there should be one underneath the seat in front of you. Romans chapter 14. Romans 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 herbs 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 judges 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 does not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord,
for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not,
and giveth God thanks. For none of us liveth in 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.
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 the 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 Spirit. For he that in these things serveeth
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 destroyeth not the work of God.
All things indeed are purer, but it is evil for that man who eateth with offense. It is good
neither to eat, oh, it is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby
thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself before
God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in the 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.
Brother Drew, will you pray for us? My sermon this morning is "Individual
Soul Liberty." And this is a Baptist distinctive, and you're like, "What's
a Baptist distinctive?" It's just something that Baptists believe, and I mean, I would just say
that it should be something that every Christian believes. And I've preached about this before,
but it's been a few years at least since I've preached this. And the verse that I would focus
on here, which the whole chapter really kind of speaks to this truth, but the verse I'd focus on
here is one man is verse five. It says one man is steameth one day above another. Another steameth
every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. So within, within Christianity,
we do have, it's not like everybody has to agree on every single thing. And there are things that
we can believe differently that are not, is not necessarily sinful. And, and so this is just giving,
it gives us two main examples of this passage. One is about eating food, different types of food.
And one is about, you know, a steaming one day above another. So some people are really fixed on
celebrating a birthday on the exact day. Like it's a big deal to them that it's on my birthday. I
have to celebrate on my birthday. And some people are just like, yeah, I mean, we could just do it.
Whatever, whatever day works best for everybody, you know, or some people don't even care about
celebrating a birthday. They just don't care. And so I thought that because, Chris, the holiday
season's here and upon us, that it would be probably a good sermon to preach about,
about this, these things, because some people think that Christmas is pagan and evil and wicked.
And some people think that Christmas is a good day to celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And some people just don't think it's, you know, it's just every day is alike. You know, it's not,
it's not a big deal. And so, but that, it doesn't just end with Christmas and different holidays and
food. There's a lot of different things that people can have different beliefs on. Obviously,
sin is sin. And we believe that, you know, the Bible is, if the Bible specifically says something
is sin, there's no, there's no difference of opinion on it unless it's just like, you know,
if the Bible specifically calls something a sin, it is a sin. Okay. There's no, there's no nuance
with that. It's not, let everybody be fully persuaded that adultery is sin. Okay. You can't
just believe whatever you want about that. That's not what the Bible is saying. It's just talking
about, uh, just nuances, uh, different things that the Bible specifically doesn't spell out as such.
So, and it, and it even instructs us in this passage that certain things that people would
hold differently, it, it's just because they might have a weaker conscience or they're,
they think it, it's to them, it would be a sin or to them, it would be something that's grievous
unto them. So they don't do it. But then we're not supposed to have the attitude like, Hey, well, I,
I eat meat and they're vegetarians. So you're, and then, so then you use the fact that you eat meat
to just batter that person. And so we shouldn't have that attitude or someone doesn't celebrate
Christmas that we would batter that person and say, what's wrong with you? You know, and just,
just attack them over that because the Bible's saying that people have the right to feel any
way they want about holidays or they have the right to be a vegetarian if they want to. But,
you know, so that's kind of just the two basic examples that it gives us. And so I kind of looked
this up and saw what chat, chat, G, whatever, whatever you call it. So whatever AI is on Google,
I always say it wrong. So but anyway, so it says individual soul liberty is a core belief,
especially in Baptist tradition, that each person has the freedom and personal responsibility to
approach God, interpret scripture, and worship according to their own conscience, answerable
only to God, not to any church government or other human authority. So and I would agree with that.
I think that that's what it does mean, that we do have a personal responsibility to approach God
and the freedom to do so also because when Jesus died on the cross, the veil was rent entwined,
and we no longer have to go to some priest or make some kind of offering in order to go to God
and seek his wisdom and things like that. So we can go right to God and if we want to believe
something different about the Bible, I can't force you what to believe. I can preach the Bible to you,
I can tell you what the Bible says from the pulpit, but I can't make you do things. I can't make you
believe things that you don't want to believe. So the church can't force people to do things.
The government can't force you what to believe. They can tell you what to believe, they can
brainwash you, they can torture you, but inside your mind you can still believe whatever you want,
right? And it's the same thing with, you know, the Catholic church ruled over people for hundreds of
years and if you baptized your child, you know, if you didn't baptize your child you got put on a list
and then eventually you're going to have a knock on your door. Why didn't you baptize your child?
And then if you, you know, they found out you're some kind of a Baptist or some kind of a
Bible-believing Christian that doesn't believe in infant baptism, you believe in believer's baptism,
they would kill you or burn you at the stake or whatever. So, you know, and so individual soul
liberty is this is basically what it's what I just read to you that it's that each person has
the freedom and personal responsibility to approach God, interpret scripture, and worship
according to their own conscience. So an answerable only to God, not to any church government or other
human authority in this regard. I'm not saying you don't have a responsibility to be answerable to
the church or the pastor in how you conduct yourself in church or how you conduct yourself
out in the world. It's not like you can say only God can judge me and you speed everywhere you go,
you rob banks, and you know you're fornicating in the church or whatever. So it also says it
emphasizes free will in faith, stressing persuasion over compulsion. So and I would agree with that
also you know you can't compel people to do stuff. I can tell people hey you should be in church
and the Bible says it's so much the more as you see the day approaching but I can persuade people
to believe what the Bible says or to do what the Bible says but I can't compel you. I don't have
speakers in your house saying hey it's time to come to church you know better get here or you
know it's 20 demerits or you know it's 20 lashings at the public square or something and it says and
the right to private judgment with no earthly power able to interpose between the soul
and its creator a concept championed historically by roger williams and thomas hell use or hell
hells or something like that anyway roger williams was a baptist in the early uh i think he was in the
18th century or whatever or whatever so 1700s something like that um so the key principles
would be direct relationship with god every individual can approach god directly guided
by the holy spirit without needing human intermediaries so we can go straight to the
throne of god with no uh needing for an intercessor besides jesus christ jesus christ is is our
intercessor it's not mary it's not anybody else it's not the saints we can go right to god the
father right to the throne room with our prayers and so it says freedom of conscience people are
free to choose their religious beliefs and practices and no institution can force them to
believe or act against their conscience if you believe something's wrong then you don't have to
do something you don't you're not compelled to do these things personal responsibility because of
this freedom each person is individually accountable to god for their spiritual choices and actions
so yes you do have the right to choose your own your own choices and stuff like that but you also
are going to be accountable for those choices so yeah you do have the freedom to choose things but
be careful what you're choosing because if you're choosing the wrong things just because you want
to or it feels good or whatever you are accountable you are accountable to somebody it might not be
any human being it might not be any human institution but you're accountable to god
so no coercion governments and churches should not use force or power to compel religious belief
or practice persuasion no compulsion is the bible way and i believe that i mean moses put the the
the tabernacle the congregation outside the camp so people had to go and leave their tents and
leave the places that they lived and they had to walk to go to that place they had to physically
go someplace and so it's the same thing with you guys and some people travel far and some people
are near but it is a choice that you have to make to attend the congregation of the lord
so write or privilege the right to private judgment individuals have the right to interpret
scripture from their own understanding of god's will though they are encouraged to seek godly
counsel so obviously you know the preaching of god's word is to be the perfecting of the saints
so your personal bible reading you know obviously it's not a private interpretation where you're
just saying well you know my private interpretation is what that's what the truth is you know again
you have to be able to interpret the things that are right and true according to the holy spirit
and if you're the only one that believes what you believe you're probably wrong you know i mean
there's obviously it's probably someone that believes the same thing that you do if it's right
so i'm not saying that the majority has to believe it i'm saying that there has to be some uh there
probably should be some inkling of someone in history or somebody that currently in the world
believes what you believe otherwise you're probably wrong about that so um anyway that thomas huels
wrote the first english declaration of religious freedom and died in prison for his beliefs
in individual soul liberty how ironic is that i mean that you would die in prison for believing
in individual soul liberty probably because you know the government locked him up for not
being able to be compelled uh to do such things so you should be locked up for refusing to believe
what some certain church tells you to believe so i can't force you to believe anything you know you
have to you have to come to that decision on your own free will by reading the word of god you agree
with whatever is preached you believe you agree with what the word of god says as it's preached
so let's look at some so i haven't had you turn anywhere so look at verse 12 we have a personal
accountability to god all right so it says so then every one of us shall live shall give account
of himself to god so does that is that true yes it is that's what the bible says we will give
account of himself every individual right will give account of himself to god so we are are
responsible for our own actions and our own beliefs and what we do with those things so we
give ourselves account ourselves to god turn to second corinthians and i'm kind of just warming
up here and i am going to go through the whole passage so i'll try to uh go through this quickly
but second corinthians five eight second corinthians five eight and i can just get up here and say it's
baptist doctrine just believe it because i said so because we're baptist amen you know but everything
that i say should have scriptural basis behind it so are we account personally accountable to god
yeah you are it's it's not to i mean we're accountable to you're accountable to church
in a certain ways and to the government in certain ways but you know as far as judging
your conscience and the things that you believe in the things that you practice that's god
said christians five eight says we are confident i say and and willing rather to be absent from
the body and to be present with the lord 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 that he hath done whether it be good or bad so
there it is we all appear for the judgment seat of christ for the things and receive of the things
done in our body this is one we're saved we're going to be accountable for the choices that
we've made and according to what we've done whether it's good or bad is that what the bible
says yes it does so and that's why it says wherefore we labor that whether present or absent we may be
accepted of him so what's acceptable to him that we do labor right is that what it says in verse
nine you're tracking okay now let's turn to acts 15 verse 28 acts 15 verse 28 so we do have a personal
accountability and part of that accountability is that we do labor i mean he wants us to labor
for him and so that's why he says we labor that's why we labor wherefore for this reason we labor
so that we may appear and receive the things in our body we don't want to appear before the
judgment seat with no uh with no works in our hands because you know our reward will not be
i mean and honestly the ones i care the thing i care about is what did you do with the gospel
i mean what did you do with what you were entrusted with and preaching the gospel look
at act 15 verse 28 for it seemed good to the holy ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater burden
than these necessary things so when they went up to that council at jerusalem he didn't say hey the
church has declared that this is what you're going to do i mean the church did declare that but who
who declared it first it says for it seemed good to the holy ghost to lay and to us to lay upon you
no greater burden than these necessary things so the holy ghost is the one that's saying hey this
is what i require of you so we're accountable to who the whole you know the holy ghost is what
and the holy ghost is god it's not the force it's not some you know it's not like star wars
you know like jehovah's witnesses believe or or the mormons the holy ghost is god okay the holy
ghost is dwells within us that's god in you the hope of glory right christ in us the hope of glory
acts 15 29 there says that you abstain from meats offered to idols and from blood and
from things strangled and from fornication from which if you keep yourselves you shall do well
very well and these are things that you would still want to avoid as a christian abstain from
meats offered to idols if you know something's been offered into an idol you should not do that
right and from blood you know blood not drinking blood was something that was before the law of
moses it's not like it was repealed when jesus died on the cross so now we can drink blood
no that has been something that god has not wanted us to do from the beginning because the
blood is the life right we're not supposed to drink blood still to this day and if you eat
something that's been strangled the blood is inside that beast still and so then you're still
eating or drinking the blood and from fornication so what happens if you fornicate you're thrown out
of church so these are things that the apostles declared that the holy ghost said was good
accountability to god. Acts 28 you're already in acts turn to chapter number 28. Acts chapter 28
verse number 23 the bible says and when they had appointed him a day there came many to him into
his lodging this is paul's kind of locked up by the romans but they're still allowing people to
come talk to him they're allowing him to go visit and he's he's trying to preach to the jews once
again and it says to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of god persuading them
concerning jesus so are we supposed to persuade people this is what it says both out of the law
of moses and out of the prophets from morning till evening and some believe the things which
were spoken and some believe not so this just shows that this this demonstrates people making
individual choices to believe or not to believe even after hearing the gospel they may that people
have a choice they you know so individual soul liberty or just liberty in general or you know
god doesn't force people to be saved and we shouldn't either obviously we don't go sewing
in and hold knives to people's throats and say convert or die that's a muslim thing that's what
that's what catholics do that's what catholics did to you know all these indigenous peoples the
quote-unquote indigenous people you know even though everybody comes from mount air rat but
anyway that's what they would do they would read their little decrees and then oh you don't want
to you don't want to be a catholic well everybody needs to die now so that's you know obviously i
believe that god is judging those nations and things like that but that's just not how you
convert people to christianity we don't force them you know hey convert or die that's not that's not
a christian principle it's liberty so paul didn't say you're all going to die whoever doesn't believe
me right now you're all dead so again we have choices and that's what the bible teaches so
what are the implications of this well the doctrine supports religious freedom for all
regardless of their beliefs as long as they're not harming others so and in this country that's
kind of one of our founding principles of this country now obviously god doesn't like false
religion but we're not supposed to go around killing muslims and killing other people people
have a choice what to believe obviously god hates false religion he hates false prophets
and they're gonna get what's coming to him one day but we're not supposed to take the law into
our own hands and do you know these things we can preach against them but that's how we fight our
battles it's the spirit it's a spiritual battle and we're not supposed to fight a physical battle
against false prophets and against false religion they're gonna have they have their choice to make
so and so number one that was all like introduction but number one our attitude towards those
with differences that are not the same as ours in regards to food so this is a hot topic in
Christian churches a lot is you know what food is bad and what food is good and people like to give
their opinions on these things and it can cause you know problems in churches look at verse number
one and let's go back to our text we're going to refer we're not going to go away from the text
very much just going to kind of explain what the verses mean this morning but Romans chapter 14
verse number one the bible says him that is weak in the faith receive ye but not to doubtful
disputations so what's it talking about someone that's weak in the faith we're still supposed
to receive them just because someone has a weak faith or they're not strong in the faith it doesn't
mean that we reject that person or disregard that person as long as they're not disputing truth and
sound doctrine they're not saying well no you're the one that's that's wrong like and concerning
being a vegetarian if they're saying hey you know you're supposed to be a vegetarian because
i'm a vegetarian and that's what's healthy that's a doubtful disputation because that's not what the
bible teaches now we're supposed to allow them to have their liberty to be a vegetarian obviously
we're not supposed to you know beat people up for that but it says for one believeth that he may eat
all things another who is weak eateth herbs so well the bible does differentiate which one is
the right one though right it's not saying you know you can still make that choice but the bible
is saying that that's that person's weak in the faith and they're also weak period because they're
just eating herbs only because it takes protein to make you strong okay so that's why god allows
us to eat those things because it's a necessary part of our diet otherwise you have to supplement
yourself with different types of things to make to make up for the lack of protein so it says let
not him let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not so you're not supposed to hate people
that don't eat certain things okay and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth for
god hath received him so god loves both both people either one he loves the person that eats
meat and he loves the person that's a vegetarian he loves them both they're both saved so we're
not supposed to hate our brothers in our heart that's a that's a commandment from it's even in
the old testament we're not supposed to despise our brothers we're not supposed to hate our
brothers and sisters in christ doesn't matter what like that's a dumb thing to hate someone for
oh they don't eat meat i hate them i mean isn't that weird like why would you hate someone for
that i mean they might be weak but that's you know the bible says receive them but not the
deathful disputations now you have cults that teach these things like the catholic church will teach
that you're not supposed to eat meat on fridays or whatever even though they eat fish which is
meat but then you have the uh not the joseph's witnesses but the uh seventh day avanus they're
heavily into vegetarianism and you know to say that it's wrong to eat meat that's not true that's
not what the bible teaches so it says for god so god's received us both it's okay to to do either
one but uh verse four says who art thou that judges another man's servant they're not your servant
we're brethren jesus is our master and we are brethren that's what the bible teaches
and so it says who art thou that judges another man's servant to his own master he standeth or
falleth christ is our master we stand or fall to him yes or excuse me yay he shall be holding up
for god is able to make him stand so who's he talking about the weaker brother so um when
it comes to these things and and here's some other things that might you know be things that people
have differences in opinion on health care options some people are natural natural paths some people
go to western medicine and people like to give opinions on these things but let everybody be
persuaded in their own mind on these things maybe you're half and half or whatever but or maybe
some people believe in going to the dentist and some people don't you know whatever i mean people
have differences in opinions on surgeries and medications some people don't believe in taking
even an aspirin or an advil and that's a personal preference don't beat someone up for not doing
that now if you're like a life or death situation and you're like have a an infection so if someone
says hey you know you have an infection you might want to you know you're giving them some advice
and say hey you know maybe you want to take care of that infection you're going to die
i mean that's that's being a good neighbor i think you know but if you don't believe in
in antibiotics or something i mean i don't know they do work i mean they're not necessarily always
good for you but like if you're always on them or something but again people have preferences
you don't destroy that person because of their preferences so vaccinations would be another
thing now i mean i personally am against them and i think that you know they're not helpful
i'm actually going to preach about that tonight but you know some people have already taken them
some people don't think that they're bad and i definitely disagree with that but again i disagree
that only eating veg vegetables is good for you but we're not supposed to destroy that person
over their preference so special diets this is another hot topic thing in churches i've noticed
in just any church it's not just this church or the new ifb or whatever but it's any church i've
ever been to which has always been baptist pretty much but um but any independent baptist church
but i'm sure this happens in all other churches too if you've ever who's been to other churches
where special fad diets are a thing anybody that's not a baptist church yeah okay so um
and so you have like who's heard of the daniel diet okay anybody all right the daniel diet is
like oh if you just eat like daniel did then you'll always be healthy you'll never get cancer you
know maybe never die i don't know but like look that's just not true okay daniel's diet was a
special miracle that allowed him to be fairer and fatter in flesh if you only eat vegetables
and drink water and you know eat pulse like daniel did pulses vegetables you will not be fairer and
fatter in face you will be skinny and scrawny and weak like the bible says in this passage
to our again so and i'm not saying don't do that for a diet to lose weight or something or to
cleanse yourself or something there's also the juicy you know it's juice also like you juice up
vegetables and juice up fruit and stuff but i'll tell you something like your body doesn't break
down juice and and i mean if you drink juice all the time it's not necessarily always good for you
because your body doesn't process the sugars the right way without taking the pulp with it so it's
just that's just a fact you're gonna those calories are gonna be empty calories in you instead but
i'm just saying that's it's a scientific fact but anyway i'm trying not to like put my opinion in
too much but like it is kind of true but um some people there's this there was this diet fat at
our church like that and it's funny the person that was like really pushing it super hard at
our church and like they were having people of their house and they had a special uh fruit
ice cream maker or whatever they would push fruit through it and it would be like frozen fruit ice
cream or something which was good i mean i liked it um but they were like basically saying that
it's any kind of food that's cooked is unhealthy and bad for you and so cooking vegetables cooked
eating meat of any kind was bad for you and you need to do this because it's healthy and
da-da-da-da well that guy died right at i think he was 69 years old he died just just like that
so i mean apparently it wasn't you know making him live longer or something so
but yeah i was really upset about just because i think that it's you know you're you're pushing
boundaries when you're saying hey this is bad for you because if the bible doesn't say it's bad for
you and it says if you're preaching that that it's a doctrine of devils then you have a problem
that person is a is is then preaching something that's wicked right it's one thing to have that
diet and then you're you're just that's just your own personal belief it's another thing to just push
it on other people and act like that's what the bible says or something so it's called the
hallelujah diet where they only eat raw nuts and fruit and stuff like don't go and and do it okay
i mean unless you're trying to lose weight or something but like one of the guy the guy that
was really trying to push it on us was not that guy was a different guy but he was like jaundice
like guy was bro bro was yellow and like he's he's the only one that didn't see it or something
but he was yellow because he he wasn't getting all the nutrients he needed and he thought he
could get it from vitamins but it just wasn't happening so there's other like there's you know
there's all kinds of just fad diets out there and look if the bible says something's good
it's good if it says give us this day our daily bread bread can't be bad for you you're like it's
not the bread from back then look i've heard all the arguments okay you can still get the ingredients
that you need to make real bread all right don't well yeah but monsanto okay i know but you can
still do you think god just left us destitute where we can't make real bread i don't think so
i don't believe that are eggs bad no eggs are good is butter bad no butter's good but for years they
said butter was bad you shouldn't eat it because it's going to make you have a heart attack or
something they said eggs my grandpa he had a heart attack when he was 50 and they said that it was
because he was eating too many eggs and so he ate egg beaters for like 20 25 30 years or something
you know i'm talking about the fake eggs that you they look disgusted it's like uh they look like
you just whipped up real eggs but then you know huh yeah they're egg beaters are disgusting but
anyway he ate those for years and then it came the study the studies finally caught up to reality
says oh it's actually eggs aren't bad for you so he ate those for years thinking that's what gave
him the heart attack and he was kind of pissed when he found out at all but how can something
be bad that god said was good it's not bad now the bible talks about having too much honey will
make you sick right so like too much sugar is probably is probably bad for you and all the
food that we have i mean obviously i know there's problems with the food that we have i know there's
probably you know you you go up to canada and food tastes different because they don't put all the
additives and stuff like that they put into the food that we have here in england it's the same
way and when we go over to those places and we say hey the food tastes way different here they're
like what do you mean well you don't live where we live you don't know what the food tastes like
you know you food has just tasted different over the years here i don't know how to put my finger
on it but like it's just a fact stuff isn't as sweet in those other countries like if you have
like a chocolate bar in england it's way less sweet than having a chocolate bar here it's just
true so yeah we're like sugar addicted people here so but so because too much of anything can
be bad for you i mean if you eat too many eggs if that's all you eat is eggs and you're eating
like 24 eggs a day or something i'm sure you're gonna have some problems from them but um but
attacking people over what they're eating or not eating is you know again it's a preference so and
to say that only eating carb-free diets is the only way you should eat and anything else is wrong
that's just not true if you want to lose weight yeah or if you have diabetes yeah or if you have
like some kind of issue yeah you know starvation diet that that'll help you lose weight too if you
just starve yourself if you don't eat you're gonna lose weight right so and then like people are like
really big on you know exercise and lifting and gains and all this other stuff and it's like whoa
you're not lifting bro you know it's like well you know not everybody likes to lift i don't know so
it's a preference where do you get your food do you get it at chuck's do you get it at trader joe's
do you get it at whole foods do you get it at fred meyers it's like i mean some people have
preferences and that's okay you know but i know people demonize mcdonald's to the deadly death and
look i'm not a big fan of mcdonald's either okay it's not my favorite place to eat either
but it's not worse than burger king i think burger king is actually more unhealthy than mcdonald's
they find they switch places every year do you think taco bell's good for you but why do you
crave it i don't know they put an addictive chemical in it that makes you crave the maximal
fortnightly or something i don't know but every once in a while i get a hankering for some taco
bell or something else you know but i don't know they probably put some kind of chemicals that make
you crave them but mcdonald i'll just tell you why mcdonald's is demonized more than anything else
it's because of that movie supersized me or whatever that's why that's the reason so and
then everybody's like mcdonald's is wicked you know it's like that's the that's an official new
ife doctrine mcdonald's is wicked it's part of the it's part of the doctoral statement i think
it's hidden it's a it's like the hidden menu in and out there's a hidden uh doctrinal statement
in the new ife pages or whatever it's like mcdonald's wicked but i mean i'm not saying
it's good for you but and i'm just saying that it's not there's no there's fast food places are
just fast food places and they're fast food for a reason because uh you know they're just not great
for you so anyway we have preferences but we shouldn't just be beating other other people up
over their food preferences let's look at first timothy hold your finger here turn to first
timothy chapter four first timothy chapter four we should let the bible tell us what the truth is
about these things and food should not be something that divides us preferences on things like this
should not be things that divide us and we shouldn't be fighting about medical things we
shouldn't be fighting about diets shouldn't be fighting about exercise these things are super
duper i wouldn't even say secondary they're like bottom of the barrel things that we should be
arguing about so look at first timothy 4 1 it says now the spirit speak of expressly that in
the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of
devils speaking lies and hypocrisy having their conscience seared with a hot iron forbidding to
marry and commanding to abstain from meats see that so is it a doctrine of devil to command to
abstain from meats is that what it says i mean i'm reading the context i read the first two verses
before this which god hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know
the truth who are those people christians right for every creature of god is good does that include
bats does that include pigs does that include rats does that include it include does every creature
mean all of them yes does that include those sea urchins that is not what those things are that
like they close up when you put your finger in them at the beach or what are you seeing in them
what no i don't think that's what that is the ones that like if they they when the tide goes out and
then you you touch them and they kind of close up they're like they're it is no it's not you guys
are wrong maybe it is all right um so but it says for every creature of god is good and nothing
to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving so if you say that that animal is unclean well it
might be unclean but what's the bible say every creature of god is good and nothing to be refused
when peter has the dream of the food coming down in that like that you know picnic whatever that's
coming down you know the the blanket with all the food on it i think of it as like a picnic
you know a pattern picnic blanket or something is that what you think i don't know that's what i
think of you know what i'm talking about the pattern picnic blanket i always just think of
it at that with the four corners just coming down it has like ham lobster scallops you know shellfish
all the types of different things and why is he having that dream because every nothing's to be
refused gentiles are no longer be refused it's tying those things together the gentiles are no
longer unclean to you food is no longer unclean to you because the reason why that was those
restrictions were there was a picture for them to to avoid and separate yourself from unclean people
right so that's why you had the dream like that okay so what and what does the new testament teach
that nothing every creature of god is good and before the law they were able to eat everything
when noah came up when they came off the ark every creature was able to be eaten at that time too
okay i don't have time to turn over there but that's what it says i think it's janice's chapter 9
but anyway it says nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving dear lord thank you for
this bat that i'm about to receive i mean supposedly we got covid from that or whatever
that's i don't believe that i think it was made in a lab probably but anyway it says for it is
sanctified what does that mean set apart by the word of god what's the word of god the word of god
says nothing to be refused the word of god says every creature is good nothing to be refused is
sanctified by the word of god and prayer when you pray and ask god to bless your food that's why it's
sanctified that's why it's set apart and the word of god already says so so is every creature of god
okay to eat and creature isn't talking about vegetables vegetables aren't alive in the sense
that creatures are okay so obviously it's not talking about human beings okay and preach the
gospel to every creature is talking about these are different creatures okay we're not okay it's
not okay to eat human beings all right it's animals those type of things yeah but does that
mean i'm gonna eat every kind of creature i mean if i'm hungry enough i probably would if i'm
starving to death out some place in the wilderness and a lizard is there you know that lizard's
gonna get eaten if you're hungry enough you're gonna eat whatever's out there i mean the people
that were starving on the doner party were eating the shoe leather from their boots that's how
hungry they were i don't know if they're getting nutrition out of it but they thought it was a good
idea that's how hungry they were um number two how should we how should uh how we should behave
towards those that regard or don't regard days look at verse number five in our text it says
one man esteemeth one day above another another esteemeth every day alike let every man be fully
persuaded in his own mind so again we have now instead of food the topic being brought up is
days okay so what does that mean well some people think some days are special and some people think
that they're not now we no longer have to keep the new moons and the feast and blowing the trumpets
and all these different things that's very clear in the scripture we'll go there in just a minute
but the bible says we don't have to keep those things so i mean it's very clear what side
scriptures on in these things but again you know is christmas a holiday that we're required to keep
in the in the bible does it say that no what about easter no the bible doesn't say we have to
celebrate those holidays so people that say well the bible doesn't say that yeah you're right it
doesn't but the bible also doesn't say that they're pagan either no you're like well they
have pagan roots okay well i've preached sermons about those things and yeah just listen to those
sermons but anyway other people have preached sermons about those things and a lot of things
that people read about this whole christmas thing is from the internet and they're not
verifiably true okay and there's a one in 365 chance that jesus was born on the 25th
okay so i don't think it's likely that he was born in december but i think it's probably more
likely he was born in the spring that's kind of what i think but like what difference does it make
if you don't regard what day it is it's not like we knew jesus's birthday so i think just someone
just picked a day on a calendar and that's the day it was because when is the solstice the winter
solstice is the 21st isn't it or the 20th or whatever it's not the 25th so it's it's not
centroneli i don't know maybe it is centroneli i don't know i don't even know what centroneli
is i thought it was a candle but some kind of scent i don't know but uh or yuletide or what i
look maybe pagans did put it you know just switched out the holidays or whatever but like
it doesn't stand for that for me you know what it stands for for me that jesus christ came in this
world as a as a as an infant and it was the great one of the greatest days of all time that jesus
christ came into this world he was born of the virgin mary and you know the bible records these
stories for us as a great day where he came to be the savior of all mankind and that's why
you know so like why i mean again and if you don't regard the day that's fine but some people do so
it's nothing to fight over if you don't if you don't celebrate the day then fine but if you do
then cool you know it's these atheists or whatever over in oregon these queer bates like the governor
over there just like declared it like you know the what did they declare does anybody know what
they called it that governor somebody facebooked that for me somebody google what they what the
governor renamed the christmas holiday they just they just did it so yeah somebody just google
for yeah something like that somebody google the actual name though because i don't want to get
it wrong and then tell me what it is but i should google it myself but anyway i'll keep going if you
get it just raise your hand let me know but it says he that regardeth the day regardeth it unto
the lord and he that regards not the day to the lord he doth not regard it so either way they're
still both saved they're they just have differences of opinion they so one person likes christmas the
other person doesn't one person likes easter the other person doesn't care about it he that eateth
eateth to the lord for he giveth god thanks he that eateth not to the lord he eateth not and
giveth god thanks so it's like saying if you don't eat meat but you're still thanking god for your
food you know they're both right with god for these things it's not a big deal yeah no that's
not it that the new governor what is it mickey inclusive winter observance is what that faggot
governor over in oregon is calling christmas well maybe you shouldn't take the holiday off
maybe you shouldn't get paid for the holiday if that's what you want to call it i mean these
people are weird yeah let's just offend you know they already have all these pagan holidays and
these heathen observances that they do but they got to they got to hijack christmas too and the
jews get upset about it too it's not okay to say merry christmas you know they get all offended
well i mean just spend your dreidel and shut up you know we don't mess with your holidays
i mean even though christ did those things did away with those things that you're celebrating
the temple that got destroyed already i mean you know the hanukkah or whatever was not the second
temple or the yeah the second temple um that they're worshiping still but um anyway so let
me i'm off track here let me get back to this so none of us live to himself and no man dieth to
himself verse seven verse eight for whether we live we live unto the lord and whether we die
we die unto the lord whether we live therefore or die we are the lords so either way whether
we observe holidays or whether we don't observe holidays we are still the lords and for this for
to this end christ will died and rose and revived that he might be lord both of the dead and the
living but why dost thou judge thy brother and why dost thou set it not thy brother and that word
set it not means to disregard or despise why would you disregard or despise your brother because of
these things and it's usually the christmas haters that despise the brother that does celebrate
christmas that's usually how it goes that i've seen um and the christmas is pagan movement is
a huge movement within christian within christianity but it's like who cares who cares if someone wants
to work and celebrate christmas it's not like we're you know i don't put i don't decorate a
whole lot of stuff here for christmas or whatever but we you know we have the the candles and the
wreaths or whatever but it's not like we just go all out with the decorations or something that's
because i don't want to offend people i don't put a christmas tree in here because i don't want to
offend people and the bible doesn't say put a christmas tree in every church so i mean i get
that i don't i don't want to offend people but at the same time i mean i don't think there's
anything wrong with celebrating christmas or singing christmas hymns things like that that's
my preference and if you don't want to then that's fine with me but it says we're not supposed to
judge those that don't and so it says why dost thou judge thy brother why dost thou set it not thy
brother for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of christ so there it is again so i already
went to the verse in corinthians about it so here it is saying it again we shall all stand before the
judgment seat of christ so you know what's more important your holiday or your non-observing of
the holiday or how you treat your brethren it's how you treat your brethren we're supposed to
love our brethren we're supposed to treat them well we're supposed to forgive them when they wrong
us we're supposed to uh you know treat them well forgive them love them and uh treat them like
family basically verse number 11 it says for it is written as i live saith the lord every knee
shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to who what's it say to god we don't owe our allegiance
to each other in the way that you know our conscience does not belong to our brethren
in that way it belongs to god and so we need to you know if someone's wrong they're going to have
to say these things to god so then every one of us shall give account of himself to god we don't
give account we don't confess our sins to each other we don't confess our sins to a priest
unless it's the the high priest jesus christ we don't do that so we do that with god and so
that's why we shouldn't judge our brother because they don't belong to us in that way
so this all plays out in holidays christmas easter but also just other preferences that we
might have you know some people are grieved by other people playing video games it's like well
that's their business if someone plays video games that's their business and i don't think
that we should just jump all over people over their personal preferences some people watch
television some people don't but that's their preference and you know but is it wicked i mean
that's that's probably what you should think about okay movies sports hunting broadway plays
broadway plays can be wicked too but they're like it's culture it's it's classic culture whatever
it's like well yeah but is it wicked i mean those are the things that we should think about when
we're talking about preferences and music choices and you know is this activity is it wicked is it
is this entertainment is it wicked that's that's how we should choose things and how we should but
you know if somebody does something that we don't do it's not our business to interject ourselves
into their life and they stand and fall to their own master not to you and not to me turn to
Colossians chapter 2 verse number 8 Colossians chapter 2 verse number 8 Bible says in Colossians
2 8 says beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition
of men after the rudiments of the world and not after christ for in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the godhead bodily and ye are complete in him which is the head of all principality and power
in whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands in putting
off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of christ buried with him in baptism
wherein also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of god who hath raised him
from the dead and you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened
together with him having forgiven you all trespasses blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that
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 of powers he made a show of them openly triumphing over them in it
let no man therefore judge you in meat which is food or drink or respect of an holy day
so holy day is what we call holidays now so no one is supposed to judge us in regard to those things
or of the new moon or of the sabbath days and people try to do that too like you're not
you're not worshiping god on the right day there's no more sabbath the sabbath has done away in christ
the bible is very clear about that and you know john the apostle in the book of revelation says i
was i was you know i was uh he was in the on the lord's day he's talking about the lord's day and
people call sunday the lord's day because that's the day that that christ rose from the dead it's
not like you know people say well you you know you took the mark of the beast because you go to
church on sunday it's like because the pope changed it to sunday and the sabbath from saturday to
sunday the sabbath doesn't exist anymore christ is our sabbath that's the whole picture of christ
so again uh that picture has been fulfilled we no longer have to do it that's why the person
stoned on to death on the sabbath was such a big deal for picking up sticks because you know if
we try to work our way to heaven then you know we're we're going to die and go to hell and so
that's why the heart the penalty was so harsh was the death penalty for breaking the sabbath
but you know we don't get stoned to death or you could work seven days a week if you want
but you should set aside time for the Lord obviously. It says let no man therefore judge
you in meat or in drink or in respect of a holy day or of the new moon or the sabbath days
which are a shadow of things to come with the bodies of Christ. Turn to Hebrews chapter 4 verse
14. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 14. Bible says seen then that we have we have a great we have a great
high priest that has passed into the heavens. Jesus the son of God let us hold fast our profession
for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities
but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly onto
the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace and help to help in time of need. So
as God's people we can go boldly to that throne of grace. If we're messing up, if we're making
mistakes, if we're sinning, we have direct access to the throne. And so we don't have to go to
people. We don't have to go to priests. We are the priests. We are the kings. We are the ones that
can go directly to God. And we pray in Jesus. Why do we pray in Jesus name? Because we go to the
Father through Jesus the Son and give him the glory, great things he hath done, right? Which
is a song, not a Bible verse, but it's still a great song. So number three, this is my last point.
Don't use your liberty as a stumbling block to others. Yes, we have liberty. Yes, we have
choices. But just because we do, it doesn't mean that we use those things to harm other Christians
that are weak in the faith, that do think that those things might not, you know, that they think
that they're harming their conscience by eating meat or whatever it would be or by celebrating
Christmas or whatever it would be. Turn back to our text in Romans 14 verse 13, Romans 14 13,
says, "Let us not therefore judge one another anymore, but judge rather this, that no man put
a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way." So even though we have liberty,
even though we have this, you know, choices in certain things and preferences that we can make,
we're still not supposed to use those things to crush and destroy our brethren. We're not supposed
to put a stumbling block to make them fall. And the Bible is basically putting our brethren above
our choices, you know. We're not supposed to use those things to just make people upset. Some people
preach Christ, you know, to cause problems. And Paul said, "Yeah, praise God for that." But like,
we're not supposed to destroy our brethren. We shouldn't just do things just to make our
brothers and sisters in Christ upset with us. That's folly. That's just, the Bible says it's a sin.
Look at 1 Corinthians chapter number eight. 1 Corinthians chapter number eight. 1 Corinthians
chapter number eight. It's talking about eating things, sacrifice to idols. Let's just pick it up
in verse number seven. Because if you don't know, you know, or because actually eating meat sacrificed
into idols won't harm you because there's some kind of bad juju in that food or something,
you know, and obviously devils are real. That's who their actors are not. They're not really gods
in the sense that those people think that they are. They're devils, but that food doesn't like
have some demon in it or something that you eat it. It's going to turn it, you know, manifest itself
in you or something. So people get really superstitious about certain things. But, you
know, back then, obviously this is a major problem back then and maybe in some cultures today,
but not necessarily here so much. But it says, "How be it there is not in every man that knowledge,
for some with conscience of the idol eat unto this hour, eat it as a thing offered unto an idol,
and their conscience being weak is defiled. 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. But take heed, lest by any means,
this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak. For if any man see,
which hath knowledge, sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him,
which is weak, be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols? And through thy
knowledge shall the weak brothers perish for whom Christ died? But when you sin so against the
brethren and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. So what does it say? You're sinning
against Christ when you're doing something on purpose, when you know that it's offending
somebody, when you know that they think it's wrong or wicked or something. So because it
says but when you sin, but when you sin so against the brethren and wound their weak conscience,
you sin against Christ. So you're sinning against Christ by intentionally doing these things and
using your liberty and offending someone on purpose. So what's Paul say? He says, wherefore,
if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my
brother to offend. So Paul's like, I'll eat no meat for the for the rest of my life. It would
cause my brother to be offended. That's a tall order. But that's what he's saying. He's like,
don't do things that are going to just intentionally offend somebody. I know and I'm persuaded by the
Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself. So he's backing up what he said in First Timothy
or Second Timothy. 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. So again, and you could
probably try to convince them, hey this is not wrong, this is what the Bible says, and they still
don't want to go for it, well then don't just sit there and still eat your Big Mac or whatever in
front of them. You know, obviously this is, that's a tough thing, that's a tough ask, but like it's
still, I think it's just making the overall point. Don't offend people on purpose. Don't, you know,
just go out to intentionally just piss people off and make them upset, especially your brother.
"For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Ghost." Sorry, I should have had you go back to Romans 14. Go back to Romans 14. It seemed like
it just flowed right with that same passage. Oh, I already should have had you go back there. Wow,
I didn't have you go back there. So Romans 14, 14 is I know and I'm persuaded by the Lord Jesus
that there is nothing unclean of itself, but him that esteemeth anything to be unclean to him is
unclean. I'm sorry. I just kept reading through thinking that first Corinthians was there. Okay.
All right. So back in Romans 14, 14, sorry, Romans 14, 15, if thy brothers grieve with thy meat,
now walk us out 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, 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 not 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 himself in the
thing which he alloweth. So that's an interesting way to say it, but he's saying hey yeah you're
allowed to do those things, but if you're condemning yourself by offending somebody
by doing it then I mean you're committing a sin. The Bible says that in first Corinthians
where we just were and now it's saying you're condemning yourself by the thing that you're
actually allowing. You're allowed to do it but you're also sinning against your brother while
you're doing it so then it becomes sin. He that doubteth is damned if he eat because he eateth
not of faith for whatsoever is not a faith is sin. And this is a great a great scripture here too
because now it's not saying you're damned to hell if you eat some kind of food that you don't think
is good for you right. That's not talking about being damned to hell but you're you know because
whatsoever is not a faith is sin. So if we do something we don't believe it's right to do then
it's your it's sin to you because you don't believe it's right right. So if you're eating
a lobster roll or something and you think that lobster is unclean or something then that's
something that you're damning yourself because you're actually doing something that's not
that you don't believe by faith is right. Even though the Bible says there's nothing unclean
of itself anymore you know I mean I read the scriptures to you that that say all that stuff
but some people are just weak in the faith when it comes to these things. Not everybody is on the
same level when it comes to learning the scriptures and knowing what the scriptures say. I mean how
long did I think that the steak when you cut up with a steak and that myoglobin comes out of it
that it was blood. It's not blood. You can you can say that if you want. It's not though. That's why
you know Mexicans always get their their meat cooked well done because they think it's blood
or something. I don't know. I don't know if that's why but they I even if I tell them that a million
times they'll still get their steaks cooked well done. It's like bro just enjoy a medium a medium
rare man. It's okay but like most Mexican guys I know they'll still get it like I want that I want
that well done. It's like okay enjoy your hockey puck by all means but but when I found that out
because I used to think that too I was like well the Bible says you're not supposed to eat the blood
but when people the slaughtering practices in in our country are you know you drain the blood out
of them but myoglobin it looks red but it's that's not what it is it's not blood and when I found that
out I was like medium rare please so I mean but if you still think it's blood and you think you
know I can't I can't eat that steak like that because I think it's blood I just think it's wrong
well then don't eat it you know keep keep eating them hockey pucks you know and I'll keep eating
medium rare but don't don't be offended that I'm eating medium rare you know because that's the
right way to do it don't get it medium get medium rare some people are like rare all right well you're
weird I'm destroying you because I like it medium rare no I'm just kidding anyway so let's just have
charity towards each other in these areas I mean that's just basically the whole premise of the
sermon is that we don't go around intentionally offending each other over things that the Bible
gives us liberty in okay and you know holidays and food are why does Paul mention the holidays
and food because that's the thing that people that seem to be the big topics on these things
and health stuff so and usually that's tied up in food all right so food and vitamins and
doctors and stuff like that so let's uh let's look at Psalm 101 and we'll be done here
Psalm 101 so but you're like well you said video games are aren't bad well I'm I that's not what I
said but I'm just saying that like it's not you know if someone doesn't think that they're bad
then they're not you know basically we have principles that we should follow obviously
we're not supposed to love the world or the things of the world according to first john chapter two
and we're obviously supposed to separate from things that are wicked and things like that
but David in Psalm 101 verse one it says I will sing of mercy and judgment unto thee oh lord will
I sing I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way oh when wilt thou come unto me I will I will
walk within my house with a perfect heart I will set no wicked thing before my eyes I hate the work
of them that turn aside it shall not cleave to me if reward heart shall depart from me I will not
know a wicked person who so privily slandereth his neighbor him will I cut off him that hath
an a high look and a proud heart will I not suffer mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land
that they may dwell with me he that walketh in a perfect way he shall serve me he that worketh
deceit shall not dwell within my house he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight I will
early destroy all the wicked of the land that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the
Lord so I mean we we just have a heart that's toward doing what's right because that's kind
of what this psalm is is teaching here you know that we should do what's right hang around people
that are good love those people that are good and hate the work of them that turn aside
you know why why who's that well false prophets people that are trying to turn us away from the
lord and influence us in bad ways and you know putting evil things before our eyes putting you
know we that we should cut off you know people that slander their neighbor well i cut off i mean
just stay away from people like that you know if we put these principles into place then we're
going to be doing fine but when we are uh you know just letting these things intrude into our life
and that's you know where we need to decide what's what's good and what's not good to be
in our lives so you know we need to the things that we do allow you know in our lives those are
the things you know we we need to judge those things by biblical principles and and scriptures
so let's pray lord we thank you so much for the bible we thank you so much for the fact that we
do have liberty to choose things and lord we we don't want to choose to sin but we we do want to
we want to honor you lord pray that you just help us in these areas help us to not destroy
each other and be stumbling blocks to each other in ways that would destroy our brethren
pray that we'd love our brethren pray that we wouldn't despise each other in our hearts for
things uh and lord that we would give each other the benefit of the doubt when we can
and when we should and pray that you just help us to uh to lord win some souls today when we
we go out soul winning and bring us back to church here tonight. In Jesus name we pray, amen.