Romans Chapter 14 Continued
Romans 14:11 "For it is written, [As] I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God."
Philippians 2:10 "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of [things] in heaven, and [things] in earth, and [things] under the earth;"
Isaiah 45:23 "I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear."
We can see again, in these three Scriptures above that, God never changes.
He is the same in Isaiah that He is in Romans.
Revelation 1:7 "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they [also] which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen."
We must not wait to declare Him our Savior until we can see Him with our physical eyes.
We must accept Him by faith, not fact, to be saved.
Romans 14:12 "So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God."
Jesus will judge us one at a time.
Whether your mother or dad was saved will not matter.
You will stand or fall by the decision you made about what you would do about Jesus.
2 Timothy 4:1 "I charge [thee] therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;"
All believers in Christ will stand before His Throne in heaven.
Revelation 7:9 "After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;"
These in white robes are the Christians who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb.
Romans 14:13 "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."
It does no good at all for us to try to judge another, because we are not the Judge, Jesus is.
We are told to judge not, lest ye be judged and, also, with whatever judgment we judge another we will be judged.
We find a very good Scripture covering this in (James 4:11).
James 4:11 "Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of [his] brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge."
The Greek word translated “judge” is here translated “determine”.
(In verses 3, 10 and 13a), the meaning is negative: to condemn. (In 13b), the meaning is positive: to determine or make a careful decision.
The point of Paul’s play on words is that instead of passing judgment on their brothers, they should use their best judgment to help fellow believers.
Anything a believer does, even though Scripture may permit it, that causes another to fall into sin by his going against his conscience, puts a stumbling block in his brother’s way.
Romans 14:14 "I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that [there is] nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him [it is] unclean."
We see here another illustration of the sin taking place in the heart and conscience.
If we believe something to be sin and go ahead and do it anyway, then regardless of what it is, it is sin to us.
Titus 1:15 "Unto the pure all things [are] pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving [is] nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled."
Again, this is a very good example that the sin takes place when we do something although feeling in our heart that it is displeasing to God.
God judges the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12 "For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."
“Unclean”:
The Greek word originally meant “common” but came to mean “impure” or “evil”.
If a believer is convinced a certain behavior is sin, even if his assessment is wrong, he should never do it.
If he does, he will violate his conscience, experience guilt and perhaps be driven back into deeper legalism instead of moving toward freedom.
Romans 14:15 "But if thy brother be grieved with [thy] meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died."
1 Corinthians
Paul tells just how important it is not to lead our weak brothers and sisters astray.
1 Corinthians 8:13: "Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend."
This is some very good advice from Paul.
We must not let our liberty in the Lord cause us to encourage someone else to go against their conscience.
Love will ensure that the strong Christian is sensitive and is under full understanding of his brother’s weaknesses.
Romans 14:16 "Let not then your good be evil spoken of:"
The stronger brother might destroy his testimony.
The stronger brother says his liberty comes from God, but the weaker brother says it rather comes from Satan.
True spirituality is not shown in the manifestation of liberty, but comes in the manifestation of the Spirit.
True liberty may be shown by refraining from the exercise of one’s liberty.
The stronger brother might disrupt the peace of the body, so he should forego his liberty in the interest of peace in the assembly.
Romans 14:17: "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."
1 Corinthians 8:8 "But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse."
Galatians 5:22 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,"
What all three of these Scriptures are saying is that the abundance of the things God has entrusted to us do not make us right with Him.
The blessings that count are the gifts of the Spirit that He entrusts us with.
“Joy in the Holy Ghost”:
Another part of the Spirit’s fruit.
This describes an abiding attitude of praise and thanksgiving regardless of circumstances, which flows from one’s confidence in God’s sovereignty.
Romans 14:18 "For he that in these things serveth Christ [is] acceptable to God, and approved of men."
James
God expects us to use the gifts of the Spirit that He gives us.
The power of the Holy Spirit is given for a reason.
The reason is to make us more effective workers for God.
It is explained perfectly (in Acts 1:8):
Acts 1:8 "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."
“Approved of men”:
Christians are under the microscope of a skeptical world that is assessing how they live with and treat each other.
Romans 14:19 "Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another."
Edify means confirming or building.
In other words, instead of tearing someone down, build them up.
Romans 14:20 "For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed [are] pure; but [it is] evil for that man who eateth with offence."
We touched on this earlier but will just say again that if the man thinks it is sin to eat whatever this is, then it is indeed sin for him.
He would be sinning against his own conscience.
“That man who eateth with offence”:
This is speaking of the man who eats and gives offense.
He is the one who uses his God given liberties carelessly and selfishly, and thus offending his weaker brother.
Romans 14:21 "[It is] good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor [any thing] whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak."
We see here again that whatever it takes to set a good example before our weaker brothers and sisters in Christ is what we should do.
If they think it is a sin to eat something, then in their presence we should not eat it either.
Just because they would feel we were sinning and if they end up eating, then we are causing them to sin.
Romans 14:22 "Hast thou faith? have [it] to thyself before God. Happy [is] he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth."
Paul urges the strong believer to understand his liberty, enjoy it, and then keep it between God and himself.
The strong believer maintains a healthy conscience because he does not give a weak believer a cause to stumble.
Romans 14:23 "And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because [he eateth] not of faith: for whatsoever [is] not of faith is sin."
This has to do with more than just food.
Everything we do must be done through faith.
Without faith, it is impossible to please God.
Abraham's faith was counted unto him as righteousness.
This is true for us, as well.
Hebrews 11:6 "But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
The strongest Christian can bring harm to himself in Christian liberty by denouncing or belittling the freedom God has given him. Or by carelessly flaunting his liberty without regard for how that might affect others.
When the weak brother violates his conscience, he sins as “whatsoever is not of faith”, meaning the thoughts and actions that his conscience condemns (which may be perfectly acceptable by God in others).
Meaning that one person may eat whatever is blessed and it is not considered a sin.
Whereas a weaker brother considers it wrong, therefore violating his conscience thus he is committing sin.
Romans Chapter 14 Continued Questions
1.Who will bow to Jesus?
2.In Isaiah, who has God sworn by?
3.When Jesus returns to the earth, who will see Him?
4.Is it safe to wait for the second coming of Christ to be saved?
5.Who do each of us give an account to?
6.Will it help your condition with God, if your parents are saved?
7.Jesus shall judge the _______ and the ______ at His appearing.
8.Who are these dressed in white robes standing around the throne?
9.What has made their robes white?
10.In Romans 14:13, we are cautioned against doing what to our brother?
11.Who is the Judge of all the world?
12.When we speak evil of our brother, we are actually speaking evil of what?
13.What is unclean to us?
14.Where does a person's sin take place?
15.What does Titus 1:15 mean?
16.Describe the Word of God from Hebrews 4:12.
17.Why is our brother offended in 1 Cor. 8:13?
18.We are to stay honest not only in God's sight, but in whose sight?
19.What is another short way of saying the same thing as verse 18?
20.What one word describes the way others view Christians?
21.The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but what?
22.The fruit of the Spirit is what?
23.What does James 2:18 say about faith?
24.Faith without works is ______.
25.Romans 14:19 says, follow after what?
26.What does edify mean?
27.Romans 14:22 says have faith where?
28.Whatsoever is not of faith is _____.
29.Without what it is impossible to please God?
30.He that cometh to God must believe that ______ ______.