First hymn 22, washed in the blood too.
Start there right, thank you for your son Jesus Christ and thank you for this church
that we have that is paid for by the thank you that we have this opportunity to gather
together and sing praises unto you, I pray that you would bless the remainder of this
service at this time, be with pastor as he preaches from your word this evening Lord
in Jesus name I pray, amen.
For our next hymn if you would turn in your hymnals to hymn number 34, I know that my
redeemer liveth.
Hymn number 34, we'll go ahead and start there right on verse.
Please raise your hand, she'll bring you one is our new Bible memory passage, second Timothy
chapter one verse two to Timothy my dearly beloved son, grace mercy and peace from God
the father, Christ Jesus our Lord.
On the inside we have our service times listed Sunday morning at 1030 a.m. Sunday evening
at 430 p.m. and Wednesdays we're having our Bible study of course through Romans.
Below that we have all of our soul winning times listed there as well as our year to
date soul winning statistics which with tonight's soul winning we're at 102 for the year.
So praise God for that.
Some upcoming events, before we get to upcoming events just some upcoming housekeeping that's
going to be happening at church.
We're getting the piano tune soon, praise the Lord for that.
We're really excited to have instruments meshing together.
It's going to be nice.
Also we have some new electrical that's going to be installed just to make things run smoother
here for the TV and the mother baby room and just some stuff with the sound back there.
Also very shortly we're going to have carpet cleaners come in and do the chairs and the
carpets.
So there's a lot of good things that are going to be happening housekeeping wise.
As far as our upcoming events, March 7th like we've been announcing is the Tulsa Oklahoma
sole winning marathon.
By the way, I need an updated bulletin if someone could bring me one that was printed
please.
Thank you.
One extra thing that's added.
March 8th after that is the Ben's preaching night and after the preaching night we'll
have some food catered and just some fellowship and time for game night or just hanging out
whatever you'd like.
And a new event that I'm really excited about is on March 28th our church is going to be
sponsoring a Listeners Pick Soul Winning Marathon.
So just fans of new IFB preaching, people who listen online, we're actually reaching
out to them and having them choose where we're going to host this Soul Winning Marathon.
And we're going to be sending out Brother Cameron just to be the boots on the ground
and just to lead this event.
And so I made a video just asking listeners to email me what city they're in and how many
people they have in their group that would be interested in going Soul Winning.
And the rule is that they can't be within an hour of an already existing new IFB church.
So we don't want to just go to one of these areas where they already have a great church
to get trained up at.
Our goal is to try to reach people who don't have Soul Winning training, who don't have
people just to encourage them and train them in Soul Winning and to go to their town.
And already I've probably received emails from like 10 different cities across the U.S. literally
coast to coast.
So the final decision is not yet made.
I don't know where it's going to be.
The bulletin doesn't say where it's going to be.
But the cutoff is going to be on March 14th at 12 p.m.
If you know no emails are sent in more by then we're going to make our decision at that
time.
And then so we'll make an announcement that day.
Make sure to get all the logistics plan, you know, Brother Cameron's travel stuff and he
can start planning areas to go soul winning and all that.
So I'm just really excited about this.
And our goal is just to, you know, like I said, encourage people, be a blessing to people
who don't already have an awesome church to go to.
And you know, the more soul winners in more areas in America, the better.
So really excited about just trying something new with that.
Then we have April 1st is the Lord's Supper service.
May 20th through the 24th is the Anti-Israel Conference at Steadfast Baptist Church.
June 17th through the 20th is going to be the soul winning conference in Frankfurt,
Germany.
And so please be praying for that and do consider joining if you can.
On the right is our information for our visitor card and online giving.
And then our prayer list is there as well.
If you have any other requests, please do email the church.
But at this time, let's go ahead and go to the Lord in prayer before our third song.
Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to be in the house of God tonight and the opportunity
to pray to you and have our requests heard.
I pray that you just please bless this evening our time of singing and fellowship and hearing
the preaching of your word.
I pray that you please fill me with the Holy Spirit tonight, Lord, and help us all to pay
attention and learn.
Also I just pray that you would just be with the various needs of members of Anchor Baptist
Church here tonight.
I pray that you would bless our upcoming events that we have planned, that you would just
lead us to a group of soul winners somewhere in America that are just really zealous and
fired up about wanting to become better soul winners and be a bright and shining light
in their community, Lord.
I pray that you just work through this event for your honor and glory.
I pray that you would also please bless Brother Theodore's mother, that she would be healed
of her cancer completely, God.
Also for the church members we have with unsaved loved ones that you just bless in that situation.
Also for the Howsburg family, that you please bless Brother Myles' health, just help strengthen
this rhea as well.
And we love you, Lord, in Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Alright, at this time we'll go ahead and go to our third song together.
Alright, for our third song, if you would at this time, take your white handouts and
turn to Psalm chapter 149.
It's Psalm chapter 149 in the white handout.
Verse 14, the Bible reads, "Him that is weak in the faith, receive ye, but not to doubtful
disputations.
For one believeth that he may eat all things, another, who is weak, eateth herb.
Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not, and let not him which eateth not judge
him that eateth, for God hath received him.
Who art thou that judgest another man's servant?
To his own master he standeth or falleth; yea, he shall be holding up, for God is able
to make him stand.
One man esteemeth one day above another; another esteemeth every day alike.
Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
He that regardeth the day regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day,
to the Lord he doth 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.
For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord.
For whether we live therefore or die, we are the Lord's.
For to this end Christ both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of
the dead and living.
But why dost thou judge thy brother, or why dost thou set at not thy 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 then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
Let us not therefore judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put
a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.
I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself, but
to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably, destroy not
him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.
Let not then your good be evil spoken of, for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink,
but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.
For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men.
Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may
edify another.
For meat destroy not the work of God; all things indeed are pure.
But it is evil for that man who eateth with offense.
It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleeth,
or is offended, or is made weak.
Hast thou faith?
Have it to thyself before God.
Happy is he that condemneth not him in that thing which he alloweth; and he that doubteth
is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith, for whatsoever is not of faith is
sin.
As Bauer heads forward in prayer, Father in heaven, we thank you for this day, and
we thank you for our church for the great works you have done.
We ask that you help us to learn from the Lord, help us to focus on the church, and
to set aside problems of the week.
We love you.
Amen.
Romans chapter 14, verse 1, the Bible says, "Him that is weak in the faith, receive ye,
but not two doubtful disputations."
So people that are new believers, or that are just not as mature in the faith, Paul's
commanding Christians here, "Hey, receive that person, but not two doubtful disputations."
And he gives several really specific examples in this chapter, talking about, you know,
meet and holy days, and really the ideas he's getting at here is we want to receive new
believers, but we don't want to start just having this church become like a debate club
or something like that, where we're just going to sit here and dispute and argue over things
that are doubtful, things that are not super clear, personal preferences, things like that.
Go if you would to Titus chapter number three and keep your place in Romans 14 throughout
the sermon, but not only just meet and holy days and things like that.
There's just some topics that the Bible says you shouldn't just sit here and talk about
and flesh things out.
There's actually some things you should avoid.
Look at what it says in Titus chapter 3 verse 9, notice it says, "But avoid foolish questions
and genealogies and contentions and strivings about the law for they are unprofitable and
vain."
So notice the Bible says, "Hey, just avoid foolish questions."
We heard in school, "There's no such thing, Johnny, as a dumb question."
That was a dumb statement.
There are such things as foolish questions.
And here's the thing, when people are new believers, when they're newly saved, or when
they're just still babes in Christ, regardless of how long they are saved, a lot of times
they're going to want to talk about really dumb things.
And we are to receive them in meekness, but we shouldn't just get dragged down the Nephilim
rabbit hole with them, or the Flat Earth rabbit hole, or just all these different weird topics
that people often want to distract you with.
So if you go to 2 Timothy chapter 2, I just want to show you this principle here, that
there's just some things, you don't want to get into doubtful disputations, foolish questions.
Look at this again in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 23.
It says, "But foolish and unlearned questions, avoid."
Why?
Knowing that they do gender strifes.
So like this is the instructions to the pastor here, and he's saying, "Hey, foolish and
unlearned questions, avoid."
Right?
We don't want to sit here and just have one-on-one conversations with people about stupid things.
What the pastor's going to do is he's going to squash those dumb ideas from behind the
pulpit in his preaching.
Right?
We don't need to just spend all this time going over dumb questions.
Verse 24, "And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt
to teach, patient, notice in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure
will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth."
So you know, we need to be patient.
Those of us who have been saved for a long time, when people are newly saved, when visitors
come in that are just babes in Christ, we need to be patient with them and in meekness
instruct them.
It says those that oppose themselves, right?
A lot of times people just believe dumb stuff and their beliefs are kind of even hurting
themselves.
But we just want to be patient, keep giving them the sound doctrine, keep giving them
the truth.
You know, this is different than heretic.
You know, heretic after the first and second admonition rejects, the Bible teaches.
So when someone is just like contrarian against the doctrine, speaking against it, preaching
against it, you know, that person you need to admonish and move up.
But some people are just going to be slow to grow and that's okay.
We got to be gentle with those people.
But if you would go to Acts chapter 17, there's really two responsibilities here, right?
So for more mature Christians and for the pastor, we need to what?
Be patient, be long suffering, receive the weaker brethren.
But you know, the weaker brethren, the babes in Christ, they have a responsibility too.
It's hey, the church is going to be here giving you good doctrine, giving you admonition,
giving you correction, giving you rebuke.
And you know, it's the listener's job to take that correction, to take that spoonful of
God's word that's being given to you and to grow thereby.
It's a two way street.
Act 17, verse 11, these were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received
the word with all readiness of mind and search the scriptures daily, whether those things
were so so, hey, you know, if someone is newly saved, if they're a babe in Christ, I need
to exhort them.
You need to exhort them.
Hey, come to church and be ready to hear, be ready to learn, be ready to follow along
in your Bible and grasp what you can from the sermon.
Hey, you're not going to understand everything.
You're not going to understand everything in your Bible, your first time reading through
it even, not to mention just in church.
But you know, our attitude is when we come to church, we got to be ready to hear, ready
to learn, ready to receive that correction.
And of course, checking it with the word of God, whether those things are so go back to
Romans 14.
You know, first Peter two verse two says, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of
the word that ye may grow thereby.
So here's the thing, we're going to receive the weaker brethren.
We want new Christians.
We want people that are growing and we want to be long suffering to them.
But it's a two way street in the sense that they need to be desiring the sincere milk
of the word.
They need to be open and ready to hear the preaching of God's word.
Otherwise, you're just going to stay in that state of being a baby Christian.
There's nothing wrong with being a baby Christian when you're a baby Christian, but you want
to get out of that state.
You got to receive the preaching and the milk of the word.
Now he's going to give an example here in Romans 14 of what he means by these doubtful
disputations, someone that's weak in the faith.
He says, "For one believeth that he may eat all things.
Another, who is weak, eateth herbs."
So the apostle Paul is making it very clear here who is the weaker brother in their faith
here.
The person who doesn't think you could eat all things, the person who thinks you can't
eat meat, the person who's just eating herbs, that is the brother that is weaker in the
faith.
Now, some people would be offended by that, but that's just what the Bible says.
And I literally had someone tell me that I can't say that someone who eats herbs is
weak.
And I'm just like, but that's what the Bible literally says, is that this is the weaker
brother.
Now, it's like, I didn't even bring that up to start conflict, but sometimes people try
to start that conflict with you.
What does the Bible say?
"For one believeth that he may eat all things, another who is weak eateth herbs."
So, someone who does not think it's okay, spiritually, to eat meat, that person is weak
in the faith.
That person has not read their Bible enough, they've not grown in the faith enough to
know that that is actually not a biblical concept, saying like, "We have to be vegetarians
today."
Let me show you what I'm talking about.
Go to Colossians chapter two, Colossians chapter number two.
You know, the Bible makes it clear that the dietary laws that existed in the Old Testament
are done away with in the New Testament.
You know, when we're reading Leviticus and it's talking about the creatures that chew
the cud and part the hoof, you know, those are no longer in effect for us today in the
New Testament.
Look at Colossians 2 verse 14.
"Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to
us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross, and having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or
of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but
the body is of Christ.
So all of these things in the Old Testament, the holy days, the feasts, the Sabbath, the
dietary laws, they were all pictures of things that were to come.
Well guess what?
The time of reformation has passed, and that's talking about Jesus Christ coming, dying on
the cross, raising again from the dead.
You know, there's been a change of the law today because things that are a shadow of
that which is to come is done away with when the thing that those things were picturing
actually came.
Right?
What is a shadow?
It's like a picture of the real thing.
But hey, the real thing is Jesus and he came.
And so these are no longer necessary, right?
The Sabbath.
We don't have to keep the Sabbath anymore because the Sabbath was a picture of salvation.
The fact that Jesus Christ did all the work and we rest in his finished work to be saved
by believing on him.
OK, well, it's the same thing with dietary laws.
The Bible says you cannot let people judge you in meat anymore, right?
So no one, no other Christians allowed to come up to you and say, hey, you can't eat
bacon because let me show you this in Leviticus.
Hold on.
The New Testament has explicitly stated that those things are done away, right?
And we don't want to be like the liberal Christians where we just say everything is done away
in the Old Testament.
But things that the New Testament specifically says have been changed, yeah, those things
have been changed.
So it's funny, like, God's moral law, capital crimes, those things have never been changed.
Those things have been affirmed in the New Testament.
And then when we get up today and say, hey, you know, we should put these people to death
that God says we should put to death, they'll be like, well, what about the beast that,
you know, parts the hoof and choose the cut?
And it's like, you know, we know Jesus, you don't stop trying to explain something you
don't understand.
We don't know the Bible.
We do go to Acts chapter number 11.
Now there's a story in Acts that gets more into this idea of being able to just eat any
type of beast that you want.
And here's the thing, God uses carnal truths to illustrate spiritual truths.
And in Acts chapter 11, there's a vision given to Peter.
Look at verse number one, and the apostles and brethren that were in Judea heard that
the Gentiles had also received the word of God.
That's going to be important.
And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with
him saying, thou wentest in to men uncircumcised and did eat with them.
So notice what's happening.
Gentiles are getting saved, right?
Non-Jews, just the world in general, they're receiving the gospel.
They're getting saved.
Peter is ministering unto those people that are getting saved.
And who gets upset by that?
The Jews get upset by that.
And they're mad at Peter saying, "Hey, you went and ate with people that are uncircumcised,
right?
They have, you know, they think he's violating something."
Look at verse four.
"But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning and expounded it by order unto them, saying,
'I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision.
A certain vessel descend as it had been a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners,
and it came even to me.
Upon the witch, when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered and saw four-footed beasts of
the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air, and I heard a voice
saying unto me, "Arise, Peter, slay and eat."
So Peter's taken in this vision where all of a sudden he's just seeing all these different
types of animals, and it's not even like a gray area as to whether or not these would
have been considered unclean in the Old Testament, because it says here "creeping things," right?
And a lot of those creeping things in Leviticus were off limits, but just all sorts of fowls,
wild beasts, creeping things, and he says, "Hey, rise up, kill these suckers, and eat
them."
That's what God told him.
He argues with God in verse 8, "But I said, 'Not so, Lord, for nothing common or unclean
hath at any time entered into my mouth.'"
He's saying, "Hey, I've been following the Levitical dietary laws.
I've never broken that.
I'm not going to rise up and kill and eat these unclean beasts."
But notice, it says, "But the voice answered me again from heaven, 'What God hath cleansed,
that call not thou common.'"
Right?
He's saying, "Hey, God has cleansed these beasts.
It's okay for you to receive this meat, to eat this meat."
That's the carnal truth illustrating what spiritual truth, hey, that the Gentiles are
in the kingdom of God, right?
They've been grafted into that tree, and so they shouldn't have this standoffish attitude
where it's like, "Oh, the Gentiles, they're the heathen nations.
They're the heathen hordes."
It's like, "No.
If they believe in Jesus, receive them.
What God hath cleansed, call not that uncommon," right?
And so this physical truth is true as well, because some people, they just want to accept
the spiritual truth but deny the carnal truth.
What's the carnal truth?
Hey, the pigs, the swine, the bacon, it's clean.
You know, the shrimp, what is it called?
The shellfish, as long as you don't get it from a place on Northwest Expressway, it'll
be clean, all right?
Don't ask me how many stars that sushi place has, all right?
Go back to, if you would, Romans chapter 14, Romans chapter number 14.
So hey, the weaker brother hasn't read Colossians.
I mean, the weaker brother must not have understood this vision because, hey, we're allowed to
eat whatever type of meat you want, receive it with thanksgiving, pray for your food,
and eat it.
It's fine.
But here's the thing.
Notice what God says in verse number three of Romans 14, "Let not him that eateth despise
him that eateth not.
And let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth, for God hath received him."
So he kind of gives two instructions here.
Hey, for the stronger believers, for those of you that believe right on this, don't start
having a condescending attitude and a prideful attitude where you start despising your brother.
You start setting at not your brother and just acting like, "Oh, this person's so terrible.
They're trash.
They're a babe in Christ," whatever.
I mean, they're not eating the meat.
And then the person who is the weaker brother, they are not to judge him that eateth, right?
So the vegetarian can't come to us and say, "Meat is murder.
You guys are bad.
God would be a vegetarian," or whatever.
No, no, no.
You're not allowed to judge us there.
We're going to eat meat.
We're not going to feel bad about that whatsoever.
But we also should not then just despise people that choose not to eat meat.
And honestly, that is kind of a temptation for people because knowledge puffeth up, the
Bible says, but charity edifyeth.
So sometimes the more knowledge you have, the more right you are on doctrine, the more
you need to make sure that you're keeping your heart in check, that you're not starting
to despise or look down on new believers.
You know, it's good to go soul winning to keep a tender heart, right?
Because a lot of times these people, they just lock themselves in an ivory tower and
they're just studying the Bible and studying Greek and studying Hebrew.
And they kind of lose touch with the common man.
But we as Christians say we got to condescend to men of low estate.
And we've got to remember, hey, we were too one-time foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving
divers, lusts and pleasures.
If you think about just the person you were before you got saved, are there some things
that you would look back and say, "That was embarrassing.
I had some really dumb beliefs."
I mean believe it or not, I used to have a lot of the really stupid libertarian beliefs
like God shouldn't get involved, or I'm sorry, the government shouldn't get involved in marriage.
The government should just stay out of it.
And I'm kind of embarrassed that I used to have that take, right?
Well, look, I'm sure it's the same thing with you, with everyone.
We look back and say, "Hey, I had some dumb takes, I was immature, I believed some really
stupid stuff."
And so when people come in here, and they're immature, and they believe stupid stuff, and
they have some dumb takes, we should be long-suffering and gracious.
Now, that doesn't mean that we have to stop eating meat, right?
But we're not going to, you know, purposely, what's the word I'm looking for, offend that
person, right?
Look what it says in verse number four.
It says, "Who art thou that judgest another man's servant?
To his own master he standeth or falleth, yea, he shall be holding up, for God is able
to make him stand."
What is God saying here?
Hey, when it comes to personal standards that are not sinful things, you know, mind your
own business.
Because here's the thing, while it is not a sin to eat meat, does the Bible say like
you have to eat meat or you're not right with God?
No, it doesn't say that.
Could someone just choose to have whatever dietary preferences they want?
Absolutely.
And so he uses this example of like a master and a servant, right?
If you go to a workplace and you don't even work there, could you imagine like the boss
is talking to one of his employees and you just walk up and you just start giving that
employee commands and just telling him what to do?
It's like, what are you doing?
Who are thou that judges another man's servant?
You know, this is like people that like to get involved with other people's marriages.
You got these meddling pastors that love to criticize husbands for exercising their authority.
It's like, bro, who are thou that judges another man's servant?
What are you doing?
Or getting involved with people's parenting and just overstepping their authority.
It's like, whoa, when it comes to people's personal business, their personal standards,
things that isn't violating the Bible, you know, don't get involved with that kind of
stuff.
Don't sit here and despise people for that kind of stuff or judge people for these kind
of things.
You know, we're going to make it clear in this sermon that Romans 14 is not sitting
here saying never judge, okay, because that would introduce contradictions into the Bible.
That would introduce tons of contradictions because the Bible is constantly telling us
to judge righteously.
All right.
Go, if you would, to Mark chapter number seven, Mark chapter number seven.
Now, here's the thing.
We are allowed to have personal opinions.
You are allowed to have personal standards so long as it does not contradict God's word,
right?
People will be like, "Hey, who art thou that judges another man's servant, so you can't
judge me for drinking alcohol, for fornicating, because my conscience hasn't convicted me
of that yet."
It's like, wait a second, God's already judged those things, right?
But there's some things that God hasn't given specific detail on that we just have to kind
of take the principles of God's word, do the best to apply them to our lives, and at the
end of the day, you've got to answer to God for that, I've got to answer to God for that,
but we shouldn't sit in here and despise each other for our personal opinions, our personal
preferences.
There's a story that fits this in Mark 7, verse 1, it says, "Then came together unto
him the Pharisees and certain of the scribes which came from Jerusalem, and when they saw
some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say with unwashed hands, they found
fault."
Right?
So these Pharisees are judging Jesus' disciples for eating with unwashed hands.
They're finding fault with them, but are they basing that off of Scripture, off of
objective truth or just their own opinion?
It's their own opinions, because look what it says, "For the Pharisees and all the Jews,
except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders."
So this is a personal standard.
They're following a tradition.
Is this a sinful tradition?
Absolutely not.
There's nothing wrong with washing your hands before you eat food, but is this God's command?
No.
So can you judge someone for not doing it?
No, you cannot.
Look what it says in verse four, "When they came from the market, except they wash not,
they eat not.
And many other things there be which they have received to hold as the washing of cups
and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables."
So the Jews were notorious for just having tons of these manmade rules, manmade standards
that they would judge and condemn other people for following, meanwhile not keeping God's
commandments.
This is what you would call a hypocrite.
All right?
It says there in verse 5, "Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, 'Why walk not thy disciples
according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?'
He answered and said unto them, 'Well, hath Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites.
As it is written, this people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from
me, howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.'"
That's what we want to avoid, right? Because we don't want to be worshiping God in vain,
where it's meaningless, where God says, "I hear your mouth moving, but your heart is
super far from me." When people are getting up and teaching for doctrines their own philosophy,
their own opinions, their own personal standards, you know, that made Jesus really, really upset.
Now, here's the thing. If these guys just said, "Hey, I want to wash my hands before
I eat," right? And maybe you're a father and you have authority over people and you
say, "Kids, you are washing your hands before you eat. Wife, you are washing your hands
before you eat." And they just kept it at that. Would Jesus have been upset? No. What's
the problem though? Overstepping their authority and sitting here and judging and condemning
the disciples for not keeping their man-made rules. That makes God upset. For laying aside,
verse 8, "The commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men as the washing of pots
and cups and many other such like things ye do." And he said unto them, "Full well, ye
reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition." For Moses said,
"Honor thy father and thy mother, and whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the
death. But ye say, if a man shall say to his father or mother, it is korban, that is to
say a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, he shall be free. And ye suffer
him no more to do aught for his father or his mother, making the word of God of none
effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered, and many such like things ye do.
So that's what we want to avoid, is making God's word of none effect through our own
tradition. This is what a lot of people do in the new evangelical movement, is they will
ignore clear commands of God, they'll twist chapters like Romans chapter 14, talking about
our conscience and the liberty that we have in Christ, and they'll just say things like
hey, the Holy Spirit hasn't convicted me of that yet. But what they're doing is they're
making void the commandment of God through their tradition, through their opinion, through
their own ideas, right? And what's a big one they do this with? Alcohol. Well, of course,
you know, of course we don't want to get drunk, but I just think that it's okay to have a
beer with dinner. I just think it's fine to have a couple glasses of wine and relax and
it's good for the heart. And yeah, I'm not getting drunk, but you know, the Holy Spirit
hasn't convicted me when I have just my wine with dinner. They're just making void the
commandments of God because the Bible says, "Look not on the wine when it is red, when
it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright." Because if you have an IQ
above 50, you could realize that there are multiple types of wine in the Bible. There's
a wine that is a blessing that cheers the heart of man. That's something that's pure,
that Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God would make, called juice, called fruit juice,
and that's a blessing. Then there's the wine of Sodom. Then there's the poison of Asps.
Then there's the wine that moves itself in the cup. I wonder what that looks like. It's
fermented alcohol is what that is. And the Bible says, "Hey, don't even look at that
type of alcohol. Not to mention, drink it." So what are people doing when they're just
saying, "Hey, the Holy Spirit hasn't convicted me of that yet." You know, they're just teaching
for doctrines, the commandments of men. And they're rejecting clear scripture. And you
know what? Jesus is mad at those type of people. And so we will judge those type of people
because we're standing on God's word. Now, go back to Romans chapter number 14. And you
know, think about it this way. There are so many clear commandments in the Bible that
we struggle with, that we have so much work to do on our own personal lives. Why are we
going to sit here and focus on people's personal standards, preferences, things that are just
clearly condemned in the Bible? It's like, do we not have enough to work on as it is?
Why don't we focus on God's clear commandments instead of worrying about whether you have
a home birth or a hospital birth and condemning people over stuff like that? It's ridiculous.
And you know, this is the type of stuff that causes division. This is why he said, hey,
avoid the foolish questions, the contentions, all these things, because those are the things
that gender strife. Now, what are some specific examples? Well, Paul brings up some great
ones here. Look at verse five. "One man esteemeth one day above another. Another esteemeth
every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." He's saying that here's
an example of where people are going to differ on, and regardless of what side you end up
on, it is not sinful, right? On one side, you could regard one day as being more special
than another, and that's fine. Or you could choose not to regard any day as more special
than another and that is fine too. He says let every man be fully persuaded in his own
mind he that regardeth the day regardeth it unto the Lord and he that regardeth not the
day to the Lord he doth not regard it he that Edith Edith to the Lord for he giveth God thanks
and he that Edith not to the Lord he Edith not and giveth God thanks for none of us liveth
to himself and no man dyeth to himself 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
he's trying to get us to like change our perspective here where it's not all about us it's not
all about our lives it's about doing things unto God esteeming things unto God living
our lives unto God verse 9 for to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that
he might be Lord both of the dead and living so what he brings up in this passage he brings
up the steaming days above another and he brings up eating right eating unto the Lord
or not eating unto the Lord so I would say interpreting these passages that if you want
to celebrate any holiday that doesn't violate God's commandments you have liberty to celebrate
that holiday it's totally fine there's nothing wrong with you celebrating you know for example
Easter what are we celebrating on Easter how about the resurrection of Jesus Christ I
can't believe there's so many people that get angry at people for celebrating Easter
it's like wait why are you getting mad that we're esteeming this day to praise the risen
Savior to talk about the risen Lord Jesus Christ is it just because there's a word on
your calendar that makes you upset it's ridiculous now here's the thing where could Easter become
sinful well if you're lying to your children and you're saying hey there's this magical
Easter bunny creature that's going to come into our house tonight and scatter candy all
around our house that's a sin you know why because the Bible says thou shalt not bear
false witness don't lie to your children oh it's just so sweet and so so innocent no lying
lips are an abomination to the Lord there's no sweet sugary chocolatey lie on Easter by
telling them about the Easter bunny that is sinful and so you know but here's the thing
people will read Romans 14 and take it out of context be like don't judge me for telling
my kids about the Easter bunny it's harmless no no there's a clear command you're lying
lying is always sinful and so when you're lying hey we can condemn that we can judge
that but if you just want to say hey we want to celebrate Easter you even want to get your
kids candy and tell them hey I bought you candy I bought you a present we're celebrating
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ we're gonna have a nice meal we're gonna have
a big day in church there's nothing in the world wrong with that and hey you know if
for some reason I don't know why any Christian will want to do this but if for some reason
you just want to treat that like any other day that's okay right I mean if you're gonna
come to church or something be involved in it so don't judge us for celebrating it but
that's fine how about Christmas what in the world is wrong with celebrating the birth
of the Lord Jesus Christ there's nothing wrong with that folks but people try to hold there's
a conspiracy you got to realize Easter is pagan it's like no no no maybe you didn't
hear me I said we're celebrating the resurrection of Jesus did I misspeak did you think I said
like hail Satan or something like that I said we're celebrating Jesus it's pagan I said
we're celebrating Jesus you idiot no but Christmas is pagan what are you talking about we're
celebrating Jesus's birth again it's like what is wrong with you people right hey esteem
the day or don't esteem the day but don't sit here and judge us for esteeming the day
right nothing wrong with Christmas nothing wrong with creating your own family traditions
maybe you have a certain meal maybe there's something you like to do for breakfast for
dinner there's people you like to see there's events you like to do hey all of those traditions
are great so long as they're not sinful right if you got a tradition where you like to get
blacked out drunk on Christmas that's sinful that's wrong hey you know if you tell your
children that there's this magical fat deadbeat person that only works one day out of the
year and you know just hoards himself with cookies millions and millions of cookies and
just gives you free magical presents that's a sin because you're lying to them and so
yeah i will judge you for telling your kids that santa claus is real and i will always
spoil that from them from behind the pulpit so if anyone's been trying to keep the secret
kids your parents aren't perfect all right still honor and obey them but trust me on
this one santa is fake all right hey nothing wrong with celebrating christmas but there
is something wrong with lying right there is something wrong with getting drunk there
is something wrong with these things go to jeremiah 10 and say but wait a second what
about jeremiah 10 doesn't jeremiah 10 prove that christmas trees are wicked right this
is what people say jeremiah 10 proves that christmas trees are wicked and so therefore
christmas is pagan and you can't celebrate it no no no i'm esteeming the day unto the
lord i can celebrate it but let's just go there because i think this is really funny
jeremiah 10 verse 1 hear ye the word which the lord speaketh unto you oh house of israel
thus saith the lord learn not the way of the heathen and be not dismayed at the signs of
heaven for the heathen are dismayed at them hey don't be like the heathen that get all
scared when there's a solar eclipse or a lunar eclipse or there's a certain constellation
we're gonna read oh what does this mean if you're born in this month no no that's ridiculous
don't be dismayed of that kind of stuff for the customs of the people are vain for one
cut at the tree out of the forest the work of the hands of the workmen with an axe so
the the anti-christmas people say this is a christmas tree that it's describing look
they deck it with silver and gold silver and gold right they fasten it with nails and with
hammers that it move not they are upright as the palm tree but speak not they must needs
be born because they cannot go be not afraid of them for they cannot do evil neither also
is it in them to do good now do you really think that god needs to remind his people
hey just so you know the christmas tree cannot talk i just want you to make sure don't be
afraid of the christmas tree it's like was anyone walking around the christmas tree and
just being like are you about to start talking to me like are you about to start moving what's
going on what is this it's talking about idolatry folks that's what it's talking about they're
taking a tree out of the woods they're you're fashioning some sort of image to look like
a person or a beast and you know those things god constantly is like hey they have ears
but they hear not they have noses they can't smell they have mouths they can't speak now
that actually makes sense to use this type of language but no one no one ever walked
by their Christmas tree and was like is this thing gonna start talking to me maybe a schizophrenic
person but no normal person has ever thought that before so this one this is a bad verse
to condemn Christmas with go to Exodus chapter number 28 you know what about birthdays hey
nothing wrong with birthdays as long as you're not doing something sinful what and there's
all sorts of crazy holidays in our country you know here's one that's sinful how about
Martin Luther King jr. day why is our country celebrating a false prophet that denied the
virgin birth of Jesus that denied the resurrection of Jesus Christ who was a serial adulterer
who was a communist who was a wicked evil piece of trash and you know what you should
not have any respect for that person regardless of what he did because you know what he's
burning in hell all right it's an evil holiday and it's honestly it's disappointing that
that gets to be black people's champion because there's a lot better black people in this
world to represent your community than some serial adulterer communist piece of crap so
you know what celebrating martin luther king day yeah that would be a sin yeah celebrating
halloween as you dress up like some sort of bloody demonic witch yeah that's wicked folks
and look you know sometimes people are going to take time to grow on these things but i'm
just telling you the truth what are some areas today that people might have personal standards
on that could slightly differ from another where it's not crossing into line of sin and
hey we should just love our brother we should not fight about these things argue try to
make people feel bad about these things okay how about modesty exodus 28 verse 42 says
and thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness from the loins even
unto the thighs they shall reach so the bible defines nakedness right the loins to the thighs
this is a must like you must cover these areas or you would be in sin right so you've got
to cover the parts of your body that the bible says is nakedness but you know maybe some
ladies just choose just want to have a skirt that's a little bit longer than that and maybe
that's just the personal standard that they've made for themselves that's okay you get to
make that standard but you don't get to call a woman a whore if she's covering it right
up to the knee right because that's what the bible says you don't get to sit here and condemn
a woman who actually is just following what the bible says and there's all sorts of different
dress standards right the the width of your strap of your whatever shirt your top there's
all these different you know standards you could have you know you should follow what
your mom and dad says what your husband says but you know we shouldn't be judging people
about things like that go to first timothy chapter number two first timothy chapter two
so the biblical principle is hey cover your nakedness the other principle is the bible
says to be modest right so we should be not trying to draw attention to ourselves not
try to show off every curve of a woman's body and try to get as many eyes on her body as
possible why because the bible says in first timothy 2 9 in like manner also that women
adorn themselves in modest apparel with shame facelessness and sobriety not with broidered
hair or gold or pearls or costly array so hey if you are showing your nakedness you're
wrong you're in sin if you are being immodest you're wrong you're in sin but does the bible
just tell us every single stitch and thread of clothing and style no we have to use some
discretion when it comes to that and so hey each family each woman each parent is going
to have maybe different standards in that you know what that's okay as long as we are
following what the bible says and here's the thing we just got to take these principles
and we got to apply them to ourselves and try to think like what is the most christ
honoring thing that we could do here obviously ladies know that men are very attracted to
women so you want to honor christ you know be very modest that's what god desires that
doesn't mean you have to be ugly or you can't be stylish or anything like that right i think
the new fb girls are stylish that's great but don't be modest don't show your nakedness
you know people are going to have different standards got you know are guys allowed to
swim with their shirt on or off people have different opinions on that i personally don't
care i don't think there's anything wrong with a guy swimming with his shirt off but
you know what if your mom and dad says no whatever don't sit here and condemn each other
over silly stuff like that how about entertainment right there's some people that would hold
to a standard of where you know we're not allowed to have any tv in the house any screen
in the house we would never see any type of movie whatsoever we would never listen to
any type of music whatsoever even books you know you can't read any type of book besides
a religious topic or something like that people are going to have different standards but
really you got to come up with those standards based on the word of god for your own family
go if you would to let's see where did i have you guys go psalm 33 psalm 33 you know just
some of my personal thoughts here if you're watching entertainment that mocks christianity
blasphemes god glorifies sin is obscene showing nudity stuff like that i think that that's
pretty clearly crossing the line but i i'm not going to sit up here and say if you have
a tv in your house your wicked center because it's funny how people like grandstand about
these kind of things i don't have a tv in my house they just spend their entire day
on their phone or on their computer or on their tablet and it's like you know oh you
know i don't personally have social media whatsoever but i definitely have lots of anonymous
accounts right it's like okay don't be a holier than thou social media some people like it
some people don't is there anything wrong with having social media no now is there wrong
is there things wrong with railing wasting your time being a busy body being a gossip
on social media flaunting your body on social media yeah of course those things would be
wrong but the tool in and of itself is not sinful sports you know it's okay to watch
a game if you want to watch a game some people will just condemn other Christians for having
any level of vanity in their life whatsoever where it's just like why would you not go
soul winning for six hours a day eight hours a day seven days a week and you know what
if you're not working or you're not soul winning you should be reading your Bible or you should
be memorizing scripture or you should be praying and you know what you shouldn't even be eating
more than like 500 calories a day and you know what working out is vain and talking
to girls is vain and doing anything it's like bro stop being a holier than thou all right
it's okay you want to be on social media do it hey you want to watch a game well let me
ask you if you're watching a game let me ask you this have you read your Bible are you
faithful to church have you paid your bills are you spending time with your family oh
you want to watch a game on the weekend go for it man don't sit here and condemn
people for stuff like that it's ridiculous you know playing sports
people have different opinions you know is it okay for them to play a sport is
it okay for their kids to play a sport bro whatever you're convinced in your
own mind that's okay you could be fully persuaded of whatever persuasion there
that is totally fine because you know what the Bible does not say thou shalt
not ever watch a game and the Bible does not say thou shalt never play a
game you know these are just ridiculous over-the-top judgments that people have
that causes division because it you know hard preaching is not you
coming up with your own personal opinions personal opinions is not hard
preaching condemning people for not being awesome as you're awesome is not
hard preaching all it does is it causes strife because people just they get rubbed
the wrong way by your pride by like wow how great and holy you are you know man
it was so wonderful that the Pharisees were so much better than Jesus's
disciples right because they wash their hands and the disciples didn't it's
like you're not looking at this the right way how about music I told you go
to Psalm 33 Psalm 33 verse 1 the Bible says rejoice in the Lord oh you
righteous for praise is comely for the upright praise the Lord with harp sing
unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings sing unto him
notice a new song play skillfully with a loud noise yeah we're supposed to sing
to ourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing making melody
unto the Lord amen and that's what we do we love that but you know there's
nothing wrong with singing unto the Lord a new song it's like hey there's
nothing wrong with regarding a day if you're regarding it to the Lord nothing
wrong with eating hey if you're eating unto the Lord nothing wrong with singing
a new song when you're regarding it unto the Lord right and so some people want
to say like this specific sound is sinful right oh there's there's a sinful
sound that we must avoid it's like where's that in the Bible that's
ridiculous or there's a specific instrument that is sinful you know like
the electric guitar is sinful it's like wait a second show me that in the Bible
I mean don't we have enough things to preach hard about don't we have enough
sins in our lives to sit here and condemn and it's like if someone wants
to learn a new instrument sing a song how am I gonna see her and condemn them
for that kind of stuff that's ridiculous now here's the thing but what is it it's
just tradition and traditions can be okay hey we have a tradition of the
old-fashioned hymns and I love those hymns and I'm not changing from those
hymns love those hymns but you know what all hymns at one point were
contemporary that's the thing that's funny is like when when what's his name
give me a hymnal someone someone hand me a dang hymnal let's just open up a
random one here all right let's just see all right here we go here we go when
Fanny Crosby does anyone know anything about Fanny Crosby is that a person
somewhat recent in history no man I thought that these had years on them I
guess not John R. Rice he's long gone but when John R. Rice came out with ask
and seek and knock that song was contemporary it was brand new and it's
like the problem that we have today with contemporary Christian music is not that
it's new it's that it's lame it's that it's teaching false doctrines is that
it's glorifying the flesh it's not that you know you have a little bit of
different sound and that's your taste no it's that you got half-naked women on
the stage dancing around that's the problem all right it's your glorifying
yourself you've turned this into a show of self-glorification it's not that you
know any type of new music is sinful and you know here's the thing there is a lot
of worldly trash music in this world that obviously just goes above the line
right songs glorifying sin rap music glorifying murder and adultery and you
know country music glorifying alcohol and just using Christ's name in vain look
all of that stuff is wicked and evil so don't try to take me out of context and
say oh I'm just supporting liberal music absolutely not and anyone who actually
knows me in my life knows that like personally I don't listen to secular
music like at all I just don't it's just not my thing now here's the thing am I
gonna sit here and say any person who listens to any secular song is wicked
and evil no I can't say that because it's like didn't George Strait sing a
song about loving his wife you know what that's wicked as hell you're listening
to George Strait sing a song about loving his wife it's like we just make
Christianity a joke at this point well we're just you know ripping face on
things that aren't even sins that aren't even crossing the line biblically it's
like why don't we just preach hard against sin and why don't we hey you
have a personal opinion great you keep that personal opinion you be convinced
convinced by that personal opinion but you know what I am NOT gonna sit here
and say someone's evil and wicked and liberal and backsliding because they
like a song or they play guitar or they play bass or something like that it's
like people criticize new IFB parody which God bless you know the new IFB
parody channel it's hilarious songs and it's like oh the new IFB is becoming so
wicked and is becoming so just liberal because of new IFB parody and it's like
I think you get you guys just don't like songs that are mugging you I just don't
think you like songs that are just you know showing your hypocrisy and just
like you know mugging on the enemies of God a little bit and the enemies of
churches it's like I don't think there's anything wrong with those songs you know
if songs are getting up and blaspheming God with an electric guitar then that's
wicked that's evil but it's not like oh there's a sinful sound show me sinful
sound in the Bible you're teaching for doctrines the commandments of men now
now people who don't care about the Bible says and who are puffed up and
are holier than now are gonna hear this and say wow Pastor Ross is so liberal
he's so backslidden but it's like what's funny is I probably listen to way less
secular music than even these people judging because I it's just not my
thing folks and it here's thing now I'm not saying I'm never gonna listen to one
again because I just might but I'm not gonna judge people that do there's
nothing wrong with it if it's not you know glorifying sin or crossing a line
how about dancing go to Psalm 150 Psalm 150 you know there's a long-standing
Baptist tradition that just says all dancing is evil and you know Baptist
that I love great Baptist pastors of the past have gotten up and just breathed
fire on dancing and here's the thing I get it because yeah dancing with the
stars yeah let's be honest that's weird that's wicked girls dressing up half
naked and dancing all close with someone that's not your wife of course that's
wrong but can you really say that all dancing is wicked with this verse right
here Psalm 150 verse 4 praise him with the timbrel and dance praise him with
stringed instruments and organs sounds like God's Word commands to praise him
with the timbrel and with the dance I don't know what moves that looks like
I'm not gonna try to make a video showing anyone how to do that but you
know there's not there's not it's not like all dancing is sinful because anyone
who has children sees kids dancing all the time and it's just so pure it's just
beautiful and like they'll dance to absolutely anything and there's no
nothing sensual weird going on about it so just to say like all dancing is evil
no that's not what the Bible says that's just a man-made opinion here's another
one mixed swimming right man some of you from old IFB backgrounds probably cringe
when I even bring this up it's just like mixed swimming is like you've taken the
mark of the beast or something right I see it on your guys's faces all right I
know and I've heard too but he's like does the Bible say thou shalt not swim
in any body of water where there's someone from the opposite gender in that
same body of water no now look if your mom and dad says no then no if a pastor
of a church says no no right but can we really just say like anyone who ever does
this is sinning and I mean they're just right on the line of adultery basically
right on the line of four it's like no you can't sit here and judge in that
area if someone thinks that's okay hey cover yourself be modest what's wrong is
the bikini that's what's wrong it's not like being in a body of water that's
somehow wrong I mean am I allowed to baptize any ladies or is that crossing
the line is that playing with sin or something like that it's ridiculous
right that brings me something else dating standards hey some people will
just have strict dating standards where it's like no touching no looking no
thinking no anything whatsoever be on opposite sides of the room don't even
think about each other until you're married and it's like hey whatever your
parents say are the rules dating follow those rules but it's like if another
parent does dating a little bit differently don't seem to be like oh oh
you wicked sinner you allow you know your children that are dating to talk
to each other you know you're so sinful no folks it's fine right hey if mom and
dad say no holding hands no holding hands but if mom and dad say holding
hands you know you're not sinning in that I don't believe video games now
look are there wicked video games out there yes are there deadbeat losers
that spend nothing of their time but playing video games and they're not good
providers and they're fat and out of shape and they're not doing anything
with their lives and they play video games all day yeah those people exist
but it's like again if someone is a soul winner and they're reading their Bible
they're memorizing scripture they're providing for their family they're
paying the bills and they want to play a video game every now and then can I get
up here and say thus say it the Lord your evil your wicked no right I'd have
to say the same thing about the guy who has a social media account same thing
about the guy whoever watches a sports game right it's just unrealistic to sit
here and say you can have no level of vanity in your life whatsoever I mean
that's just the reality of life you're not going to be able to serve God every
waking second of your life college versus trade school people get real
judgmental about this kind of stuff oh you should never send your kid to college
for any reason it's like okay where's that where's that in the Bible though if
someone goes to college and gets an aeronautical engineering degree am I
really gonna say like you're such an idiot man you're such an idiot that
you're gonna go work for Boeing and NASA and make six figures your first year on
the job you know no there's nothing wrong with that now would it be foolish
to go get a political science degree yeah would it be foolish to join the
fraternity and get yourself drunk and do drugs and fornicate and hook up in
college yeah but is getting an education sinful no right then on the other side
you have the kind of aristocratic attitude it's like oh you would send
your kid to trade school oh I thought you actually had something planned for
your life you know you're gonna go be a plumber you're gonna go be an
electrician or something like that that's a bad attitude as well right hey
some people just have different preferences be fully persuaded in your
own mind you know it's like hey if you got the money and you want to send your
kid to a school and get a great degree good for you
praise God that sounds great I love education if I could have afforded it I
would have gone to college I didn't that's fine I'm just going over a lot of
examples because you know I'm not gonna preach a whole sermon on these
individual topics but it's good to bring these things up Western medicine versus
natural medicine right some people are just like hey you know if your kid
breaks their leg put some garlic drops on it you know get some CBD oil or
whatever and other people are like I'm gonna go to the doctor right and it's
like hey Jesus said they that are whole need not a physician but they that are
sick hey if you're sick there's nothing wrong with going to a doctor now if you
want to do natural path that hey that is your decision people have horrible
things happen in their life they get cancer hey you know this is a big
decision for them they've got to live with the treatment they've got to face
the consequences of whatever they want to go down a natural path I'm not gonna
sit here and criticize them now here's the thing if someone else wants to get
chemo don't sit here and just constantly give them unsolicited advice and
constantly just berate them about their medical choices let people make their
choices okay not saying we can never give someone information to help that
person but don't sit here and just condemn people and judge people for going
to the doctor for getting any type of medical help home birth versus hospital
I already brought this up people get real judgmental about this kind of stuff
there was a guy at a church I went to literally got up and preached that it is
sinful to have your child born in the hospital I'm just like I've read the
Bible a lot of times never did I see that one that one skipped by me no no
we're not gonna preach for doctrines the commandments of men it's not right okay
here's another old ife be one beards some of you may not know this but the
old I've be used to preach that beards are wicked that if you have a beard
you're a commie and you know what you're just a dirty commie and you're just
terrible like this is the old I've be of the 60s 70s and the hippie movement was
going on at that time but it's like hey men of God in the Bible had beards you
could have a beard if you want you cannot have one if you want let every
man be fully persuaded in his own beard okay just have it or don't and let other
people live their life makeup same thing some people want to wear makeup some
people don't hey that is a personal preference the Bible does say to be
modest internalize that apply that to yourself ask yourself if you're honoring
Christ with how you're presenting your body to the world but you know what I'm
not gonna sit here and say that wearing makeup is a sin because Bible doesn't
say that go back to Romans 14 if you're not right there mad Romans chapter 14
but you know there's so many actual commandments of God that I need to worry
about in my own life that you need to worry about in your own life where I'm
just really not that concerned about where your wife pushes out the baby I
mean I'll just pray for you if you have your baby at home I'll pray for you and
if you have your baby in the hospital I'll pray for you and you know what if
you're just taking care of your business I really don't care if you play Madden
in the evenings I really don't care if you play Call of Duty and I just don't
because there's a lot of commandments of God that I'm worried about for myself
and for others look at verse number 10 but why does thou judge thy brother or
why dost thou set it not thy brother for we shall all stand before the
judgment seat of Christ hey this should just bring everything in here to this
really culminating sobering thought here that how we live our lives the
standards that we do choose to have for ourselves we will give an account of
those one day at the judgment seat of Christ and it's like I won't have to
answer for your your life and how you spent your time and your standards I'll
just have to answer for mine I'll read for you 2nd Corinthians 5 9 wherefore we
labor that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him for we must all
appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the
things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or
bad that is a real day that's coming where you will stand before the Lord
Jesus Christ he will judge how you used your life whether you used your body for
good or for bad and you know what you're gonna have to live with the choices that
you made and your eternity and how you're gonna rule and reign with Christ
and you know the brightness of your glorified body is going to be determined
by how we live our lives now so I'm not getting up here and I'm not saying hey
let's cut back the standards hey let's slack in the standards no I'm saying for
yourself raise those standards but I'm not gonna sit here and say what
standards exactly you have to have unless they're given in the Bible right
because hey I'm gonna stand before Christ I'm gonna give an account you're
gonna give account as well verse 11 says for it is written as I live say at the
Lord every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God so
then every one of us shall give account of himself to God not of the Joneses
next door not of your fellow church members not of your spouse not of your
children not of your parents of yourself so you know what you need to be
comfortable with the standards that you have in your life because you are gonna
give an account of them someday verse 13 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 some people will take this verse out of
context and see and say see Romans 14 abolishes judgment Matthew 7 abolishes
judgment you're not supposed to judge don't judge me for my works wait a
second are we just gonna ignore the entire context of this chapter we're not
sitting here and judge in doubtful disputations personal standards personal
opinions that is actually a time where the Bible says hey let us not therefore
judge one another anymore that would be a sinful judgment and instead of judging
our brother for their personal preferences he says hey judge this
rather let's take the judgment back on ourselves judge this rather that no man
put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way hey that's
what you should be judging not do they have the right standards it's hey am I
being charitable am I being Christ like am I putting a stumbling block in my
brother's way that's what I should be judging in this scenario now go if you
would to first Corinthians 5 because I just want to show how the Bible does
teach though that we are to judge in general this is one area that's an
exception where the Bible says hey don't judge in this area don't judge for
personal standards Matthew 7 hey don't judge hypocritically when you've got a
beam in your own eye don't worry about the moat in your brother's eye but
notice times where we should judge first Corinthians 5 verse 12 for what have I
to do with to judge them also that are without you saying why would I judge
people outside of the faith or outside of the house of God do not you judge
them that are within but them that are without God judgeth therefore put away
from among yourselves that wicked person right first Corinthians 5 is about
church discipline being excommunicated from church and you say hey don't worry
about judging this world don't worry about judging the unsaved people of
course they're all committing fornication and adultery and they're
extortioners they're railers and hey he that is without God judging oh only God
could judge me yeah he will and that's scary you should be terrified of that
but he's saying hey those that are within you need to judge you need to
judge within the house of God hey put away from among yourselves that wicked
person right so if someone is is a drunk if someone is a railer if someone is an
extortioner an idolater fornicator these sins that are listed here we are going
to judge you and not just the pastor the congregation is going to judge you
because it's church discipline not pastor discipline it's excommunication
from the church it's being cut off from the church as a form of punishment to
provoke you to get right with God yeah you know what that is that's judgment
and we make judgments all the time you picked your career you made a judgment
you picked your spouse you made a judgment you ate something today you
made a judgment of what to eat this idea of just saying the Bible says not to
judge it's insane it's absolutely insane look at the next chapter first Corinthians
6 verse 2 do you not know that the Saints shall judge the world and if the
world shall be judged by you are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters
know you not that we shall judge angels how much more things that pertain to
this life if then you have judgments of things pertaining to this life set them
to judge who are the least esteemed in the church I speak to your shame is it
so that there's not a wise man among you no not one that shall be able to
judge between his brethren so notice the apostle Paul saying hey it's actually a
shame if you have a church situation where no one can judge he's saying hey
if there's a conflict between brother and brother get him that's least
esteemed in the church and have him judge and if that can't even happen I
speak this to your shame so you know the problem today with our world is not
judgment it's not that God's judgment is going forth it's not that we're
judging things according to the Word of God it's a lack of judgment that's
actually the problem in our world today we need way more judgment we need more
righteous judgment go if you would to Romans 14 now something else I want to
point out verse 13 says let us not therefore judge one another anymore but
judges rather that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in
his brother's way some people will take this verse and they'll apply it to say
well we don't want to preach certain parts of the Bible to someone who's
weak in the faith to someone who's a new Christian because we don't want to put a
stumbling block in their way we don't want to offend them look this is saying
that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way
this is saying hey don't be a jerk about your personal preferences receive those
that are weak in the faith don't sit here and despise your brother who has
different personal you know opinions in you this is not saying hey cut back the
message don't preach the full counsel of God you know preach the word be
instant well when there's not visitors be instant well when there's not new
believers that you can offend it's like hold on a second folks if God's word
offends someone then so be it that's God's word who are you to sit here in
judgment of which of God's words are suitable to be spoken or preached to
God's people you are supposed to be a messenger the church is supposed to be
the pillar and ground of the truth we're supposed to be a bright shining city on
a hill right we're supposed to be shouting God's words from the housetops
he says right this idea of well we don't want to be a stumbling block so as we've
heard from the ex new IV man we don't want to warn people about reprobates we
don't want to teach the reprobate doctrine to someone who might be a new
believer we don't want to teach the reprobate doctrine to someone who might
have a gay brother to someone who might have an LGBT reprobate family member and
it's like here's what's so funny about this and how I know these ex new IV
losers do no soul winning whatsoever is because if you actually go soul winning
oftentimes people actually are hung up with this idea of serial killers and
pedophiles and people on the Epstein list just right before they die saying
oh Jesus I accept you into my heart and going to heaven and you know what
sometimes helps them get saved is when we show them the reprobate doctrine and
we tell them hey faggots child molesters these school shooters they're
all reprobates they're gonna spend eternity in hell they will never be
saved and in that case they're like oh well God seems pretty just then this
seems like a smart religion hey the gospel sounds pretty good and they
believe okay and how here's the thing if someone does have a gay brother a gay
cousin a gay uncle wouldn't that be the person of all the people in the world
that you need to warn about no no no I just need to tell all of you who already
know that reprobates are evil dogs that will prey on you that are just being
filled with all unrighteousness that are capable of everything I mean you all
have already cut the ties with the faggot uncle you guys already know what
the Bible says you've already watched psychopath reprobates you've already
watched LGBT terrorists you've already watched the sodomite deception me
getting up here and warning you about reprobates is just a dang good reminder
it's just me preaching God's word and being faithful to it but you know who
needs that message someone who has a gay brother that's who needs that message
and you know what you're not putting a stumbling block in someone's way by
warning them about the LGBT you know who's who's offending people you know
who's causing a stumbling block faggots that molest your children because you
didn't warn people right doesn't Jesus say if anyone offend one of these little
ones which believe in me it were better for him that a millstone were tied
about his neck and he were cast into the depths of the sea you know who's
offending and casting stumbling blocks before people today sodomites
reprobates it's not preachers getting up in warning about those evil sins that
are causing stumbling blocks you know that's such a misinterpretation of this
passage and it just shows these people don't lack they lack spiritual
understanding they lack soul-winning experience it's like they lack love for
people oh I'm just not gonna warn you about something that's gonna hurt you
because I just want you to fill the building I just want as many visitors as
possible look I'm not gonna cut the message for a visitor and you know
honestly that's pretty rude and disrespectful to you guys where it's
like you dedicate your life to anchor Baptist Church like you're three to
thrive hey you're reading the Bible you're doing the Bible memorization
you're going soul-winning it's like sorry guys I'm not gonna give you the
sermon you actually need because here's a visitor so we're just gonna cut back
like if anything if I was in the pew I'd be angry at that I'd want the
preacher to rip and quite honestly sometimes if there's a visitor I'll just
preach extra hard and it's like if I talk to someone and they're you know
like a heretic Russian who believes you could lose your salvation I might just
preach on eternal security extra hard like the next five sermons right until
they get saved or go verse 14 notice it says I know and I'm persuaded by the
Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself but to him that
esteemeth anything to be unclean to him it is unclean so the Bible does teach
this idea of having our conscience having a clear conscience before God and
you know if there's something that you do feel is a sin and you do that anyways
that actually would be a sin because you're you're thinking that you're
sinning against God and you're just doing it anyways so you know I've told
you some of my personal views like hey I don't think it's a sin to make swim I
don't think it's a sin to have a TV in your house but like if you heard any of
that and you're like I do think that's a sin well then you follow your
conscience and you stick with your belief and I'm not gonna despise you
for your belief I'm not gonna make you feel stupid for your belief you go ahead
and do that because if you violate your conscience then you really are sinning
so here's a here's an example of that something that I've just been asked and
I'm sure lots of other people maybe had this question someone's asked me like hey
if I'm single and another girl is single like she's not betrothed she's
not married but another guy is talking to her would it be wrong to approach her
and my personal opinion is that if she's not betrothed or married she's fair
game that's my personal opinion now some people they'd be like oh that's that's
crossing a line because we're boyfriend and girlfriend and you know what you
can't split up boyfriend and girlfriend hey if that's if that's your opinion
that's fine but I'm just saying like a lot of guys have just been like oh well
a guy is talking to a single girl so I won't even try I'll just be honest a guy
was talking to my wife when I met her and I'm like I'm not gonna let this
Canadian take the girl that I want and I just got her all right he said well that
is so unethical she wasn't married she wasn't betrothed what are you talking
about just some random dude from Canada talking to her and I just said no move
she's mine hello now but again there's just like some people just have their
own cultural standards where it's like boyfriend and girlfriend is like
property it's like no okay no but hey if you're caught if that hurts your
conscience if you're like hey she has a boyfriend someone's talking to her if
that hurts your conscience don't violate your conscience because then it actually
would be a sin for you notice it says verse 15 but if thy brother be grieved
with thy meat now walkest thou not charitably destroy not him with thy
meat for whom Christ died right so we should not be flaunting our own
extra biblical standards or opinions that we know would offend someone else
just for the sake of offending them right it's not saying hey you know
you're not allowed to eat meat because the vegetarian is in the room but you
know you don't have to sit there and flaunt it to him and tease him and make
fun of them and hold bacon under his nose or something like that right you
get I'm saying that is not walking charitably we don't want to destroy our
brothers for whom Christ died and look we laugh about it and I have my own
personal opinions about how silly vegetarianism but it's like that's still
a person that Christ died for and it's still a person that could reach people
for Christ and it's still our brother in Christ and so if we ever have that
situation in the future hey don't try to be a stumbling block to them be
charitable to them verse 16 let let not then your good be evil spoken of for
the kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in
the Holy Ghost there's things a lot more important than meat and drink and your
personal standards right the kingdom of God for he that in these things serveth
Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men let us therefore follow after
things which make for peace and things wherewith one may edify another hey
whenever we could seek peace with the weak believer with the new Christian hey
we want to seek peace for them and hey even if I preach a really hard sermon I
try to go be really nice to the visitor and be really kind and realize there's a
difference between preaching behind the pulpit just talking to someone in
general right we want to seek after those things seek after peace seek after
things wherewith one may edify another let's not focus on the areas where we
disagree that are doubtful disputation hey let's focus on peaceful things let's
put focus on things that we have in common things that we can edify each
other with why because of verse 20 for meat destroy not the work of God how
would you like it to be said of you that you destroyed the work of God I don't
want to live with that that is I'm trying to do the exact opposite with my
life I'm trying to serve God I'm trying to build up the work of God I'm trying
to encourage people to serve God and to work for God how would you like to be
said of you that you are a destroyer of the work of God that's too much that's
way too much to be on my conscience hey for meat destroying not the work of God
all things indeed are pure but it is evil for that man who eateth with the
fence so hey if I preach anything from the Bible and it offends you I don't
give a rip don't care whatsoever because I am just a messenger that's all I'm
doing is I'm communicating God's message but it's like but if my personal
standards I'm flaunting it to you I'm being a jerk you know that I don't want
to offend people with says in verse 21 it is good neither to eat flesh nor to
drink wine nor anything whereby thy brother stumble it or is offended or is
made weak past thou faith have it to thyself before God again read that in
context about your personal standards it's not saying hey you know don't go
preach the word of God or something like that happy is he that condemneth not
himself in that thing which he alloweth and he that doubteth is damned if he
eat because he eateth not of faith for whatsoever is not a faith is sin so
again he's just reiterating that thought of hey don't violate your
conscience if you are convinced that eating this is wrong don't eat it or
you'll be in sin so just in conclusion nothing wrong with having personal
standards nothing wrong with having personal opinions so long as those
standards and opinions don't transgress God's Word if someone has a different
opinion than us then us we're not to despise them we're not to judge them
we're supposed to seek after things that make for peace I do also want to say if
you are under someone's authority you must obey their standards they are
allowed to push their standards on you they are allowed to push their opinions
on you and you know if dad has a standard where it's like hey every single
meal shall have meat in it then you make every single meal with meat and if dad
says no hold hand hand holding while dating no hand holding if dad says no
you can't have this instrument no you can't go to this swimming thing no you
can't listen to that no you can't play that no you can't watch that well then
you just obey your authority with a good attitude and do not despise your
authority for having their standards invoked on you hey you want to be a big
man someday and run the family and pay all the bills and carry the load you'll
get to make the rules someday too you want to start a business and put in the
work the hours the effort the energy and have all that weight on your shoulders
you get to tell the employees what to do you want to be a pastor you want to
endure all the constant attacks and hatred and slander and all the work of
being a pastor well then hey you could make whatever rules you want as long as
you're not violating God's rules God's Word but I just wanted to say that too
because if people hear a sermon like this and be like oh my dad my mom they
have all these extra biblical standards my husband shut up and obey your
authority how about that let's pray Lord thank you so much for your word and
thank you for the liberty that we do have in Christ
I pray that we would just always approach the Word of God with a sincere
heart of wanting to please you in the best ways that we can and then
make application from that point of view for our daily life and our personal
opinions and standards help us not to judge people for things
that shouldn't be judged. In Jesus name we pray, amen.
That we'll go ahead and sing one last song to conclude the service. If you
would, take your hymnals and turn to hymn number 180.
Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful?
Hymn number 180 and start there right on the first.