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Bro. Otis Fisher
Romans 14 verse 6, Joy, can you commit sin by going to church? How? Is this statement true or false? God is on my side. I hear it all the time. Need some Indians? All right, verse 6, He that regardeth the day regardeth it unto the Lord, and he that regardeth not the day to the Lord he does not regard it.
He that eateth eateth to the Lord for he giveth God thanks, and he that eateth not to the Lord he eateth not and giveth God thanks. Dennis, what's that talking about? You recall that Simon Peter followed the Lord afar off.
He was arrested. Peter went that night into the judgment hall of the high priest. Today it is the weak brother who is the separated. That may seem strange to you but the people who set up a little legal system of do's and don'ts bear watching.
They are the weak ones. Anytime you have to rely on a rule to worship God, you're weak. Seven, for none of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself. Russell, what does that mean? I wish I could remember that 24 hours a day but I forget once in a while.
Well, maybe you play golf on Sunday. Is there anything wrong with that, Dennis? Yes. Well, if you can take Jesus Christ with you, if you can stop on the ninth hole and pray, maybe you're all right. But what will the players behind you think?
They'll say, what in the world are they doing up there? Also, the one who eats meat gives thanks unto God. The one who does not eat meat gives thanks unto God. You see, it's not the meat on the table that makes the difference.
It's what's in your heart, the attitude in your heart. Eight, for whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.
Our entire life belongs to the Lord. Give me the roll call on the back row. David, is that you? Katie? Paul? Who? Debbie? Okay. David, and David's not here? That's what I thought. David, the old man, is it true that a child of God has no rights of himself?
Greg, when do you die? The Christian must at all times, in all things, act in accord with the mind of the Lord, and not follow their own will. Not follow their own will. For to this end, Christ both died and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living.
Our Christian conduct is not gauged by the foods spread out on the table, but by the fact that our lives are spread out before him. That is the important thing. One day, we're going to have to give an account of the things we have done in this life.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Let me repeat that. Each person, by himself, must appear before the judgment seat of Christ. That every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
How's that gonna work, David? Of course you did, because I didn't. At that time, it'll not be a question of the meat that you had on the table, or the golf that you played on Sunday, or the work that you went to on Monday.
It'll be the question of your relationship to him when you sat down at the table. Now, you can be godless without meat, and you can be godless with meat. Meat has nothing to do with it. Christ's death and resurrection are given as grounds for him to exercise lordship over both the dead and over the living.
Ten. But why dost thou, weak brother, judge thy brother? For why dost thou, strong brother, set at naught thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. He's repeating this warning.
Our little minds cannot determine who is saved and who is not saved, so if we show hatred against the sinner instead of the sin, we condemn ourselves. I think all of us at times have said, well, I wonder why he did that.
No Christian would do that. We'd best be careful. If we but had a believing belief regarding the judgment of the great day, it would silence all of our rash condemnations. If we really believed, for it is written, as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
Now, Dennis, every knee, what does that mean? What about those that have died? Greg, where it says every knee, does that mean both of them? So then every one of us shall give an account of others to God.
How important is that verse, David? Every one of us shall give an account of himself to God. Now, I won't be able to stand. Yes, how many of you young people have ever said, well, so-and-so's doing it.
Why can't I? So then every one of us, of us, shall give an account of himself to God. Why dost thou judge thy brother? You remember that the Lord Jesus said to the, that bunch of Pharisees who wanted to stone him, because they had wanted to stone the adulterous woman, and Jesus said, he that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her.
Were there any stones thrown that day? Not one. Is that John? Well, not one of those boys threw any stones that day. You and, and I need to recognize that we have to give an account of ourself, not others.
We cannot bring anybody else into it. I'll be honest with you, that disturbs me a little. I hope it does you. I'm wondering how I'm going to tell him about certain things that I've done. Yes, yes, I don't want to get into discussing the Trinity right now.
We'll do that at a later time, but Jesus was the God-man, the image of God the Father. Any sin that you have not confessed, you will have to give an account. Now, no assured that we'll enter heaven, but the Father God, God the Father, does not see your sin.
God, the Jesus-man Christ, does see your sin, and I don't understand how that works fully. I'm wondering how I'm going to tell him about certain things that I've done, and sit in judgment upon me. I can't sit in judgment on you, because I'm worried about Otis Fisher.
Notice that this does not say, as we have said, give an account of others. Remember, every body goes to court someday. Thirteen, 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, no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. David, can you not do that unknowingly? Dennis, what's the result of you doing that? Paul is going to develop the thought that our conduct has to be for sake of the weak brother.
Now, Brandon, in light of that, you're traveling with someone in a car, only he won't travel on Sunday. What should you do? Yes, that's it. Just don't go, unless you can honor the weak brother. Don't do anything that would put a weak brother in a position of sin, sinning.
I want you to stop trying to direct the pathway of others. Only you know whether you do that. In other words, just stop trying to be a Christian. Just be one. We get so caught up with, I can't do this, and I can't do that, that we miss the point.
You're trying to be a Christian. John, you shouldn't do that. You ought to just be one. Fourteen, I know and I am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself, but to him that steameth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
John, what about the conscience of a child of God? Who is that speaking? Well, I ask it wrong. The conscience of a child of God is what? The voice of God. But if thy brother be greed with thy meat, thou walkest thou not charitably?
Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died also? Since Christ was willing to die for that weak brother, certainly we ought to be willing to refrain from certain something or doing something that would hurt him in his Christian walk.
If you want to elevate the weak brother, and all of us are weak in some areas, if we want to elevate them, to give them the right thing to think about and to do, you cannot do it by preaching to them, don't do that.
Treat all others as the Lord has treated you. He saved them as well as saving you. Let not then your good be evil spoken of. In other words, your liberty does not mean license to do certain things. Paul says in some of his writings, I'm free to eat or do anything.
If someone comes to you, David, and asks you and describes the situation and they want to know, should I do that or not? What should you tell them? What if they wanted to know if you would do it? That's pretty good.
The fact that they ask tells you that they shouldn't do it. We're to use our liberty, not abuse it. We're always to keep in mind how our conduct will affect the weaker Christian. To be right with God, it means a life lived well-pleasing to him.
Your life should be lived well-pleasing to him. We're not, we are to walk in the Spirit. It is practical rather than theological. It is moral rather than oral. It is a righteousness in the Holy Spirit rather than righteousness in Christ.
Joy is the fruit of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers. Unfortunately, it is often absent from the lives of believers. There should be joy in our lives. This doesn't mean you have to run around smiling like a Cheshire cat, but it does mean you're to have a joyful feeling deep in your heart.
If we do good when we could have done better, what is it, Dennis? Yes. We're what? Alright. Yes. When you do good and you could have done better, it's a sin. I'd rather not look at that like that, but that's what it is.
My good becomes sin when I could have done better. For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. This is the only reference in this epistle to the kingdom of God.
I do not believe that the kingdom of God is synonymous with the kingdom of heaven. In Matthew's gospel, which finds its final futurition in the millennial and messianic kingdom here on earth, I believe that the kingdom of God embraces all that is in God's created and universe, which of course includes the church.
It is broader and larger than and includes God's reign over all his creation. The largest definition is satisfactory. The heavenly sphere of life is which God would and spiritual world and spiritual govern, and whose origin on earth is the church.
This was our Lord's use of the term, Jesus answers, and said unto him, Verily, verily I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That's the heavenly sphere of life in which God's work and spirit govern.
Righteousness, and this first means the same as it does in chapters 1 and 3. It means the kingdom of God, its rulership of God, and does not consist of things. For he that is, for he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men.
Any also, of course, there will be a literal kingdom on this earth. He is talking here about the spiritual realm that you and I enter by the new birth. Christ is not served by eating and drinking, but by service to him.
It must pertain to righteousness and to peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Approved of men does not mean that men will get in your cheering section and applaud you because you're a believer. They may even persecute you, but understanding men do approve of genuine believers while they despise and reject that which is hypocritical and phony.
This is a great principle of conduct. The walk and the talk of the believer should please God and meet the approval of the consciousness, conscience of men. The walk and talk of a believer should please the Heavenly Father.
Is he pleased with you? These things, righteousness, peace, joy, this is all that we should desire for this is all that we need. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace and the things which one may edify where one may edify another.
In other words, build each other up. Dave and I meet for coffee once in a while and I don't know about him, but I grow because of that. This is twofold. The following after which makes for peace is to eagerly pursue this course of action.
The believer is to make a definite effort to avoid the use of food or any physical thing which offends a Christian brother that is weaker. For meat destroyeth not the work of God. There is nothing you can do that will destroy the work of God.
All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for that man who eateth with offense. It is evil for the person that does it thinking it's evil, but everything is approved of God. On account of food, do not tear tear down the law of God because of food or because of what you do or because of what someone else does.
Don't try to tear down the law of God because it won't work. We're not to tear down the work of God in the heart of a weak brother for the sake of some gratification. For instance, Esau, you remember him?
He had no regard for his birthright. He changed it for a bowl of beans. Well, don't sell your birthright just to satisfy your own appetite. There is no thing in this world that can destroy the kingdom of God.
It is a sin for you to violate your God-guided conscience. Remember that. 21. It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine or anything whereby the brother stumbleth or is offended or is made weak.
So if you're in the company or you're at a restaurant and you think no one's there that knows you and I'll have beer or I'll have a glass of liquor or something, there's someone there that knows that you're a Christian.
Paul returns to these two points, eating and drinking, then he goes beyond them in the sweeping statement and says, not anything. There's nothing in this world. Has thou faith? Have it to thyself before God.
What's that mean, David? If you have faith, have it to yourself before God. That's the secret. If your conscience does not offend you, let me use an illustration. The prodigal son was a son in the far country, is that right?
I'm confident that he got drunk in that condition. A few other things, but he was always a son. Then what was the difference between him and the pigs, Greg? It was his son, whether he even looked like a pig or not.
The difference was that none of those pigs said, I will arise and go to my father. You see, as the prodigal son was there with the pigs, he said it to himself. I hate it here and I'm going to go and going to get out of this and going back to my father and confess what a sinner I am.
What then is the difference between the Christian who gets drunk and the non-christian who gets drunk? What's the difference? They're both drunk. What's the difference, John? What? The difference is simply this.
The next morning, the man of the world will get up with a headache, put an ice pack on it, and says, boy, I sure had a big time. I'm going to get drunk again tonight. I'm really going to paint the town red.
But what will the child of God do when he wakes up the next morning with his head aching? He drops down by the side of his bed and cries, oh God, I hate myself. I don't want to do that again. He confesses his sin to God and the interesting thing is there's no record of that sin to the prodigal son.
Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. Do you look back and hate yourself for what you have done? That is, your conscience condemning you regardless of what it was and regardless of how many other people do the same thing.
For you, it was wrong. You might have even been in church, and church can be a very dangerous place, by the way. Satan's always here. He goes to the best churches. Do you come home from church and say, I could bite my tongue off.
I wish I hadn't said what I did. You should not have said it, that's sure. Happy is he that condemneth not himself that which he alloweth not. And he that doubteth is damned if he eat because he eateth not of faith.
For whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. You are to believe in what you are doing. If you don't believe in it, you should not be doing it. It's a new definition. Here's a new definition of sin for the believer.
Any type of conduct or any act which is not the outflow of faith becomes sin. This is the Holy Spirit's answer to questionable things. As the believer is saved by faith, just so the believer is to walk by faith.
It must be understood through man's judgment and opinions may make that which is good in itself to become evil. Yet they cannot make that which is evil in itself to become good. That finishes the 14th chapter.
Do you have questions? That's right. Greg dismisses please.