I invite you to open your Bible and turn with me to Romans, chapter 14. We do have one last sermon we want to do from the book of Romans for this year. We want to talk about it in our fellowship groups this week, our last regular week of groups before we get to our Christmas parties. And if you're going to Long Beach, this will be the last time that you and I open up the Bible to the book of Romans together. And so, we've been doing this study for two and a half years. This is our 78th sermon from Romans, and we've come to the end of chapter 14. And I think these verses are so important; I think they actually summarize so much of what we've learned in Romans. And so, I really want you to give these verses your full and undivided attention here this morning. And if you are just joining us, these verses will catch you up with what we've been learning. So, for some this might be a review to see if you really learned what Romans is teaching. And for others, if you're just joining us, this is perfect, for this will give you the big thought of the book of Romans right here. So, we're going to study Romans 14:20-23. And out of respect for God's Word, I invite you to stand for the public reading of Scripture, and please follow along as I read starting in verse 20 of Romans 14, all the way to the end of the chapter. This is the Word of God.
Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.
That's the reading of God's Word. Please go ahead and have your seat. Now. I don't know how much you've read the commentaries in the study of these verses, or if you've heard other sermons on these verses, but I have been trying to read everything I can and listen to many different sermons about these verses. And it seems to me that these verses are skipped over a lot. In fact, a lot of people, they don't like this chapter break here, because if you look at last verse, chapter 14, as it goes into 15, you can see it says, “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak.” And that's been the talk throughout Romans 14. The weak brother doesn't think he should eat the meat, but the stronger brother, in his faith, understands it's fine to eat the meat. There's nothing wrong with it. And that's kind of the issue that Romans 14 has been about, and because that issue continues into chapter 15, there are a lot of people who are like, I don't think they should have put this chapter break there. I think it should have been a longer chapter, because the idea continues into Romans 15, and the chapter breaks were not originally written when Paul wrote to the saints in Rome. This letter, he didn't have chapters and verses. Those got put on later, so we could all get on the same page. So, if you ever don't like a chapter break, if you're like, I got beef with this chapter break, you can do that. That's fine. You can argue about the chapter breaks. And a lot of people, they're like, this chapter break shouldn't have been here. I want to argue today. Sometimes I don't like the chapter breaks. I love this one because I think something just got said that is so important at the end of chapter 14 that we all need to take a pause, and we need to make sure we really hear what just got said. In fact, in some of the manuscripts of this letter of the book of Romans, they take what's at the end of the book of Romans and they put it right here at the end of chapter 14. Go over to Romans 16, and look how it ends, the doxology. “Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ.” So, you get this beautiful statement here at the end of Romans 16 that ends the whole book. This statement to the glory of God, you can see in Romans 16:27. “to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.” In some of the manuscripts, they even put it at the end of chapter 14. So, there's something here at the end of chapter 14 that some people thought was so significant. It's like climactic in the book of Romans, but today I feel like it's very kind of skipped over on our way into more about eating the meat or not in chapter 15. So, I want to make sure we really hear what these verses say. I want you to hear what it says.
Now go through it with me. Start in verse 20. It says, “Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God.” So, that's what we've been learning, there are some weaker in their faith. They're like, well, in the Law of Moses, it said that some animals are clean, and some animals are unclean. That's one of the unclean man animals, so I don't know if I'm going to eat that meat or not. And then there are other people who are like, no, it's not about that anymore. Jesus said it's all clean, so I have no problem eating the meat. And people were judging each other over whether they were not eating the meat, and some people were judging people for eating the meat, and that's what this has been about. And so, the point is, hey, we're losing the plot. We're going to start judging one another about food. Like, why are we destroying the work that God is doing in people's lives to judge each other about food? In fact, if you know that your friend, your brother or sister in Christ, that person that goes to church with you, you know that they're not confident about eating the meat, then you should even stop eating the meat out of your love for that other person. In fact, you would care so much more about your own rights or your own freedoms. Don't care about that. Care about the work that God is doing in that other person's life. Don't cause your brother or sister to stumble. So, that's the context that these verses come to us in, and we've been learning about that if you have been here. In fact, look, it even says there in verse 21 it is good not to eat meat or drink wine. We've brought that up a few times as maybe a more relevant example for our time. And it's like, maybe some people are like, I don't have a problem drinking alcohol. But then there are other people, well, they were living in drunkenness before Jesus saved them. If they start drinking alcohol, that could open up a big temptation for them, and they could go back to sin that Jesus saved them out of. And so, the idea here is like, well, I'm not just going to have a drink and not care about how that could affect my brother. No, if I know that could cause my brother to stumble, I won't even drink it, because I care so much about them.
So, this idea that we've been learning in Romans 14 is, what does it matter to you these other people here at church, the people who are the church of Jesus, like, do you change anything you do out of love and consideration for your one anothers in Christ? And if you're just over here saying, who cares? I'm going to do whatever I feel like doing. You might cause someone else to stumble. You might find yourself working against the work of God. So, that's what we've been learning. Verses 20 and 21 kind of review that idea. Now look at Romans 14:22 because something gets said in verse 22 and something gets said in verse 23 that I think are climactic here in the book of Romans. Look at verse 22; it says the faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. And then it says this, “Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves.” So, there's a handout there in your bulletin. If you want to take some notes, let's get that handout out of there. And if you are taking notes, could you circle that word “blessed”? Could you underline that whole sentence? What Paul gives us here in this verse is what we call sometimes the Beatitudes, like maybe you know how Jesus said a lot of those lines in his teaching, Blessed is the one who does this. Blessed is the one who's like that. I mean, this is actually a really big statement. And blessed is the idea in scripture of “happy,” or we might say in December, of being “merry,” like, here's now kind of a summary statement, if you really want to be happy, if you really want to be merry, if you want to be blessed? Well, Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself at the end of the day, or, as we come to at the end of the year, and you're all snug by the fire with your loved ones. Are you going to be happy and merry, or are you going to be guilty and ashamed? Are you going to think I'm right before God? Or are you going to have a reason to know there's judgment on you before God?
Well, if you really want to be happy and blessed, you'll have no reason to pass judgment on yourself. So, passing judgment has been the theme of Romans chapter 14. And I just want to review. Go back to verse 4 here in Romans 14, and this is what we've been talking about now for a whole month, for four weeks here at the church. If you look at Romans 14:4, it asks this question, “Who are you to pass judgment on servant of another.” Who are you to judge somebody else? They don't serve you. You're not their boss. No, they serve Jesus. Jesus is the Lord. So, who are you to think you should be deciding if somebody else is passing the test or not? You're not the judge. Now, we talked about how this is a big problem for church people. A lot of church people become very judgy. I was talking with some people the other day. They're like, we used to just be pagans on the street, sex, drugs, and rock and roll, living life in the world. Then we meet Jesus. Best thing that ever happened to us. Radical transformation. Then we start going to church, and, all of a sudden, look at what happened to us. Now, we're the judgy church people that everybody doesn't like. How did that happen? Right? It happens very easily. You start learning what is right or wrong. You start learning what God wants you to know. And then you start looking at other people, and you're like, I can't believe so and so didn't do that. I can't believe so and so thinks that. Yeah, actually you can believe it. You used to do those same things yourself. You used to think those same things yourself, but as you grow in your knowledge, knowledge sometimes puffs up and look at you, now, thinking you're better than other people. Who are you to judge somebody else? So, this problem of judging other people at church, this judgment that's turning a lot of the world away from the church, we’ve got to own that problem. We’ve got to look at ourselves. We’ve got to ask, hey, who am I to judge anybody? Jesus is going to judge his people. I don't need to do that. That's not my job. Look at verse 10, how it asks the question again, “Why do you pass judgment on your brother?” You see other Christians as your brothers and sisters. You're not the dad, you're not the mom, you're not the one in authority. You don't need to judge what other people are doing. No, in fact, you're going to go before the judgment seat of Christ yourself. We talked about that. All of us are going to bow our knee to Jesus. Everybody. When your life is over, at some point, you will be before Jesus. You will see that he is the boss, and you will be humbled before him. Focus on yourself before Jesus; stop judging other people. Look at verse 13. It said, “Therefore we have got to get over this passing judgment.” Let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. In fact, not only should you not judge them, not only should you worry about yourself, now let's even think about them and make sure I'm not doing anything that could cause them to stumble or that they would have to now pass judgment on themselves. I, like my brother over here, they're not sure if they should eat the meat, or today maybe they're not sure if they should drink the alcohol or not. And here I am, like, ah, it'll be fine. Don't worry about it. Go for it. Or, by my example, I'm like, It's okay. Look at me. I'm doing it. And so, because I put pressure on them, they now think, Okay, I'll do it. And then later, how are they going to feel? Oh, I shouldn't have done that. Oh, I feel guilty, Oh, I feel ashamed. I don't want to cause anybody else to stumble like that. So, I'll change what I'm going to do out of my love for them, because I think we're all going to have to go before Jesus, and I don't want to bring a burden of guilt and shame where I would have to pass judgment on myself.
That leads us right now to Romans 14:22 which is the fourth time we've come to this idea of passing judgment in Romans 14. So, let's summarize. You can see there on your handout; we're going to summarize what we've learned in Romans 14. Let's review it like this: “Instead of judging others, don't cause them to judge themselves.” Man, I don't want my friend, that person that Jesus died for. I don't want them to feel bad about what I encourage them to do or not do. So, I'm going to make sure I go all the way from judging them to making sure I don't cause them to do anything where they would have to feel bad themselves. I don't want my brother feeling guilty or ashamed for what they would do. So, if I can tell they're not okay with doing it, I'm not going to try to get them to do it. That's what we're learning here in Romans 14. Our relationships with other people at church really matter to the point where I would change what I'm doing to consider somebody else.
Okay, now look, look at this again. Though, verse 22, this Beatitude here, “Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself.” And then it's this phrase right here for what he “approves”. So, the issue of this statement is, who in the end of the day, or at the end of their life, is going to be blessed, which you could translate happy or, as we would say now, merry. So, we want to really think this through. Okay, we wish one another Happy Holidays. We wish one another Merry Christmas. Well, what does that mean? On some level, it's just a greeting. I hope things are well with you. Well, what does that mean, I hope things are well with you. Do I hope you just get the gifts that you're hoping for, or have the family time you're hoping for. You have the health or the money that are all your circumstances. Okay? Is that what we mean? What really makes people happy? What really makes them merry? Man, if you have cute kids around, that sure will help you to be a happy person, for sure. But is it always based on other people? Is it always based on what's happening? How can you be happy in and of yourself? See, that's the issue here, and what it's really going to come down to for you at the end of the day is, are you doing things that you know you shouldn't be doing? Are there things you know you should be doing that you're not doing? What do you approve? Do you have a reason to pass judgment on yourself, or are you doing the things that you approve, so there's no reason to pass judgment on yourself. Are you in your heart right with God? Or do you know there's something wrong between you and God? That's the issue that's being addressed here. This is something for everyone of us to consider about ourselves. Is my soul really merry, really happy, really blessed? Because it's just me and God. I don't have anything that I need to judge myself for I am right with God.
Now this word “approves” here, if you and I were reading this in the Greek language that Paul originally wrote it in, even without the chapters and the verses, this word approves, this we would feel like, wait a minute. I know about this word. He's already said this to me before. What it creates here is a little bit of a bookend from the beginning of Romans 12 to the end of Romans 14. And because back in the beginning of Romans 12, in this key turning point in the book, he told us to “test” or “approve,” and now he's saying, “blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves.” So go back to Romans, chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, and this we found was a very important transition point in the book of Romans. And we got to Romans 12 this year. And really Romans 12, Romans 13, Romans 14 has defined our year for us, for those of us who have been here at the church, and we saw Romans, 12:1, “I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, God has not given us the judgment that we deserve for our sin. Instead, God has given us Jesus.” And so, we learned all about the salvation that has come to us through Jesus Christ. So, based on all of that salvation, that 11 chapters of teaching that we went through, based on all of that, he says, “I appeal to you, therefore, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship,” which is your logical response. If God loves you so much, he's giving his one and only Son, and if Jesus loves you so much he's laying down his life to die for you, well then, what should you do? Well, it would make sense to us that if Jesus is giving his life as a sacrifice for me, Jesus who's the Son of God, Jesus who's perfect, if he's dying for a sinner like me, then it makes a lot of sense. I'm going to give my life to Jesus. I'm going to offer my body as a sacrifice if he's going to do it for me, how could I not respond and give myself to him? That's what we're agreeing to here as a church. That's what we're saying that makes sense to me. Jesus gave his life. I'm going to give my life.
And then it goes right into this Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing…” And that is the word right there, “testing” or “approving” or proving. That's the word, same word in the Greek language here in Romans 12:2, as it is in Romans 14:22. “[B]y testing, you may discern what is the will of God.” God wants you to do things that are good, that are acceptable, that are perfect, or you could translate perfect as “mature”. God has things that he says, here's how you should live your life. Stop doing these things. Don't do those anymore. Don't do what the rest of the world is doing. Don't get caught up in the spirit of the age. Get your mind right. Get your mind renewed. Experience the transformation that is in the Gospel of Jesus. And start to test, approve, start to figure out, no, this is what God wants me to do. This is what's good. This is what God is pleased with. This is what will mature me. This will help me stop living for myself and all of my sins and start living for other people and for the glory of God. This is the mature way to live.
And so, when you start to follow Jesus, a radical transformation takes place in your life, and you start to get your life on God's page, you start to see what God's saying, and you're like, wow, if that's true, I’ve got to cut this out. I’ve got to step away from this. I’ve got to put that off. And if this is the new way God wants me to live, well, I'm going to start learning how to do these things. I'm going to start talking and walking in a whole new way than who I was before. You are now doing this, approving this testing. You're now learning the way to live, and if you start living out this way of God's will, this good and acceptable and perfect way, well, guess what? If you learn all the things we talked about in Romans 12, in Romans 13, and Romans 14, at the end of the day, if you're doing those things, you're testing them, you're proving them. You're going to be what blessed is, the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. And so, this makes so much sense, because when those of us who are here when we went through these verses, we're like, wow, even people walking into this service today are like Romans 12:1-2. Those are my favorite verses. Those are the verses God used to save me. Well, doesn't it make sense that later on in the book of Romans, he would then refer back to that and say, if you really do that, you will be blessed. See, that's what he's doing. All that we learned in Romans 12 about how to be the church and how to use your gifts to serve other people, and how to really love people. In fact, when people do evil to you, don't be overcome by their evil, but overcome their evil with good.
Let's talk about the government. We spend time talking about that man when it seems like our government, I don't know if I can trust these people. I don't know what's going on. Seems out of control. Well, guess who's over the government, guess who you can trust. And we've learned so much about not making a provision for the flesh, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and those people at your church; they should matter to you, because those are the people Jesus died for. So, how could you do something that would cause them to stumble? All of this? If you're learning this, and you're taking these things out of your life, and you're learning the new way, as your mind gets renewed and your life is transformed, and you're testing and approving what God's will is for your life, you will be blessed.
And so, I think he's actually summarizing what he's been teaching us for these three chapters, what's taken us most of this year to study, and he's saying, hey, if you really get on God's page, stop living your way. Really learn how to live this new way of Jesus. “Blessed is the one who's going to have no reason to pass judgment on himself” because he's approving, because he's testing the will of God. So, he's telling us this is how we're going to be happy.
So, let's get that down for the Romans 12 to 14 Review: “If you want to be happy this holiday…” the people who are cutting out the things in their life that aren't God's will and are putting on the things in their life that are God's will, the people who are really, you know, we call this sanctification, where you're spiritually growing, you're becoming less and less like who you used to be, and you're becoming more like Jesus as you learn the new way that is in Christ. If you're really doing that, and you can see God's doing a work in you, if you can see in the year of our Lord 2024 you're not doing some of the same things you were doing at the beginning of the year. In fact, you're learning new ways that you're living your life. If you're growing like that, you're going to be blessed at the end of the year, because you're not going to be passing judgment on yourself. Like, why am I still doing this? Or I wish I was doing that? No, you're going to be like, I have nothing to pass judgment on myself for, because I stopped doing that thing, and I did start to learn this new way. And so, that person is going to be blessed in what he approves. You've tested it, you've seen it's God's will, and now you're living God's way. And so, the person who's going to be happy this holiday is the one that says, you “know God is pleased.” “If you want to be happy this holiday, then know God is pleased.” I'm living a life that's according to the will of God, that's pleasing to God. I'm doing what's good, what's acceptable, what's perfect, and everything that doesn't fit with that I'm putting away, and everything that does fit with that I'm learning about and stepping into in my life now, when I put it up on the screen like that, if you want to be happy this holiday, then know God is pleased. And God is pleased based on whether you're doing his will or not.
That should make all of us feel a little bit hesitant, or maybe some of us will even just feel down. Right? Uncomfortable because, wait a minute, how do I know that God is pleased with me? Wait a minute, what if I'm not doing enough? Or what if there's still something I shouldn't be doing, or what if I haven't still learned things yet, or I don't know if I'm doing everything perfectly? And you could really start to think that through, like, what are things I shouldn't be doing? Or there are things I should be doing. Go back to Romans 14, and you'll see that here in verse 23. That's why they didn't put the chapter break after verse 20 through verse 22. I think this summarizes what we've been learning we should approve or test in Romans 12 to 14. But then look at Romans 14:23, “But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from,” here's the key word, everybody, the eating is not from what? Faith, and whatever does not proceed from faith is what, everybody? Sin. Okay. Now this is where people go different paths with this verse, and the people who would argue that the chapter isn't really in the right place, and we should keep going into 15 you're going to hear something like this in those kind of commentaries, or those kind of sermons you're going to hear. Well, faith here doesn't exactly mean what faith has meant earlier in Romans. Faith here is more like your own conviction. Faith here is more like your own confidence, because in the context here, and this is whenever we're studying the Bible and we're trying to come to the right interpretation of what the author originally meant when he was writing it, context is the thing. And what they're going to say in the context here is very localized to this issue of eating and drinking in Romans 14. And so, faith is kind of like whether you have the confidence to eat or not. You're going to hear that if you listen to sermons on this passage. Personally, I have a very difficult time saying that the word faith, this word pistis in the Greek language. This key word that's like a major theme in the book of Romans that we've been studying now for two and a half years. I have a very hard time saying the word means something different in chapter 14 than in meant all the other chapters before. This word is used forty times in the book of Romans. So, yes, there's a specific context of whether we're going to eat or not in Romans 14, but the context is the entire Book of Romans. And he's been trying to teach us. Faith has been the point of his teaching to the church in Rome. And faith is not my conviction. Faith is not my confidence. Faith is trusting in the salvation and the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Faith is meant to transfer trust from anything to do with me to Jesus. That's what real faith is. And so, the question comes, well, is this faith here just referring to the issue of eating and drinking, or is this the same faith that we've been studying the whole book of Romans? And see, look at look at it here in verse 23, “Whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith.” So, let's think this through. This was the issue. He was talking about the brother who's weak in faith. Now they understand you can't be saved by what you do, but they now are making it about, should I eat meat or not? That's the context here.
Okay, now go with me to Romans 3. Let's just remember what we learned about faith, and hopefully I can convince you that faith in Romans 14 means what it means in Romans 3, and it means what it means in Romans 4, and all the other chapters. Okay, there is no other definition for faith. And then what Paul has been teaching us this whole time, this is why I think they put the chapter break after verse 23, this is why some people even move the end of the book to right after verse 23 because this is a climactic statement about faith. And if you've been here for the whole ride of seventy-eight sermons, faith is the point of this book; in fact, the whole point of Romans. Does anybody remember when we began Romans two and a half years ago? Who was here when we began Romans? Do you remember the old auditorium across the courtyard? Does anybody remember those days, right? Does anybody remember when I would say we're going to start Romans? And all these theologians would be like, yeah, Romans, does anybody remember those days? I mean, I would say we're going to start going through Romans. And people would literally cheer at church like, I can't wait for Romans. Yeah, give it to him, Pastor. Yeah. Now I don't know if people are still feeling like that seventy-eight sermons later, maybe we've overworn our welcome here, right? But back in the day, you could say Romans and all the theologians in the room were like, hoorah, yeah, yeah, because Romans is going to say we're sinners. Yeah, come on, give it to me, right? Romans is so clear, maybe more clear than any other book in the Bible, that “there is no one who is good, not even one,” not even one person is righteous. And if that's offensive to you, that's exactly what Romans is going say. I mean, it's saying, hey, the idea that you're a good person, that you're going to get right with God, that you're going to go to heaven. Okay, that might make sense to us if we compare ourselves to other people. But let's think about it. Let's compare ourselves to God. All of us have fallen short of the glory of God. Can I get an amen from anybody on that? If the standard is perfection, I'm a short person. I don't measure up to that standard. I have fallen short. I have sinned. I have missed the mark. I have not lived up to the calling that God has for what is righteous. That's what Romans is saying.
So, it's different than how we talk about it, well, that guy's a good kid, or that guy's a good person, or around here, we might say that guy, he's a good dude. We might say, I like that guy. He's good. Well, we know what you mean by that around here, but when you start thinking about it here, well, nobody's good. There's only been one person, who ever lived on planet Earth, who was ever born that we could call righteous, that he actually lived up to the perfect standard of God's commands. He never fell short. He obeyed every command. He never once did what he shouldn't do, and he always did the will of his Father in heaven. There is only one who is righteous, and his name is Jesus. And so, all of us, were not that; he is not us. That's the book of Romans. In fact, it said Romans 3:20, this was such a big deal when we went over it. It said, “For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight.” To be justified is like the goal of the book of Romans, that God in heaven, in holy splendor, on a throne, looks at you and your life, and God declares you righteous. That's to be justified. God says he's not going to judge you. He's going to justify you. God now says he's not going to judge you for your sins. He's going to declare you righteous. And it says, by the works of the law, by what we do or what we don't do, nobody here is going to get righteous. There is no amount of good things you can do to get into heaven. Is everybody hearing this? There's no amount of bad things you cannot do to make up for the bad things you have already done. There is no way, through self-improvement, through trying hard, through trying to be better, nobody is getting past the pearly gates to the streets of gold by anything that they do. Why should you go to heaven? I shouldn't go to heaven, is the answer. There's nothing I've done that would make me go to heaven by works of the Law. No human being will be justified. That's the idea.
And so, this person who's now feeling like, well, I can't eat the meat because that might mess it up. That person has lost the plot. The plot is, it's not about you and what you do or don't do. It's about Jesus and what he already did. He's the Son of God, and yet he humbled himself to be born as a baby, laid in a manger. He's the one who died to pay for your sin. He's the one who rose again for your justification, and the moment that you realize I can't do it. I won't ever do it. It's not possible for me to do it, but he did it. That's the moment that you're saved, when you get over yourself doing it, and you transfer your trust. You have faith in Jesus. Look at verse 26, it was to show his righteousness. And we saw that this is a big point in the book of Romans. It's the point is how we get righteous, but really, as we get righteous, what we see is God's righteousness. It's not just about us getting righteous, it's about God showing us what righteousness really is. And so, it says in verse 26, it was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just. And the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus, see, God does not grade on a curve. God doesn't do it like we do it these days in schools. There are no extra credit points where you can make up, okay? There's no way that you could possibly get to a hundred and that's what is required is one hundred. God is a just judge. Everything that is wrong, it will all be made right. Nobody's getting away with it. Nothing is hidden, nothing is secret, everything, every single thing that has ever been done wrong. God wants you to know he is just. He is righteous. He's going to judge all of it. But the good news is God loved you so much he sent his one and only Son, and that Jesus was willing to be judged in your place for all that you've done. Jesus paid it in full. And so now God is both just because he's going to judge sin, but he's also the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. If you trust that Jesus paid for your sin, all of the righteousness of Jesus, it's credited to you, it's given to you, you're not righteous, but because you trust in Jesus, God now justifies you. God declares you righteous in heaven because of faith.
Faith. Now, if that's such a dramatic point that Paul makes you're trying to tell me, by the time we get to Romans 14, faith doesn't mean that anymore. See, I struggle with that. Go back to Romans, chapter 14, and look at this verse with me and realize why they put the chapter break here, why they brought the ending of the book here. Let's just really hear what this verse is saying, Romans, 14, verse 23 and he uses this word, doubts. “Whoever has doubts,” or you could translate it unbelief. “Whoever has unbelief, is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith.” Now look at this though, for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. So, it's saying, Go back to the specific context of Romans 14, the weak brother in faith doesn't think it's right to eat the meat. And it's saying, yeah, if they don't think it's right, then they shouldn't do it. If they have doubt about it, if they don't believe all food is clean now, then they shouldn't do it, because they don't have the faith to do it. But then it says whatever. Or you could translate it anything. See, I think this last statement here it comes from the context of Romans 14. But I think this when you say whatever, when you say anything, I think you're now opening up the context. In fact, anything that you do, or anything that you don't do, if it is not out of faith and it is all still what? Sin. it's just you trying. It's just you. It's not where your righteousness comes from, which is Jesus.
So, what I think Romans 14 is saying that I think is so important for everybody here to think about faith isn't just how you get started. Faith isn't just how you get saved. It's not like you're going to have a day where you got saved by your faith and then you're going to move on to other chapters. No, everything in life is going to come out of your faith in Jesus, the whole thing. And if you've now taken the fact that you couldn't do anything to get right, and Jesus is the only way to be right, and you trusted in Jesus, and you're like, okay, I'm glad that's done, but now you're like, making it all about what you should do or what you shouldn't do, then that's the point that Romans 14 is trying to make. Why are you going back to what you should do or not do, when whatever we do, if it's not out of faith, it's all still that old way of sin. See, that's why it's like yes, now to him who is able. That's amazing. You won me over about faith in chapter 3. Now you're bringing it home that it should still be about faith at the end of chapter 14. That's the problem, this food problem. That's not the whole story. That's just one specific example where the person's now getting caught up again in works, even Christians who go to church at Christmas time can make it about what they're doing or not doing, rather than about what Jesus has done. And we're putting our faith in him.
And so make sure that everything you do is coming out of your faith in Jesus. Now, when you look there at verse 23 and this is why I really struggle with this idea that we're changing the definition of words in the middle of the book of Romans, because the word there, if whoever doubts or whoever has unbelief, the language here, we're using the same words that we already used about Abraham back in Romans 4:20. So, everybody turn with me back to Romans chapter 4, verse 20. And everybody, when we read about Abraham in chapter four, they all say it's about putting our faith in Jesus to be saved, and we're using the same words back in chapter 4. So, it doesn't make sense to me why the words now mean something different in verse in chapter 14, because it said that Abraham could have doubted. Abraham could have not believed. But instead of doubting, Abraham had faith. It says it in a very similar way. In fact, maybe some of you remember this. It was exactly two years ago. So, on cute kids, Christmas choir weekend that we did Romans 4:19-21. The sermon was called “Too Old for A Baby,” about father Abraham and Sarah having their son. Does anybody remember that sermon from two years ago? Maybe there's a family member here. You were here two years ago. You heard that sermon. You did not believe in Jesus that God has given you a second chance here today, he's brought you back to hear it again. Look at Romans 4:20, look what it says. “No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God.” What's the setting? Verse 19, “He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead since he was about hundred years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb.” And then it's like he didn't doubt, but he had faith, and his faith brought glory to God. Now I don't know if there's anybody who's here today who's a hundred years old, but I just want to make it clear to you, we're not insulting you for your age, or saying you're as good as dead. Okay, if you're a hundred years old, we should give you a round of applause. All right. But what is the idea here? You don't expect a hundred year old man to have a child. In fact, the hundred year old man who's married to his wife who has been barren and has never been able to be pregnant or have a baby, those are people you're thinking they are past their child bearing years. You're not looking at the hundred year old guy with his wife who's never had a child thinking, I wonder if they're going to grow their family next year. You're not thinking that, okay, they're done from a human perspective. It's not happening. And so, see how the point is here, everything that you could see, everything that you could feel, everything that you've experienced, all your circumstances, are saying that Abraham and Sarah are not going to have a baby. And it begs the question, is anything too hard for the Lord? And the answer to that is, God does miracles. God does wonderful things, marvelous things. And if God says, this is what I'm going to do, Abraham, he heard God, and he responded with faith. He didn't go by what he could see. He didn't go by what he could do or not do. He didn't go by circumstances. No, he heard what God said, and by trusting in what God said, Abraham believed and that faith brought glory to God. Maybe you know the story when they came. And so we're going to come back in a year in Genesis 18, and when you're going to have a baby. And what did Sarah do when she heard that, everybody? She laughed, like, hey, you're saying amazing things. You're saying things that just don't happen here on planet Earth. Exactly. God is saying it. And if God's saying it, it is going to happen. In fact, this is the only way that anybody here will ever get faith, though. Where does faith come from? Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of Christ. That's what we've learned in Romans. Faith happens at times just like this, where you came to see your grandson or your granddaughter, or your son or your daughter, and then God opens your eyes to see his son is really who you need to see here. And you start hearing something. You start hearing like, yeah, I've always been trying. I've always been trying to not do, and I've always been trying to do, and I still feel like I had passed judgment on myself. I still feel guilty. I still feel ashamed. If that's the standard for happiness, if that's who's merry and blessed, yeah, I'm still going to feel bad this Christmas. If we make it about what we do, we will all feel bad this Christmas.
That's why we have Christmas. That's why we're here. That's why these kids are singing something that that's why till he appeared and the soul felt its worth. See, this is where there's hope. This is where there's life. And it's not in me becoming any kind of better person than anybody else. The hope is only in what God has said through Jesus and hearing that and having faith. And God says that people in this room who have been drunks for their entire life are going to get sober. God says the people in this room who are sexually immoral are going to be pure. God says that people who have always doubted and always questioned and always been a skeptic will become the most passionate and zealous believers. How could that be? Never happened before. You could be hundred and it's never changed. You could be barren your whole life, and it's never happened. It's going to happen because God said so through his Son, Jesus Christ. And you hear it, and you believe it. And when you believe, when you hear the Word of Jesus, and you trust in Jesus, I can't do it, but I believe Jesus did it, that's when you're saved. That's when you're justified. That's it. That's the point of the book of Romans.
Now, after you are justified, yeah, you start living differently, but it's not living differently that makes you justified. We are justified solely on the basis of faith. And faith comes from just hearing the Word of Jesus and trusting in it. What you're exactly doing right now. And I wonder how many times you've heard the Word and turned away and hardened your heart. And maybe some of you have even come to this kids choir before, and here you are back again, and here now you're hearing the Word of Jesus, and you could believe it today and celebrate Christmas, because we all need Christmas. Here's the thing. Christmas isn't this seasonal thing. It's not this most wonderful time of the year. It's not just the time to remember Jesus. If there is no Christmas, we are all cooked. If there is no Christmas, we all have no hope. If there is no Christmas… like this is the whole point. It doesn't matter how hard the Israelites tried to do what God said. It doesn't matter how hard you want to be a better person. You need a Savior. You need a righteousness that you can't possibly possess. You need the impossible to happen in your life. That's Christmas. The Holy and Righteous Son of God put on flesh, and they laid him in a feeding trough for animals because there was no room for him in the inn in Bethlehem, and God sent angels to go tell some shepherds he's here. This is the one that we all needed.
Go with me to Luke, chapter 2. I don't know if you've read it yet, but let's all look at this together. I'm sure some of you have already been reading some of the Christmas story, but I want everybody to look with me at Luke, chapter 2, because it really can give you peace about what it means to be pleased, for God to be pleased with you. This is the message of the angels. So, in Luke, chapter 2, here, an angel shows up and starts speaking to shepherds. And what does the angel say? The angel says here in Luke 2:10, the first thing that angels always say, which is “Fear not,” because if you see a spiritual being from another realm, you will be freaked out of your living mind. That's what will happen. And so, angels always have to start with it's okay. Fear not, okay. Behold, it's not about me. Let me give you the message. “I bring you good news of great joy for all people.” How many people is this good news for? just the people who believe in it? No, this is for everybody. Good news of great joy when you are at the end of the day, or the end of the year, the end of your life, you won't have to pass judgment on yourself anymore. You won't have to carry around that guilt and that shame anymore. You won't have to continue to feel bad about what you do or what you are not able to do. This is good news of great joy that everybody can have there has been born for you this day in the city of David, a Savior, and you needed him, because you weren't going to get there with your incremental self-improvement. You weren't going to get there this time trying to really do it. No, you needed a Savior, who is the Christ, who is the Lord. And then it tells the shepherds, you can go see him. There are swaddling cloths, there's a manger. But then a whole army of angels shows up. And if you should listen to what one angel says, I think you should really pay attention to what the whole angel army says. Look at it here in verse 13, “Suddenly there was, with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased.” The Glory to God in the highest. How do you say that in Latin? Gloria, in excelsis deo. Give it the hand roll, everybody. This is where it comes from, right here. This is going to bring God the utmost glory. This is the thing that's really going to show everybody who God is, that God is just and the justifier. This is the Word of God. This is the one who's going to reveal God; this is the very expression of the image of God now given to us. “Glory to God in the highest through the birth of this Savior and peace on earth with those whom he is” what, everybody? Pleased. How do you get pleased? How do you get God pleased with you? You believe in his Son, Jesus.
Let's get that down for our review of Romans, chapter 1, verses 14, God is pleased through faith in Jesus, that's going to get you out of this mindset of, Am I stopping to do what I what I need to stop doing, or am I doing enough of what I should be doing? Well, we want to learn how to line our lives up with God. We want to test and approve what God's will is. But ultimately, I'm not having peace. I'm not having happiness and Mary in my heart, and I'm not blessed because today of what I'm doing or what I'm not doing, the reason that I know I'm right with God is I believe in the Savior, the Lord Jesus, the Christ. And I know Jesus came to save me from all of that sin that I should be judged for. And Jesus, he was not like me. He did it all right. He fulfilled God's will. He perfectly obeyed all of God's commands; the things that we're told not to do, Jesus never did one of them, the things that we are told to do, he did it every single time. In fact, Satan took him around and tempted him and tried to get him to fall and he was rejected. As Jesus presented the Word of God, he resisted the devil. Jesus is righteous, and he offered his perfect track record of righteousness, and he laid down his life in my place. And now, when I transfer my trust to Jesus, his righteousness is transferred to me, and God could not be more pleased with me than he is right now, because he is pleased with his Son, Jesus, and I, by faith, am now in Jesus, that's how you're going to have a Merry Christmas. You’ve got to first admit you need Christmas. You need a savior. You're not a good person, not according to God's standard. And I want to say to my brothers and sisters, whatever is not out of faith is what I think that is a great thing for everybody to think about, not just in Romans 14 context, universal context, all of the book of Romans. Okay, let's think about that before you had faith in Jesus. Let's go back to your life before your eyes were opened, before you heard the Word, before you believed. What would we call your whole life, before you put your trust in Jesus? If you were to be judged for that, what would we call it? Sin.
Okay, now let's think about it. As a Christian, you have put your faith in Jesus, but maybe you're kind of thinking, well, I do some things out of my faith in Jesus, and then I've kind of got my own side hustle over here where I'm doing these other things, they don't really come out of my faith in Jesus. Well, let's think that through. If you're doing something apart from Christ, if you're doing something where you're not continuing, remaining, staying or abiding in Christ, apart from Christ, how many good things are you going to be able to do? Not one thing. So, on the Day of Judgment, when you go before Jesus, everything that you did that is not out of your faith in Jesus, it's not going to pass the test. It's not going to be rewarded. This is the whole ball game. This is the whole story of your life. I believe that Jesus is the righteous one who died in my place and rose again. And now I start doing things, not because it's about me either doing it or not doing it, but I'm doing it by faith in Jesus Christ. And I want everything I say, everything I do, everything I'm thinking all day, every day, to be because I believe in Christmas. I believe I need a Savior. I believe he came down here for me, and if he's willing to come down here for me, then it makes sense to me that I'm going to give my life completely for him. And I want to do whatever I do, I want to do it out of faith, trusting that Jesus is the way because he said it. I'm going to do it. It's not about me anymore. It's about the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, brothers and sisters, my friends here at the church, are you moving on to some other chapter where it's not about your faith in Jesus, the book of Romans wants to bring you back to reality. Don't make it about you doing it or you not doing it. That's the whole point that he made earlier in the book. Don't lose it by the end of the book, this whole issue of should we eat the meat or not.
Well, but what would Jesus say? Let's trust in him. Jesus said, all food is clean; that should be enough. Don't make it about yourself. See, some of the doubt, some of the unbelief, that some of you are feeling is because you're getting caught up again in whether you should do it or not do it, and you're not doing it out of faith in the Lord Jesus, that's what it's supposed to be. It's supposed to be that from the beginning of our salvation all the way to the end, till we're with him and our faith becomes sight. Whatever is not out of faith, it is sin. And so, my brothers and sisters, let's look on the back of your hand out there. We've got one last conversation about Romans this year. And if you're going to Long Beach, this is it. This is as far as we're going to get in the book of Romans. And so, let's review what we have learned from Romans. And is it really sticking with you? Are you still thinking about not just the fresh things of Romans 14. But are you still by the transformation in the renewal of your mind, are you testing and improving what God's will is, and are you growing up in your sanctification? Are you still doing it by faith, or have you made it about what you're doing again? Let's review this. Let's talk about this.
Romans is an interesting information for us to know in the back of our brains. The book of Romans, the gospel of Jesus, is transformation. It's the power of God working in you to change the rest of your life. Is that what's really happening? Are you really remembering Romans in your day-to-day life? But I just want to talk to some family members, some friends, those of you who have joined us today to see these kids, Wonderful Counselor, right? How great these kids are. I just want to say to you that God loves you so much that he gave his one and only Son, and he sent him to save you. And Jesus was willing. Jesus laid down his life. He did it to submit to his Father. He did it because he wanted to, because Jesus loves you, and he died in your place. Jesus took the punishment for your sin, and he rose again so you could be justified. It was at this present time that God wanted to reveal his righteousness, that he is both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. If you can hear this word, you can believe. And if you believe in Jesus today, you will have a Merry Christmas, not just this December, but forevermore. Let's pray.
Father in heaven. We really need your help to hear this Word today. God, will you please open up our ears to hear what Romans is saying, not only what it's been saying, what it's still saying here at the end of chapter 14, God, I think everybody wants to be blessed. Everybody wants to be happy. Everybody wants to have a Merry Christmas. But I wonder who will still be passing judgment on themself knowing they don't live up to your standard. And I wonder who will be experiencing real blessedness, real peace, real joy because they know that you're pleased with Jesus and they're trusting in him. So, God, I pray for my brothers and sisters that you will remind us that this all got started by faith, and Jesus is both the author and finisher of our faith. We're not moving on to some other chapter. We need to do everything we do out of our faith in Jesus. And I pray for those who have not yet transferred their trust. I pray that even now, God, while I'm praying for them, that you could open their eyes to see that there is no one like Jesus. There never has been before him. There never has been since him. I pray that they could see Jesus now before the second Christmas comes, before everyone sees Jesus coming back, riding on the clouds. I pray that they could see Jesus right now, that they could see him by faith, that they could see no matter how hard they try to be good, no human being will be justified by the works of the law only as we transfer our trust to the one, righteous one. As we believe in Jesus and put our faith in him, that is where you will declare us righteous. So, God, please, will you save souls here at this 11 o'clock service right now? Don't let them harden their hearts. Don't let them leave here; let them hear and believe. Let faith come from hearing and hearing from the Word of Christ. Let people sing right here, right now. There's no one like Jesus, the Savior, the one who came to die in our place, the one who came to take judgment for our sins, the one who came to give us a righteousness we could never have for ourselves. There's no one like Jesus. And I pray that at this time of year, in the month of December, in the year of our Lord 2024 that we would come and adore Jesus, that we would love Jesus more than we ever have before, that we would say right there, Jesus, in him, in his life, in his righteousness. That's everything for me. That's my salvation. That's how I'm able to be blessed, to be happy this holiday, to be merry this Christmas. It's all because of Jesus, Father, I pray that all of your people will worship Jesus this Christmas, that we will worship him from our heart and that you will be pleased. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.