was sure they were going
to fall.
The way they were living, I knew they
were going down the tube but God held
them up and He was able to make
them to stand and to the surprise of
a lot of people, He's helped me to
stand.
On the issue of eating meat, but then
it also goes over on the issue of
the respect of the holy day.
For one man esteems one day above another.
Another esteems every day alike.
Let every man be fully persuaded in his
own mind.
Now, on what day are we to worship
the Lord?
On Saturday or on Sunday?
If we worship on Saturday, are we then
to follow the Jewish custom of the day
begins at sundown and should we begin worshiping
God on Friday evening as the sun goes
down and worship until Saturday evening sundown?
Or is Sunday the day that we should
worship the Lord?
And there were those and there are those
who are very vehement in their feeling that
Saturday is the only day to worship the
Lord and if you worship the Lord on
Sunday, that's tantamount to taking the mark of
the beast for Sunday worship is the mark
of the beast because Sunday was actually named
after the sun god.
Sunday and thus it was after the sun
god.
Thus, we ought to worship on Saturday, but
they don't tell you that that's named after
the god Saturn.
So, one man esteems one day above another.
Oh, this is the only day.
I'm in the second category here myself.
Another esteems every day alike.
That's for me.
Doesn't matter.
I worship God on Saturday or Monday or
Wednesday or whenever.
Doesn't matter to me what day I worship.
I worship the Lord every day.
As far as I'm concerned, every day is
the Lord's day.
I live my life for Him.
And so, I worship the Lord every morning.
I worship the Lord all the time.
And every day is alike to me.
Let every man be fully persuaded in his
own mind.
He that regards the day, regards it unto
the Lord.
And he that regards not the day to
the Lord, he does not regard it.
He that eats, eats to the Lord, for
he gives God thanks.
And he that eats not to the Lord,
he eats not and gives God thanks.
For none of us live to himself, and
no man dies to himself.
For whether we live, we live unto the
Lord.
Whether we die, we die unto the Lord.
Whether we live therefore or die, we are
the Lord's.
And this, of course, is my feeling entirely.
My life, I live for the Lord.
I'm not living for myself.
I won't die for myself.
But whether I live or die, I'm the
Lord's.
For to this end, Christ both died and
rose and revived, that he might be the
Lord both of the dead and living.
But why do you judge your brother?
Or why do you set at naught your
brother?
For we shall all stand before the judgment
seat of Christ.
For it is written, As I live, saith
the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.
So, Paul is really discouraging this practice that
we have so often of judging each other
within the body to commit that judgment unto
the Lord because we are all going to
appear before this judgment seat of Christ.
He's the one that we must answer to.
He is our Lord, the one that we
serve, and thus, the one to whom we
will ultimately answer.
For every knee shall bow and every tongue
shall confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord
and thus, my relationship to him is something
that he will judge.
So then, every one of us shall give
account of himself to God.
Let us not, therefore, judge one another anymore.
But judge this rather, that no man put
a stumbling block or an occasion to fall
in his brother's way.
Now, let's not judge each other, but as
we're living together, let's let love be the
rule of life.
Loving our neighbor as ourself.
And in love, let's not do something that
will cause a brother who is weaker to
stumble.
You may have liberty in a certain area.
Don't flaunt that liberty before a weak brother.
Nor should you try to argue a person
out of their convictions.
If a person comes to me and says,
I believe it's a sin to eat salt,
then it would be wrong for me to
try and argue him into the folly of
that kind of a position.
Why?
There's nothing wrong with salt.
It's just calcium chloride, you know.
Nothing wrong with that.
It might bother your heart a bit if
you get too much, but you know, moderation.
And I might try and talk him out
of his convictions.
I shouldn't.
Because if he feels it's a sin to
eat salt, to him it is a sin,
because that's the way he feels.
And so if I say, oh, try a
little salt, and I shake a little salt
on his head, it tastes so much...
Potatoes are so flat without...
Come on, just try a little salt, you
know.
And I'm encouraging him into something that he
has a conviction against, and he takes that
potato, and ooh, that is good.
Yeah, my flesh can go for that, you
know.
But then every time he's using salt because
he has that conviction, he's like, oh, man,
oh, I'm a sinner, you know.
And he's troubled now with his conscience.
And I've stumbled him.
I've caused him to stumble.
Therefore, you can come to me and tell
me any kind of weird conviction you have,
and I'll sympathize with you.
I won't try and talk you out of
your convictions.
I don't think that that is my place.
We are not to put a stumbling block
or an occasion to fall in our brother's
way.
For I know and am persuaded by the
Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of
itself, but to him that esteems anything to
be unclean, to him it is unclean.
Now, Paul is saying basically, look, I can
eat ham.
I can eat pork chops.
It's not unclean of itself.
It's not going to damn me.
I know that.
I know and am persuaded by the Lord
Jesus there is nothing unclean of itself, but
if a man esteems it to be unclean,
to him it is unclean.
Here is a matter of faith.
And herein I feel that the church has
done a great disservice in
preaching conviction or convictions on people for some
of the things that they do that are
not things that are relative to the person's
eternal salvation.
When I was growing up as a child,
over and over and over again, I heard
it preached that you could not go to
heaven if you smoked.
That this was a damning sin and no
person who smoked could expect to enter the
kingdom of heaven.
And I heard that preached so much that
I was convicted that it was true.
Now, in a sense, I'm glad that I
had that preaching because it kept me from
ever smoking a cigarette.
I've never smoked one in my entire life
and I don't feel I have missed a
thing.
I'm happy that I don't smoke, but not
for spiritual reasons, but for physical reasons.
And I happen to distaste smoking extremely.
I think the closest I've come to putting
my fist in somebody's face was over a
cigar on an airplane.
And our whole compartment stinky because one stubborn
character wanted to enjoy the pleasure of his
cigar.
I made it very unpleasurable for him, but
not for spiritual reasons.
Now, many of the young people who were
my contemporaries who went to church with me,
as they were growing up, as boys do,
they began to experiment and pick up cigarette
butts, you know, and light them and smoke
them.
I grew up in the days of depression.
You couldn't go out and buy a pack
of cigarettes.
Nobody had that kind of money.
And a lot of them started smoking.
But coincidentally, with their starting to smoke, they
also left their walk with the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Because they believed that you could not be
saved and smoke because that was what was
preached at them.
And so the minute they started to smoke,
they left their fellowship with the Lord because
they felt that fellowship with the Lord was
impossible as long as you were smoking.
And so I grew up in that kind
of a background.
Imagine my shock when I heard that Spurgeon
smoked cigars.
I can't believe it.
You know, he's the guy that I admire
as the greatest preacher almost in the history
of the church.
And G.
Campbell Morgan had a pipe.
Oh, no.
How could you?
Smoking is not a damning sin unless you
believe it is.
But if you believe it is, then it
can be, you see.
If a man esteems a thing to be
unclean, to him it is unclean.
Now, I definitely esteem it to be unclean.
Therefore, I could not...
If I smoked, it would be a sign
of my rebellion against God.
But in the same token, I can accept
the fact that Christians do smoke.
Now, I appreciate their graciousness for not smoking
around me.
And I'm sincere in that.
I hate smoke.
I hate to smell someone else's smoke.
And I appreciate that they don't smoke around
me, but I also respect their problem.
And I would not and do not condemn
their smoking as long as they don't do
it around me.
And then my condemnation is not spiritual.
It's just purely physical.
I am persuaded by the Lord Jesus there
is nothing unclean of itself.
But to Him that esteems anything to be
unclean, to Him it is unclean.
But if your brother is grieved over your
liberty to eat meat, now you are not
walking in love.
Don't destroy him with your liberty to eat
meat for whom Christ died.
We are not to flaunt again our Christian
liberty before the weaker brother.
If it offends him, if it's hurting him
in his walk to see my liberty, then
I should not exercise my liberty before him.
Why should I destroy one for whom Christ
died just because I feel, well, I have
a right to eat meat anytime I want.
Let not then your good be evil spoken
of, for the kingdom of God is not
meat or drink.
These are not the true issues of the
kingdom.
People like to make them the issues.
They're not.
The kingdom of God is righteousness and peace
and joy in the Holy Spirit.
For He that in these things serves Christ
is acceptable to God and approved of men.
Let us therefore follow after the things which
make for peace and things whereby we may
build up one another.
And for your liberty at eating meat, do
not destroy the work of God.
All things indeed are pure, but it is
evil for that man who eats with offense.
It's evil if I would exercise my liberty
in such a way as to offend a
weaker brother in Christ.
And so it is good neither to eat
flesh nor to drink wine nor anything whereby
your brother stumbles or is offended or is
made weak.
And thus, I live in the law of
love a more stringent life than my own
convictions because I would not want to do
something that would stumble someone else.
And though I feel a personal liberty that
I could do those things without hindering my
fellowship with Jesus Christ, I will not do
them for love and for love's sake so
that I would not be a stumbling block
to someone else.
Somewhere and somehow, I guess, a rumor got
out that I had a drinking problem.
But I actually quit drinking Cokes about five
years ago.
And that's the worst thing I ever drank.
That doesn't sound right, does it?
But again, hey, I grew up under the
law.
And again, I'm thankful in a way because
I have never tasted an alcoholic drink in
my life.
So that's the kind of problem I have
with it.
Nor would I because I don't need it,
for one.
And two, I realized and I do realize
that if I would exercise liberty in Christ
and say, oh, I can have a, you
know, champagne or I can have wine or
something in my meal that there may be
weaker persons seeing us and feel emboldened to
do so and be destroyed.
Now, we do go to the airport or
for lunch every once in a while and
it is a champagne brunch on Sunday.
And they do give us sparkling apple cider
or grape juice.
And it could be that someone saw me
drinking my sparkling apple cider and thought that
I was bibbing but such is not the
case.
They would have noticed my little grandchildren right
beside me were drinking the same stuff.
Do you have faith?
Then have it to yourself before God.
Let it be a personal thing.
Don't do it openly where it can hinder
someone else.
For happy is he that condemns not himself
in the things which he allows.
It's great to have, really, that kind of
faith in God that nothing really comes between
you and God.
As they sang tonight, happy is the one
whose sins freely are forgiven, whose innocence has
been declared by the Lord of Heaven.
And it's great.
Happy is the man whose heart does not
condemn him in the things that he allows.
But he that doubts is damned if he
eats because he is not eating of faith.
For whatsoever is not of faith is sin
to that individual.
If you can't do it in faith, if
you are being condemned as you do it,
then to you it is sin.
And for him that esteems something to be
unclean, to him it is unclean.
So, my Christian liberty, how am I to
exercise it before God in private?
Not to stumble someone else by those liberties
that I may feel.
Again, the whole idea goes back to chapter
13.
Walk in love for he who loves has
fulfilled the whole law.
Loving one another.
Walking in a loving relationship with each other.
And because of my love for you and
my love for Jesus Christ, not doing anything
that I know could be offensive to you
or might stumble you in your walk because
of love.
Living a life more stringent than my own
personal convictions so that I would not stumble
a weaker brother.
God help us to live and to walk
in love even as we're commanded.
Father, we thank you tonight for your Word,
a guide unto a life.
Help us, Lord, to walk in the path
in which it leads us.
Following after righteousness and walking in love.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.