I’m inviting you this morning to turn in your bible to the book of Romans chapter 14. While you’re turning there, just wanna say welcome to each one of you and especially to our guests, and, our first time visitors. We have a couple back here, JR and Brenda Weatherald, new to the area.

And, so good to have them. Said they’re looking for a church and, just stopped by. And, so good to have you folks with us. They have been off doing ministry and work. And, it’s good to have you all back home.

And, so we welcome you back. Then it’s good to see Daniel Hester moved back into the area, and it’s so good to have you with us this morning. We welcome you, Daniel. And then it’s so good to have Sarah with us this morning, So I’m not even sure how we came up with that, but, she’s Sarah, but make sure and tell Jenny you’re glad that she’s here. And, Romans chapter 14, we’re actually breaking in on a larger section of scripture that Paul is writing in.

The context to this, and I think it’s important for us to understand this, the context of Romans chapter 14 is really in the light of Romans chapter 12. So we need to keep that in its context that Romans chapter 14 is really an extension of Romans chapter 12, which is a section of scripture that deals with, entire sanctification. The purifying of our lives. This morning, what we’re looking at is we talk about these passages of scripture that deal with our I coined this phrase last week, our one anothering, really is the heart of living out holiness. God never intended for our holiness to be lived in a test tube.

In fact, holiness can’t be lived out in a test tube. It requires our relationships one with another. John r w Stott made this observation. He said, holiness, is not a mystical condition experienced in relation to God, but in isolation from human beings. You cannot be good in a vacuum, but only in the real world of.

If you want to be on the backside of the wilderness in a cave. That’s not where holiness is lived out. It’s lived out in every day life as you live among people. As you live among people, which explains why over and over again in scripture, particularly in the New Testament, it describes the holy life being lived out with 2 words. One, another.

Keep that as a context for what we’re talking about this morning. In Romans chapter 14, I mentioned that we’re breaking into a section of scripture. Maybe it would be helpful for us before I read that. I was gonna do it afterwards, but I think it might be helpful for us if I do it now. Romans chapter 14 fits in the context I mentioned of Romans chapter 12, where Paul urges brethren to, become living sacrifices.

Holy and acceptable unto God, which is his reasonable act of worship. Being transformed by the renewing of our mind. And then the rest of Romans chapter 12, chapter 13, chapter 14, chapter 15 are our transforming mind or transform mind, what it affects first and foremost? If you go back to chapter 12 and verse 3, it affects how we view ourselves. We’re not to think more highly of ourselves.

And then it begins to branch out from there and deal with how we live one another, or among one another. That’s the context to which we come to Romans chapter 14. I’m gonna invite you to stand with me as we read this passage of scripture and look at it together. In other words, it’s a vegetarian. 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 judgeth another man’s servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Ye 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. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord. And he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord, he doth not regard it. He that eateth eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks. And he that eateth not to the Lord, he eateth and giveth God thanks.

For none of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the lord and whether we die, we die unto the lord. Whether we live therefore or die, we are the lords. 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 does thou judge thy brother?

Or why does thou set it not thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Shall confess to God. So then, every one of us shall give account to himself to God of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one another anymore, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.

I know and I’m persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself. But to him, that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. But if thy brother be grieved with thy me, 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 and the holy ghost.

For he that is for he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men. This is the verse that I want for us to focus on this morning the context of the entire chapter. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and 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 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 that thing which he alloweth. And he that doeth, and he that doubteth is damned if he eat because he hath eateth not of faith for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. I want to talk to us this morning about building one another up, edifying one another.

Let’s pray together. Father, thank you for your spirit that is with us today. Your help that we have sensed in the service already as we have brought an offering of praise to you. We’re coming now before your word, words that are true, words that when taken and applied in our lives, and when we allow them to mingle in our spirit, can keep us from words that can help us to know the way in which we should go. Ways that we have And so I pray this morning, Holy Spirit, that your word would have power among us, shaping us and guiding us for your glory.

I pray it in Christ’s name. Amen. You may be seated. Someone once said that the measure of your new self, the new mind, as we talked about earlier in Romans chapter 12, is the degree to which you look away from yourself and then to Christ as your treasure. If Christ is more to you, then you are more.

If Christ is less to you, then you are less. Your valuing consists in your valuing of Christ. Building to this idea of building up the body of Christ comes within this context that you and I are called to live out holiness been to talk about where the rubber meets the road. How many of you would agree this morning that it would be really easy I’ll be I’m trying to debate how I should phrase this. I had somebody in my ministerial program when I was in college that said, pastoring would be great if it weren’t for the people.

The truth is, is that holiness, we would think, is easier lived out if it weren’t for out. If you were to just, kind of, dissect chapter 14 of Romans, you would notice that there are several themes that kinda flow through, this passage. Paul writes about weak and strong Christians. He writes about those who are free and those who are under bondage. He writes about judging one another.

He writes about peace and unity within the body of Christ. It all kind of converges. In verse 19, Paul says to us these words. I just want to read them to us again. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace.

Hold that in your thought. Paul’s concerned that there is peace and unity within the body of Christ. And then he goes on to say in verse 19, he says, and things wherewith one may build up one another. One. Tool belt, a hammer, and some nails, and some wood, and let me build something.

What I love about building is you can go in, you can see what it is. And it leaves for me. I can look at something and begin to see what it will look like. Downloaded an app onto my phone, that I worked with designing what the house would look like. And I can look at something and begin to see what it will look like.

So when Tanya and I started the process of building our house, I had downloaded an app onto my phone And then you could hit this little button and it became 3 d. And you could hover all over this, and you could go through the rooms, and you could see what they’d look like. Add fixtures in the room. You could even adjust what the height of the windows would look like. It was beautiful.

And I could and even with draw and even the light coming through the windows, all of the features, I could see it. To understand it. Comes all of this, massive amounts of lumber just scattered all around before lumber just scattered all around. Before long, you’ve got a sub floor and then you’ve got walls and you’ve got sheeting and you’ve got a roof over knit together being built up. One another up.

But he begins to pinpoint some things that are going to be necessary for that building. There are some challenges that you and I are gonna face to being built up. The first challenge I want you to notice is that we’re different. There are differences. Paul identifies that in 2 different ways.

He uses 2 illustrations. And then there are gonna be some people that don’t have freedom to eat meat. Paul is writing to a group of people that some have come and some of that meat they know is then taken into the marketplace and sold. And as a result of that, they can’t go into the marketplace and buy meat they don’t come from that.

And so they go into the marketplace. They realize hey, all of this belongs to God. It’s his. There’s no other God but God. And so they buy the meat, they eat it, they don’t have a problem.

But Paul cautions them that there are among them differing opinions and views and what to do. Do you eat meat or don’t you eat meat? In fact, Paul further digresses more in first Corinthians and deals with this subject even more. He summarizes, some of, that with within first Corinthians of the importance of what it looks like. This meat that’s been offered to idols, and those that are able to eat and some that are not able to eat.

Example of, he shifts from meat to using the example of days of the day over another. Some regard every day the same. Again, what’s he looking at? He’s looking at Jewish worshipers that have come up in the Jewish religion. And they’re looking back to their Jewish heritage.

They’ve got holy days, don’t they? High days, days that are separate. They’re set apart. And to those Jews, those are important days. You have to observe those days.

You’ve got pagans that are coming in. Every day is the same. What does it matter? Paul begins to point out that within the body of Christ, there are those who are stronger brothers and weaker brothers, have differing views, but they’re brought together. Let me just make an observation at this point.

We can look at the areas of their differences and say, how petty? You’re frustrated about the day of the week? What you do with a particular day of the week? How many of you have argued with another believer over differing views? No, no, we do have differing views.

Some of us, you may be a vegetarian, you may be a vegan, you may, be a carnivore. All right? Cow, was nourished by the grass. That’s the only salad you’ll ever. Views and there’s fracturing within the body over food, but then I have to stop and I have to say, how many times do we, today, in 21st century, over non essential issues begin to divide and fracture and tear one another down.

You see, Paul’s gonna get here in chapter 14 and verse 20, where he cautions them, he says, don’t tear one another down. That’s exactly what’s happening in the body. There’s these differing views that one eats meat, one doesn’t, one regards a day above another day, another, regards every day the same. And all of a sudden, as a result of their differences, there’s problems. They’re at odds with 1 another.

And here’s where the odds come. It’s the second challenge that Paul deals with. Did you catch that in our reading? It’s really easy whenever you hold a certain position to become a judge of others in that area. Let me just give you a little illustration of that before we move on from I am old enough to remember life before the Internet.

Am old enough to remember life before the Internet. That makes me old now. But I remember when the internet first came out and my parents had gotten the internet, and I had gotten into some material that I shouldn’t have gotten in to. And I remember meeting my parents in the driveway when they got home, and I said, you guys need to know some things. And some point, shortly after that, they cut the Internet off.

All we had was Juno email. Brother Armstrong, do you have your Juno account? Yeah. He still has Juno. Only person in the world that still has a Juno account is in our church.

Oh, wait. There’s more. Oh, I’m sorry, brother Parker. Boy, I just ruined the message. My parents got rid of the Internet.

My parents got rid of the internet. And there was a period of time where the Holy Spirit started working on me as just a young man. And let me just pause here long enough to say that to those of you that are young people, God talks to you even as young people. My prayer is that you will have ears to hear the spirit of the Lord when he speaks to you, even as a young person. The Holy Spirit began to talk to me about the fact you don’t have any business on the internet.

You know, that was true for a number of years until the Lord gave me victory over that. But you know what one of my challenges was that I dealt with? I went to college. And when I got to college, and again, internet wasn’t but really about 5, 6, 7 years old open to the public. One of the things that was a part of freshman orientation was computer, use in the library.

And I remember sitting there wrapping my righteous robes around me saying, shame on all of those people getting on that godforsaken wicked thing. It wasn’t quite that strong. But there was a part of me that felt self righteous and smug. I don’t get on there. You know why I didn’t get on there?

Because I was a weak brother that didn’t have the strength to get on there, But it was really easy for me to become a judge of others. The same way people on the other side can become a judge and say, what are you talking about? Now, the internet isn’t inherently wrong in and of itself. Amen? The truth to that is amen.

It’s not inherently wrong. Are there wicked things in it? Absolutely. There are. And so one of the things that you and I need to understand, we may have freedom to get on what we have to understand.

Somebody who doesn’t have freedom to get on, we don’t judge that. Judge not one. And so Paul reminds us If you have your bible still open, I want you to look at this. He’s just talked about the brother who eats and the brother who can’t eat. And then in verse 3, Paul says, the one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat.

And the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him. For God has accepted him. And then I want to stop and say, accepted him who? Him. Thank you, Sister Ravenscraft.

She just mouthed both. That means, Church, you and I need to understand in the body of Christ, there are some brothers in Christ who are strong in the faith. And God has given them freedom and liberty to do things that some within the body of Christ who are weak cannot do. But God has accepted both. Now, here becomes the rub.

Paul says, don’t judge one another. Stronger brother, don’t look at your weaker brother and say, I don’t know why you struggle over that. You need to just get over it. And the weaker brother is not to go to the stronger brother and say, shame on you. You shouldn’t do that.

I don’t do that. You shouldn’t do that. Shame on you. You shouldn’t do that. I don’t do that.

You shouldn’t do that. Amen? You and I must keep in mind that there is a difference between biblical truth, personal convictions, and personal preferences. In the body of Christ, there are some things that are not allowed because biblical mandate says, thou shalt not. That’s true for everybody.

But within that framework, there are some things that the Holy Spirit will come to us individually because God is a personal god and he’s gonna say to you, you’re weak in this area, brother. You’re weak in this area, sister. Don’t do this. The Bible may give freedom to it, but the Holy Spirit may say, but not for you. Are we okay with that?

Some things that we just have personal preferences. Like whenever you’re driving on the interstate and you’re driving slower, move over to the slow lane. Had to get on my soap box for just a minute. What are we talking about? God accepts the stronger and the weaker, and we dare not become judges one of another.

Why? Why don’t we become judges? Because of what Paul tells us is the result of that. When you become a judge, you tear down one another. Grant Osborne said that the weak and the strong must stop focusing on winning the debate and center on building each other up in Christ to achieve peace and a united worship and joy in Christ.

Amen and a united worship and joy in Christ. Amen? It’s so important within the body of Christ that the stronger and the weaker come together, stop judging one another, which tears each other down, and find ways that you and I can build one another up. And the teaching and admonishing one and The danger is, is that we don’t deal with the log in our own, and so we’re beating everybody up in our process of trying to take the speck out of the other brothers. When you become judges and take my seat, listen to me very carefully this morning.

When you and I begin to judge one another, we are actually trying to dethrone Christ and take his position, or dethrone God and become that position. That’s exactly what Paul says. Paul says, why are you doing this? All of us are going to stand before God. All of us are going to give an account of God.

That’s not your responsibility. Let me just tell you this morning, I am glad I’m not your I’m thankful that there’s a God in heaven that knows all things and he knows us personally. He’s the one that will judge us. And so, Paul says, listen, within the body of Christ, they must come together, and you must not destroy each other through your judging. Build 1 and then And Paul says, let us not therefore judge one another any more, but judge this rather.

Here’s what we’re Judge put judgment on this, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s pathway. Don’t become the stumbling block that causes the weaker brother to fall. Don’t become the stumbling block in the stronger brothers way that would cause him to be, weakened or to stumble and fall. Stare. It’s Paul’s saying if you really love your brah.

And it’s full context of what we’ve been talking about the last couple weeks, loving one. -Loving one. -And it’s full context of what we’ve been talking about the last couple weeks. Loving one. -Love, Loving one another.

You will put judgment aside and do what is necessary to help build one another up. That may mean for the stronger brother who has liberty, for the sake of the weaker brother who doesn’t have liberty, he constrains himself. And that means for the weaker brother who doesn’t have liberty, doesn’t seek to bind the one who is free. And so the call for us this morning, is that you and I are supposed to seek to build one another up. We’re to lift one another up.

Stop our judging and seek to build each other. And seek to build each other up. Means that the strong who has liberty and the weak who does not have liberty, looks for ways not to tear each other down, but looks for ways to build each other up, even if it means that we set things aside. Let me just share with you some, scripture from 1st Corinthians chapter 10. Again, 1st Corinthians chapter, 8, 9, and 10.

Paul’s dealing with the same idea of building one another up lawful, but not all things are all things are lawful, but not all things will build. Nature. Let me just reread that last part. Let no one seek his own good but the good of his neighbor. You know, when we live out holiness, one to another, a part of that will be that you and I will set aside what we may have freedom or liberty to do for the sake of the weaker brother to help him grow in Christ.

Not to hinder our brother in Christ. There are some things that I don’t do in my life, not because scripture says I can’t, Amen. I may have liberty, but it doesn’t give me license to do it. I may have freedom to do it, but it doesn’t mean that I do it, because I could be the reason that a brother or sister in Christ stumbles. Because of my freedom.

I think I’ve shared this before. I remember President Stettler telling the story of preaching a revival out in the Midwest. He was preaching to a group of people that they had differences as it related to neckties. There was half of the group that didn’t wear them. There was half of them that did.

Eye. And he said, I’m, I just want to make a statement right up front, because I want everybody to be clear. He said, I realize that, there are some in this group that does not wear neckties. And there are some of you that do. I have taken my necktie off, he said, because I don’t want to hinder the message and the gospel for those that would be offended.

But I want you to know, if you ever see me somewhere else and I have a necktie on, I’m not trying to live a double standard. I just I wanna remove every hindrance in this group from the gospel going forward. Tell you something, it takes a strong Christian who is willing to set aside their freedoms for the sake of not hurting or hindering another brother or sister in Christ. I’m just gonna let this as a question for you to think about. What is it in your life that you may have freedom to do that might be a stumbling block to another that the Holy Spirit is saying to you today, you need to reconsider how you live out your freedom among them.

Liberty does not equal our license to do what our freedom may allow. If you’re walking in holiness and love, you desire unity and the building up of the body more than you desire your freedom. Amen? Amen. Amen.

Oh, dear. Now there’s a powerful, powerful truth for us to consider this morning. And that is that God has knit us together in all of our differences and all of the things that we may have freedoms and we don’t have freedoms to do. He’s knit us together as one. And he wants for us not to tear each other down.

And so he says to you and I this morning, stop judging one another and seek for that which is peace and the building up of one another. There have been too many people who have been run off or caused to sin because good hearted Christians have tried to write what they think they need to do and have caused them to stumble and fall. There have been a lot of people who are new in the faith, maybe weak in the faith, that good intentioned, I believe, people have run them off as a result of what they may feel they need to do. They’ve tried to put on them and judge them and have run them off. And what the Holy Spirit is saying to you and I this morning is, seek for peace.

The building up of one another. Don’t tear one another down. The mark of spiritual maturity, Henry Blackaby says the mark of spiritual maturity is a willingness to sacrifice personal comfort in order to strengthen other believers. Paul says in verse 19, so then we pursue. This is something that you and I have to, we’ve got to work.

This is not something that just comes by osmosis. It just doesn’t come by happenstance. This is something that you and I have to pursue after to build one another up and not allow we live in a world that, that exacerbates differences. Don’t we? That exacerbates differences.

You know, there used to be a time in our political system that you could easily get a majority vote in the house or back into the 1990s when President Bill Clinton, set up, I think it was Sandra Day O’Connor to be elected on, It wasn’t Who was it? Somebody Brit Bader Ginsburg. Set her up to be elected on to the Supreme Court. 93% of our senators voted for her. Now you come into the modern era and you can’t even I mean, they’re bickering to the point of trying to run guys like Kavanaugh into the ground, destroying their character.

Bitter contention. Can I tell you something? That has come right into the charity. Right in the charity. And it’s right in the charity.

And it’s right in the Is it Divisive or Divisive? I’ve been told I say it wrong. Tomato, tomato, whatever. Right? We’ve become so divisive and fractious.

And Lord, keep us from tearing each other apart. There are too many casualties as a result of our differences and are judging one another that’s torn us down. Paul says, pursue, set aside things that you need to set aside so that you don’t cause a stumbling block to your brother. If you have your Bible still open, you’ll notice this in chapter 15. We didn’t read it, but really chapter 14 feeds right into chapter 15 verses 1 through 13.

But I’m just going to read the first part. We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not please ourselves. There was a couple from hope, sound, and, I don’t know, rough background. The guy had been a drug addict, but God had done a work in his life. Both of He and his wife, they were growing.

Somebody got a hold of them in the church. Began to lay some things upon them That didn’t belong on them. They were still growing in their faith, weak in the faith. That couple today is divorced, Their lives wrecked. You know, there’s an example right here in this church.

I should’ve asked. I should have asked. Jim Stanley has told on numerous occasions in our small group, in our, Sunday morning bible study. This church right here, when he and Rita came, loved on them, cared for them. And when sister Rita got saved, she came out of a Catholic background.

And do you know this church loved on them and accepted them? Brother Parker put sister Rita in positions where he could and watch them grow. Today, Jim and Rita are a vital part of the ministries right here in easily. Is the power of lives that are transformed, that build the kingdom of God. And I believe what the Holy Spirit is saying to us today.

And if we’re going to live out holiness, Church, you and I, and I say, Lord, help us today. And you and I have to pursue peace and the building up of 1 and a But Lord, help us to have people like Jim and Rita Stanley. Let’s stand together. Father, this morning, the word that you have given to us is to pursue peace among us are strong. There’s some among us that are weak.

There’s some that, among us, are strong. There’s some among us that are weak. There’s some that have greater convictions and some who don’t have as strong of convictions accepted us all. Father, would you forgive us for the times that we’ve been judgmental? One to a nice Those that have had liberties, those who don’t and call them legalists and those who have who don’t and call them legalists and those who were greater convictions have looked at those who don’t and called them liberal, wounded one another.

Forgive us, Lord. Help us father to be people who pursue to build one another up. We’re a part of your body. Help us not to have an autoimmune disease that causes us to wound ourself. But oh, may you build us up in the most holy for your glory.

I pray in Jesus name, amen.

I’m inviting you to turn with me to the book of James for our scripture reading.

James chapter 1. This is a passage of scripture that we have looked at recently. In fact, if you are here on our Wednesday night services, then you will remember that we did a study in the book of James. And, we have looked at this passage recently, not ever been to New York City? How many of you have ever been to New York City?

Anybody ever been to New York City? Beautiful place, isn’t it? Just a beautiful place. You all have no sense of style. There is nothing like New York City.

The hustle, the bustle, the beeping of the horns, the yelling, the you know, all of that. I mean, it’s just it’s wonderful. The smells. Yeah. That’s style.

The smells that come on trash day, from the mounds of trash. It’s just it’s a place that you just have to experience. Yeah. But one of the things that you’ll encounter, in New York City is if you want a good deal on a Rolex watch, you’ll find it on about every other corner. It’s beautiful.

Ladies, you want a Louis Vuitton bag, disdain, right? Louis Vuitton bag is a fake Louis Vuitton bag. Good disguise, looks good on the outside, but in reality, and the danger is, is there are some that will deceive themselves into thinking that they caught a really good deal. Remember as a kid, I think I’ve shared this illustration on more than one occasion here. My brother and I were baseball card collectors.

Some of you maybe in the older segment of the congregation was a $1,000,000 card, even in my day. I knew that the Honus Wagner most expensive card. There was a 8 of them and they were that had been printed and they were down to 6. And if you could come across the Honus Wagner card, you had a $1,000,000 card. And lo and behold, my brother and I came across Kellogg’s box.

Ain’t that phenomenal? One of 6 right there in the Kellogg’s And so we went to our neighbor, boy, who was about our age, and we told him, we said, we have the Honus Wagner $1,000,000,000 the Honus Wagner $1,000,000. They only trade it to you if you give us all of your The one of only 6 in existence left in the world. It was a Kellogg. James chapter 1, James writes In James chapter 1, James writes these words to us.

I’m gonna invite you to stand. Why don’t you stand with me as we read this passage of scripture? I’m sure we’re there. We’ve given you enough time. James chapter 1.

We’re gonna begin reading in verse 19. James chapter 1 verse 19. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear and slow righteousness of God. Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughty and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is, and grafted word, salvation of Make that connection before we move on. In grafted word, salvation of source, versus 20 2, be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, your own selves.

Natural face in a glass, but those who look and look into the perfect law of liberty and continue there, he being not a forgetful but a doer of the work, this man shall be bluffed in his deed. You may be take this text that we’ve looked at and narrow it down into one verse that it seems like is the highlight of what James is trying to communicate. Congregation, particularly on Wednesday night, recently latter part of that, divining your own selves, and the word, and the Hearing the word, but failure to practice the word, This name may not mean anything to you, but Heinrich Schliemann back in 18/71 sought out to try to find the city of Troy. We know about the city of Troy, right? If you’ve done any sort of historical, or enjoy any kind of history, then you know about the story of Troy and how, Troy was destroyed.

Right? The Trojan horse presented at the gates. You know, the people of Troy, oh, look, they’ve given us a gift. What a bliss. And they’re leaving.

The Trojan horse into the city, cover of darkness come out, open the city gates. The fleeing enemy apparently turns around, comes in and burns the city of Troy. Heinrich, Schleckman did some excavating and found the city of Troy. Isn’t it a sad thing to be deceived into thinking that everything is okay only to have your city utterly destroyed. That same deception is dangerous when it comes to the Christian Extremely dangerous.

To become a hearer of the word and not a doer and be so deceived that you would destroy your own soul through it. Warren W bybals, but their eyeballs never mark them. That’s a Bibles, and yet, if we were to look at our hearts, and our that highlighted and underlined scripture has not marked us internally. And so look with me if you have your Bible still open, what he says. James and crafted or the implanted, and is able to save your right?

Not just the into your life. James is concerned with the idea that as Christians, you and I would simply read the word, hear the word, but not do the word. It would never take root in us And what’s the remedy of this superficial hearing of the word? On the top. It needs to be more than just a word that is heard.

It actually has to be inserted, implanted into When a tree branch I should ask a horticulturalist. We could ask Austin this. What happens when you sever a branch and just lay it down? In back and you slide that branch down inside of that and you pull it back together and you wrap it a and that branch will begin to take its nourish from all of the roots that send up the nutrition up that plant, and pretty soon that branch is not dead. What’s it do?

It’s barren fruit, isn’t it? Over the years, it’s been obvious that I’ve been losing my hair, right? I don’t buzz my head like this because I think it looks good. Alright? I got tired of looking like a chia pet with mange, and I just decided it’s time to get rid of it.

Alright? Over the years of the process of losing my hair, people have given me advice of what I could do. Mange and tail. That’ll help you. There’s Rogaine.

You can use Rogaine, right? Just put a little bit of Rogaine on there and it’ll grow You know what, the best way to really deal with here lose it. That’s right. Just shave it. Just get rid of it.

It. If you wanna deal with it, you can go out and you can get a toupee, but guess what? A toupee is not gonna grow, is it? But if you go in to a hair transplant clinic, they will take and they’ll harvest go in and they’ll put holes, it begins to actually take the source of life in your scalp again. And you’ll draw Do you want to know why I didn’t do that?

Because it’s about $2 a plug. And with the amount of hair loss I have, that’d be a really expensive transplant. James is concerned about that the word of God would not be something that is just superficial laying on the surface. Because in time, if it’s only on the surface, it dies. You remember, Jesus tells the parables of the soir.

Snatches it up and takes it away. It has to take root. It what’s the danger that James is speaking about in this. It’s easy to receive the to But that’s not good enough. Word.

We know the scriptures. We know all about we do everything that we’re supposed to do. We’re going through all of the motions. But the reality is, is the word has never really taken root in our heart to bear James Remar, to me, comes in verse 22 when he cautions us be several occasions recently how much the latter part of this particular text has just gripped me. Because I’m afraid too many times, word.

Aw, wonderful truth, good truth. Oh, I so enjoyed. Good truth. Oh, I so enjoyed. Changed.

But never it? What’s going to happen as a result of it? The dangers that were stirred but never changed. Being a doer of the word is not who is just a hearer as one who looks into this mirror, sees himself, and walks away and promptly forgets what manner of man. But the one who looks intently And the one who looks int word?

You ever had a kid who, loves bugs. I have some, some kids that don’t always like bugs. In fact, a great illustration of our family. We have one child that used to be if there was a creature and this happened back in Florida when they were younger. There was a turtle in our backyard.

And one of our boys just stood at the door and observed. That was one of our boys just stood at the door and observed. And a lot of our The patio about 12 feet away. That’s, that’s good. There’s another one that goes out on the patio and There’s another one that goes out on the patio in the Then we had one that went right out and just dropped down right in front of the turtle and started beating its back.

Word is that you come to it and you study you see a child that loves bugs, they get down, and I mean they’re mesmerized by it. They’ll pick it up. They’ll look at they’ll let it crawl all over their hand. They’ll Do you know the danger is that sometimes we want to observe the word from a distance. It, it looks so implanted in your life that it transforms you.

You do something. It’s a great observation. He said, if your spiritual life is built on merely, listen to the words of Jesus and not on a bane. And I just repeat that. And I just repeat that.

And I just repeat that. And I just repeat that. And I just repeat that. And I just repeat that. And I just repeat that.

And day, your life will eternally and ultimately end in distraught. And I’ll tell you one of the dangers we run, we want to word. You know, I read this morning. Man, isn’t this powerful? And then we want to get into conversation dialogue about it, and break it apart, and, you know, parse it, and do all of this.

And at some point, I want to say, what you’re going to do? A draw that’s great that you got great new insight, but how’s it going to change your life? And so, I think that you got great new insight, but how is it going to change your life? The danger James says is you deceive yourself. You think, wow, look at this great truth that I just came Oh, in this.

Oh, in this. And you walk away and you promptly forget what manner of man you are and you don’t do it. You deceive your self. And I tell us this morning, church, Satan is happy for you to read the. And, can to try to keep you from reading the word.

But if he can’t keep you from reading the word, you know what? The second best thing is, innate. And meal, putting the ingredients together, fixing it, making the mead and then saying, boy, isn’t that a nice they go just set it on the table and then it just And the danger is if all we ever do is hear the word and never do anything about it, we’ve deceived ourselves. Why did David Platt say that the danger is, is that we become hearers and not doers and we become destructive because God puts his law on our hearts. Jeremiah 31 tells us that God puts his law on our hearts and he puts his spirit in us, word.

About it, we’ve dangerous places that you and I can find ourselves. Word, but we’re not John Wesley was strong on 2 elements. In our case, the foreigner. Do you know it’s really easy for us to fall off onto the ditch on one side or the other. Oh, look at me and all of my piety.

I pray regularly. I fast regularly. Look at my holy character. And then, piety? We’re out there doing this and we’re, we’re feeding the, the hungry and we’re closing those that are innate.

What about your relationship with the Lord about your piety, your time alone with him, listening to his. We’re not hearers of the word we’re not doers of the word. Because it takes the relationship with God and the working maybe this will help us this morning. Turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7.

I’m gonna hurry. I’m looking at our time. I want to be sensitive to your time this morning. Matthew chapter 7. Jesus is coming to the end of his sermon on the mount.

And in Matthew chapter 7, Jesus verse 21 says this, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter into the kingdom of JUSTICE, the will of the father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons, and in your name, perform many. Then I will declare to them I never knew you. You who practice lawlessness. Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them.

And who hears these words of mine is, is welcome. He who hears We don’t have relationship with them. Why? Because we’re not acting on the word of God. Turn over just a little bit farther to Matthew chapter draw Jesus gives 3 parables.

The last one dealing with judgment. Him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. All of the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them from one another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left. And the King will say to those on his right, come you who are blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

For I was hungry and you gave me something to I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. Stranger and you invited me naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink?

And when did we see you a stranger and invite you in or naked? When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? The king will answer and say to them, truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of the least of these brothers of mine, even the least of the left, apart from me, a cursed one’s into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil in his And you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me.

Naked and you did not clothe me. And your did not Then they themselves also will answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or imprisoned and did not take care of one of the least these. You did not do it to me. Torn. Good truth.

And do and just take you back to Matthew chapter 7. Jesus is ending his sermon on the But if you go through the sermon on the mount, Jesus begins to talk about the things that are really important that we’re supposed to do. And so, you know, we’re not going to talk about the things that are really important that we’re supposed to do. And so, And he talks about and or anger is our anger is demonstrated.

So you’ve heard it of old not to murder. I say to you, if you are angry at your brother, you’ve committed murder in your own heart. And all of a sudden our anger arises, and goes through chapter 5, chapter 6, it teaches about and your It’s not good enough to be a hearer of the word. We must be doers. About our marriage relationship.

What about the vows that we make? What do we what about the way in which we respond when we’ve been robbed? Teaches about fasting, the way that we use our What am I saying to us this morning? God is calling us to not just be hearers of the word only, but doers of the word. It’s me this morning that so many Christians claim the name of Christ as their lord and yet in their lives, there is no evidence of the engrafted word bearing fruit.

Still filled with anger, still filled with lust, still filled with, still with, let it be and craft it into your and then you have to obey it here. But you’re not doing well with the Obey. Inviting us to stand as we close in prayer, I realize it’s late, and I’ve called attention to that on numerous occasions. But I also want to be faithful to the holy spirit.

The word of draw You and I cannot just be hearers of the word. And that doesn’t happen by us pulling ourselves up by our boots, but by to the Lord and saying, I need your help and your grace. I need your And to engraft that word into your life so that it can bear fruit. It wants to bow our heads, close our eyes. It’s to draw our heads, close our eyes.

It’s to Want us to bow our heads, close our eyes. And to give you an opportunity to respond to, to draw its worth. Doer? Sthieved your lie that you’re okay because you’re a good hearer of the for your and it’s not bearing fruit in your obeyed. Maybe this morning you want to just slip out and come up and the church that if you have a need, it’s all you’re always welcome to come to the holy spirit has spoken to.

I’m a here, but I’m a the holy spirit to help me. I want to change that. You just want to slip up your hand and say, Pastor, that’s me. I see that hand. I see that hand.

I see the authority of God’s word this morning. I want you to know God’s given us his spirit to and to aid us and help us to live that word, not just to the holy spirit for this truth this morning. I pray those that your spirit is speaking to, and then you’ve been faithful to open our eyes to the reality that when we hear the word, but we don’t do it, we’re deceiving our for not being a doer of your Help me through the power of your spirit to live out your word, not just and your word would bear fruit in our lives. It would cause us to live out the truths that we’ve looked at this morning. We would care for those that are all around us, the poor, the afflicted those that are in prison, but that it would also transform areas of our lives that we looked at in, in Matthews.

Yeah. Change how we respond to people in anger, change how we look with our eyes, the way we engage with our money and our spouse, or help us to be doers of the word and jesus. Amen. Lord bless you. You are dismissed.

And then, Lord bless you. You are dismissed.