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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Anyway, you can go ahead and turn your Bible to the book of Romans. of the Romans. One of the most difficult things that I’ve had to do in the Christian life is trying to keep older saints happy with younger saints and trying to keep younger saints from being too critical of the older saints because you have different levels of maturity. But But most of the adults, believe it or not, get set in their ways. And it’s more like, hey, don’t rock the boat.

I’m satisfied just to come sit, soak, and sour. And you had teenagers that were wild. They trust the Lord. They won’t tell everybody. But they didn’t have a testimony that was, well, they weren’t up the par. So we had sometimes conflict between the two groups of people. you think, well, is that addressed in the Bible? Wouldn’t it be great if God would address this problem? Well, I think He does. In the book of Romans in chapter 14, chapter 14 deals with people, Christians, not always seeing eye-to-eye, having, you know, a different perspective of thing.

So this is what you have in chapter 14. So everything has different opinions, different perspectives of things. When you have a Christian who’s been saved for 20, 30, 40 years, he sees things from a perspective. Then you have new believers. So the Bible talks about those that are weak in the face and those that are strong in the face. Look there in verse 1 of chapter 14 says, Him that is weak in the face. So in the face means He’s in the faith.

He’s a believer, but he’s weak. Then in chapter 15, we then that are strong. So there’s those that are strong in the faith and it tells us how to treat the weak. So remember there’s a statement where the Apostle Paul says, I am all things to all men that I might by all mean save some. He says to the weak as the week. And as those that are strong, he’s strong. Under the law or without the law, he always was trying to find a way to win people, challenge, train people.

And so over the years, one of the most difficult things is if you have high standards, and here’s somebody who trusts Christ as Savior and they don’t have any standards at all, but they don’t know that the way they live or act or talk is that bad? They just don’t know. So how do you treat those like that? But it’s amazing that if some begin to see, okay, I shouldn’t do this, shouldn’t do that, shouldn’t then they become very judgmental and critical of the others that, you know, that are not doing what they think they ought to do.

So they haven’t learned that temperament or that patience with them so on. So the Lord says, these things leads to, um, Disputation or arguments. And so they say doubtful. In other words, things you’re not sure on, but you’ll fight and die for it, but you’re not really sure if it’s right or wrong. Now, after 56 years in the Lord, there’s things that I will see. It doesn’t mean it’s always right. But I do have probably some areas in my life that are maybe too strict for somebody else.

And then I might have some areas in my life that might be well. Now, very deep, and I’m too shallow for somebody else, because you don’t always see things exactly the same way. So how does God address this issue of Christian liberty? In other words, this liberty that we have in Christ does grace mean, and living by grace means everybody just do whatever you want to do. Or are there certain things that grace makes us disciplined on? Now, when I had people come to ranch, people would say Yankee is very loose and lax because he doesn’t tell everybody what to do or not to do or how to live or how to dress because you could come to ranch any way you wanted, except naked, we didn’t go for that.

And we didn’t allow streaking, we didn’t go for that. But when come the ranch, these were raw material, as raw as raw can get. I didn’t care how they looked. I didn’t care what color their hair was. I didn’t care how they were dressed. I don’t care how many tattoos they had or rings they had in their nose. Or I didn’t care. Why? Because they’re raw. They don’t know. I’m more interested in winning them to the Lord than I’m trying to get them to live like holy saints of 40 years.

They’re not there. So the key thing is you’ve got to get them saved before you try to get them corrected by Christian discipline, because you can get people to obey certain rules and regulations and never get saved. Isn’t possible for a lot of people to go to church and live according to certain rules and regulations and never trust the Lord. And then there’s those who do trust the Lord and for years, never grow up and mature in the Lord.

So you have both kinds. And that is what’s going on sometimes. But look at verse 1, him that is weak in the faith, receive ye but not to doffal disputations. Remember this little statement, God seems like he kind of has a special feeling for the weak. Hold your place right here and just turn over there to the book of 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians is in chapter 1. It’s almost like God is attracted to weakness. Those who are weak, those who are abased, because they generally have a tendency to, you know, see what God can do with them.

And then God gets more honor and glory out of a person’s life. So this is what God wants. God wants all the credit and all the honor for whatever. So He says here in verse 27, but God have chosen a foolish things of the world to and found the wise and God have chosen the weak things of the world that can found the things which are mighty. Base things of the world, things which are despised, have God chosen. Yay, and things which are not to bring to not things that are, and here’s the reason, that no flesh glory in its presence.

Sometimes the more talented and ability that you have, you may not trust the Lord as much because you can do it. You can do it. You can do it without God. But a person that doesn’t have that might have to depend upon the Lord. But when you’re weak in the Lord weak in your faith means you haven’t yet been solid in your Bible doctrine. You haven’t learned the basic teachings in a lot of different areas and so you just kind of a hit and miss.

You go to church maybe you may not go. You pray you little bit and you may be witness. My carried tracks for a year and never pass out one but you know you’re but you’ve got that Christian you know image and never be strong in the Lord but you can be weak. Now here in Romans chapter 14 where he says, him that is weak in the faith. This faith is not just, okay, you’ve been saved, yes, but you’re weak in the faith, the body of truth, this core Bible teaching, you may not know as much as you.

If you just get saved, you don’t know everything. So you’ve got a lot of things to learn. And some people who are moving on down the road sometimes don’t have the patience while other people are learning. So I usually say, and I got it from somebody slays out, I don’t even remember where, be patient with people who are now where you once were. Be patient with people who are now where you once were. So as you’re maturing in the Lord and growing stronger in the Lord, there’s other people, well they’re not getting everything that you have received.

There may not be as strong as you are. They may not see everything that you see that’s damaging to a testimony. they may not see that at all. So they don’t think it’s that bad, and you may think it’s so critical. And they’re saying, you know, you could become very judgmental and you begin to condemn. And so the Bible addresses this issue. So he makes a statement here. But not, he says in this word, receivee. And the reason to receive is because he says later, God hath received him.

See in the last part of verse three, for God hath received him. has received them, accepted them as his child into the family of God, and therefore you and I are supposed to accept them also. But this is also into the fellowship of the local church. That’s why in a church you don’t have, you know, a body of perfect people. In Christ, yeah, we’re forgiven, but we have people who can get saved and Join the church and then mature at all So that means that those who are mature in the Lord are supposed to be patient while others learn without Jumping on them and just always grinded them down into the dirt But you’re supposed to help and teach and guide them along until they’re strong in the Lord now they work good like that but sometimes older saints get fed up tired of of weaker saints.

They don’t see it. They’re not as faithful. It can’t depend on them. Blah, blah, blah, blah. And then there’s some people who just trust the Lord. And sometimes I worry that they might take upon themselves some of the habits of some dead saints. You see, sometimes not all of God’s children love the Lord to the same degree. There’s levels of maturity. And so when we talk about getting mature in the Lord, we’re talking about to the place where you can handle spiritual adult responsibilities, where you can do what God wants you to do without somebody having to tell you.

See, whenever you have to always be told what to do, it comes across as your legalistic. But if you learn what to do and you do it voluntarily on your own, well, let me call that, living by grace. Now, you don’t want to be under the law. They mean somebody laying down the law to you. So if you want to mature, be of the attitude looking and growing and learning because you have a willing heart to do so. Now when we had ranch, I was very loose as far as what was required of the kids.

But when they came to our Christian school, do you think ranch in our Christian school was identical in discipline? No. What about those who came to college? Was it maybe live it more disciplined. In other words, when they came, we required more. See, a disciple means you got to be disciplined. He comes from the same word. So whenever you have kids come to ranch, we don’t make them do anything. They don’t have to come to Sunday school. They don’t have to go to church, be here Wednesday night.

They don’t have to memorize the verses. They don’t have to do anything. But let’s say you decide to come to college. Everything changes. Now let’s say for example that you want to be a football player. I never qualified to that, but anyway, let’s say you want to be a football player. And you want to be the best. So you go see some football quarterback. You want to learn how to do it just like Dan Marino or John Elway. You want to be good.

And you say, would you teach me? Teach me how to do it just like you do. He finally takes you on as He’s going to mentor you. You volunteered. Now He may give you, you’ve got to do what I do. You practice like I practice. You do everything just like I do. And then we’ll see if you’ve got the ability to be like me. So He may require you to eat certain things. He may not want you to eat other things.

He may want to make you do exercises seven days a week. If he not want you to go here or go there, he may have to eliminate your time with your friends and all that. Next thing you know, he wants to discipline your life. And you walk up to him and says, who gave you the right to tell me what I cannot do? You did, because you said, disciple me, train me. I want to be like you. And he says, okay, if you want to be like me, And then this is what made me like me.

And so then he begins to lay it all down. And some people will be able to accept that some can. Now when he begins to lay down that law. Is he become in legalistic? Or from your point of view, he has become legalist because the want to may not want to be there anymore. After a couple of days I had enough of this. Just like some people they do that when they join the military, they get into boot camp.

After about the first couple hours, they had a made a mistake. But guess what? Too late. You didn’t sign on the dotted line. When it comes to servant Lord, do you think that in servant to Lord, it’s going to require any discipline on your part. That’s why you have the word disciple. A disciple is a follower, a learner. You’re going to be disciplined and God requires more. So even in college, let’s say for example, here’s the preacher. And you say, I’m coming here and I want you to teach me and train me to be just like you.

Well, if that’s the case, then I’m gonna tell you, this is what made me me. And this is what I do and this is what I don’t do. So you can’t make anybody do what you do or don’t do. But if you try to make a person do it and they don’t wanna do it, that’s law, that’s legalism. When you try to make somebody else spiritual, you can’t make anybody else spiritual. It’s like trying a person, trying to earn a way to heaven by keeping the law.

You can try to keep the law, but salvation doesn’t come that way. Slegalism, putting you under the law. But whenever you want to do something, let’s say you want to be what God wants you to be, and you want to be the best you can be. Well then, when you voluntarily choose, and make up your mind, I’m gonna discipline myself, I can do this. You can live, and you depend upon the Lord to give you all the strength and all the grace you need to accomplish that.

Like I said, I quit school every Friday. By the grace of God, I show back up on Monday. I don’t know why, but man, I quit every Friday. But it required so much discipline. And guess who was making me do this? Who made me do this? Nobody. But I wanted something so bad. I made myself. So Paul says, I have made myself a servant. You’re making yourself a servant. You can decide how much you want to discipline your life.

Or you can see how free you want to be and not do anything. Some people discipline their life, and then there’s others who won’t, it’s easy for those who discipline to lose patience with those who won’t. And those who don’t become critical of those who do, and buddy can the criticism fly. So you’re gonna have somebody tell you what you can and you cannot do, but the attitude by which you’re willing to learn makes a whole bunch of difference, a lot of difference.

Look what he says in verse two. For one, believe it that he may eat all things, another who is weak, eat at the herbs. So you have some people that believe that, hey, there’s nothing wrong in eating meat. And then you have other people, well, I’m a vegetarian. All right, now we’ve got a problem. Those who eat that are vegetarians, sitting in judgment of those that are eating the meat, and those that are eating the meat, judging those that, well, we got a problem.

So you see, whether it was Jewish people or Gentiles, they both had a problem with what they ate. You see, under the law, there’s certain meat they were not supposed to eat. Not supposed to eat it. And then some of them trusted the Lord. And now they found out, hey, there’s other Jewish people and they’re eating meat, they’re not supposed to eat. You’re not supposed to do that. Well, see, they haven’t matured enough to know it’s okay. But in their mind, it’s not okay.

You’re violating the law. They’re weak in their faith. Then you had Gentiles. They also had their false gods. And their false gods, they made sacrifices. And with their sacrifices, yes, they would be able to have certain portions of the meat that they would keep. And the rest of it, they would sell it in the marketplace. Well, if you went there and you saw the meat, You could just eat it and no problem. But somebody else thinks he’s eating meat that was offered to idols.

So whether you ate the meat because you were a Jew or because you were a Gentile, they both had problems. And some mature enough to realize it doesn’t matter if I’m a Gentile and I eat that meat, it’s not going to bother me one eye odor. And do the Jew, if he begins to say, I can eat pork now, filing pork and bacon, I can eat it, and begin to enjoy it. And then there’s others, he ain’t supposed to do that.

And so become critical of those that are doing something that they did not believe that they should have done. So you have a problem. Look there in your Bible to 1 Corinthians 8. Just hold your place right here. 1 Corinthians 8. And just look at this here a little bit. 1 Corinthians 8. Because this is a problem that the Apostle Paul had to deal with. Because some people do that, hey, it doesn’t bother you what you eat. As long as you give thanks, you can eat it.

And there’s people who did and there’s people who didn’t. So he makes a statement in verse 1. one. Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge, puffy duck, but charity, edifier. In other words, you may know there’s absolutely nothing wrong with me eating at me. Whether you’re a Jew or whether you’re a Gentile, nothing’s wrong with it. But not everybody has that knowledge. Everybody don’t know that. He says now is it better because of your knowledge you can know it in this right and puff you up and said I can do because I have the right to do it and there’s nothing wrong with it.

But do you love the brother because what you do and take liberty to do because you have the right to do but it might be detrimental to somebody else’s faith because they don’t know what you know. So he says in verse 2 if any man think, it has to do with the way a person’s thinking. Any man think that he knoweth anything he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. But if any man loved God, the same is known of him.

So love is going to make a difference in how you treat one another. Even though you know you have the right to do certain things, does it mean it’s expedient for you to do so? That’s mentioned in several places. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, it says, all things are lawful unto me, but not all things are expedient. In other words, you may have the right to do it, but it may not be profitable. So he says here in verse 4, as concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world.

And that there is none other God, but we know there’s only one true and living God. So whatever they’re doing and offering some God, that there is no other God. You can eat that meat, nothing wrong with it. Okay. This is what Paul knew, and this is how Paul explained it, but he says, not everybody has this knowledge. everybody knows this. Not everybody can do this with a clear conscience because maybe they’ve been doing it for how many years.

It’s part of their life, part of their culture. Now all of a sudden it doesn’t matter. And the Jewish people were going through the very same thing. And so he says here in verse 5, for though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth as there be gods, many, and And Lord’s many, but to us there is but one God. The Father of whom are all things and we in Him and one Lord Jesus Christ.

By whom are all things and we by Him. So we know there’s only one true in living God. There’s only one Savior Jesus Christ. And so we know that we have the freedom. We have liberty. what you have to watch is does your liberty become a stumbling block? Does your liberty cause other people that are weak in the faith to sin? Because their conscience is not where yours is. You may watch a program on TV and somebody says, you ungodly sinner and it may not bother him but it might bother you.

And very easy you can set in judgment. You watched a game of God? Materialistic? So, and godly men out there chasing around this little old bitty white ball. Now, they don’t care if they sit and watch the TV for five hours, but don’t you go hit a little white ball for five hours. You see anything wrong with that? And people can become critical so easy. And God says, hold it now. Do you love each other? Try to be patient with those that don’t see and understand everything that you know.

But look what He says in verse 7. be it, there is not in every man that not not everybody knows the same thing. Not everybody has matured to the same degree. Some people don’t know what’s right and what’s wrong. They some just trust Christ as their Savior. And there’s always a church that wants to put upon you all the rules and regulations and expect you to walk as a saint of 50 years and you’re not there. That’s why I’ve been a lot of times with people, but I will snap back to my original position.

I know where I’m trying to get God’s people to go, but I can’t make them. I have to win them. So I have to teach truth little by little by little by little by little and see you grow and next thing you know, hey. You can see it for yourself. It is so good when some people begin to see things and correct things in their life on their own. Wouldn’t that be great? But some people have to be nudged a little bit, but how you do it is so important.

But it’s so wonderful watching people grow in the Lord. But they don’t do it overnight. Little here, little that. And so that’s what is really what God is talking about. But look at this also. See there in verse 7. How it, there is not in every man that knowledge, for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol. And their conscience, so underlined the word conscience, because this is what we’re talking about.

Another person’s conscience, well what I do, even though I have the right to do it, it may bother somebody else’s conscience. And you have to decide whether or not now, is that me doing this or not doing this, Is it that bad that I need to either curb it or stop it or especially around certain people? And though you know you have the freedom, you got the liberty. But don’t use your liberty as a cloak of maliciousness. Don’t use your liberty because other people just stumble just because, well, I’ve got the right.

I can do it if I want. Yes, I know, but it may not be wise because somebody else may do the same thing you’re doing and it caused them to fall because they’re not as strong. So notice what he says here. In verse 8 he says, but meet, commineth us not to God for neither if we eat or we the better, neither if we eat not or we the worst. Now for your body there might be certain things that you’ll find out, okay if I eat this all the time it’s not gonna be good for me.

I mean we like pizza. If you eat it three times a day you may have a problem. I don’t know what it is but you I have one. I like ice cream. Betty lets me have just a little bit each night, just a little bit. But if I get too much, I’m gonna have a problem. I won’t be able to walk down the aisle. But, who do I love it? And she knows if I get just that little bit, I crave it.

It is so good, and it is wonderful. And I look forward to that every night. I can’t hardly wait. But there’s something, see, that you can do that’s gonna hurt you. Now, you may say, I got the right to eat pork if I want, you sure do. But you may have to check and find out, is he gonna give me high blood pressure? All that bacon, all how good? But how much you do, learn your body. Learn what’s good for it, what’s not good for it.

But don’t try to put all of your high standards upon somebody else and be mean and unkind, because, well, I would never do that. Well, God bless your little peep-picking heart, somebody else will. And just because you do or you don’t, doesn’t make you better, doesn’t make you more spiritual, it doesn’t make you more godly. So be careful and notice what else he says here in verse nine. But take heed, lest by any means this liberty of yours, become a stumbling block to them that are what?

Now, if you don’t care about the weak, do whatever you wanna do, don’t worry about it. But if you care, change is everything. When you care about the teenagers, there’s a thing you’re gonna do and not do. You care about adults, there’s things that you do and don’t do. And so there’s things that I have done and limited for myself over the years that I’m not saying somebody else has to do that. But I have to find out what will help me to be strong in the Lord.

Now somebody else that may not be as critical for them, but it will be for me. And so therefore the more I want to be used and more I have to watch myself and somebody else They’re satisfied with whatever they get and don’t worry about it. So people are different. It’s time to make plans for the summer. Join us for summer camp July 9th through the 13th and fits Gerald, Georgia. At summer camp, teens ages 13 to 18 will enjoy fun competitions while learning about the word of God.

Over the years, hundreds of kids have been reached with the gospel at summer camp. This is your opportunity to make summer meaningful and memorable for a teen in your life. The cost of summer camp is $150. If you’d like to donate a summer camp scholarship, you can do so by calling 813-884-4328 for more information. Thanks for joining us on Bible Eye. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634.

And now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound and we will be changed. Hahra can meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. Believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.