We are going to read in Romans chapter 14, and we are going to read actually the first 12 verses, and those 12 verses are actually supposed to be read alongside with the rest of the chapter, up till chapter 15 even, and verse 7, because there in those two chapters, or a chapter and a half, we have a very important part of the practical walk of the believer here in this world. That has to do with our relationship now, not so much to the government as we have heard in chapter 13 of the book of Romans, but our relationship, to have a right relationship with a weaker brother or weaker sister. Let me read to you those verses, the first 12 verses of Romans chapter 14.

Him that is weak in the faith, receive ye, but not into doubtful disputation. For one believe that he may eat all things, another who is weak eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not, and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth, for God hath received him. Who are you that judge another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up, for God is able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind he that regardeth the day regardeth it unto the Lord and he that regardeth not the day to the Lord he does not regard it he that eateth eateth to the Lord for he giveth God thanks and he that eateth not to the Lord he eateth not and he 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 Lord's.

For to this end, the Messiah both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living. But why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set at nought thy brother. For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Messiah, of Christ. For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. Then verse 12, so then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. This moment I'm going to stop with verse 12 because this is the section that I have in mind to speak about today.

If the Lord will give me more time and there is a need, I'm going to move on to the next verses. But Romans chapter 14 and chapter 15 up to verse 7 takes us really to the next section in the book of Romans. You remember that we said that in Romans chapter 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 we have this theme of service we have this theme of duty and we saw already earlier that we as believers need to have a right relationship number one with the Lord and then later on in chapter 12 we said number two to have with other believers and then number three we said the right relationship with the enemies and finally with the government in chapter 13 so we are to have a right relationship with the Lord right relationship with our brothers and sisters right relationship with our enemies and right relationship with the government we just finished last time in a.

Ministry at the end of chapter 13 and you remember what was the last verse of chapter 13 Paul said put on the Lord Yeshua the Messiah the Lord Jesus the Messiah and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. What Paul is saying here at the end of chapter 13, that we, the believers, are to put on, as we put a jacket on, as we put clothes on, to put on the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, and make no provisions for the flesh. Why? Because our flesh have an inclination, and because of the fallen nature that we have we have an inclination to make provision for the flesh and therefore by making provision for the flesh we fall into sin and all kind of things which dishonor the Lord so he's moving now from the end of chapter 13 with our right relationship with the government and then he's going to the next area that we need a lot of help and a lot of work from the Lord in our own hearts.

And this is the need to have a right relationship with or toward a weaker brother or weaker sister. Now, brothers and sisters, if you will open your Bible and turn, whether it is to the Tanakh, to the Old Testament, or the New Testament, the Brit HaChadashah, you will find out there are plenty of verses that deal with the necessity of having unity among the people of God and the reason why we have so much encouragement in the Bible to have. Unity is because we often find ourselves having disunity and disunity you see it everywhere you see it in the local assemblies in the local churches you see it in many areas you see it in homes some of the reasons that we have friction and disunity is because we are not giving room to each other, and we don't allow the weaker brother or the weaker sister to grow and to mature.

And so we are forcing our opinion and forcing our views upon other people. And when we do so, we oftentimes put a wedge between ourselves and them, and we find out that ultimately the sheep are scattered and the people of God are divided. One of the problems that Israel have had is also disunity. You remember there were 12 loaves inside the tabernacle in the wilderness which represented before God the unity of all the nation and yet if you went out of the tabernacle you see the disunity that existed and the friction that existed oftentimes in the wilderness journey. The same thing with the church with the body of Messiah you know that there is one body that existing of all believers when the head is in heaven and the body is on earth and yet you and experiencing the disunity that existing in the body of Messiah today you have a church almost on every corner of a street and the one or church group i should say and the one will not affiliate with the other and much of the reasons is not always doctrine is because we do not recognize and be sensitive one to another we read Psalm 133 very short Psalm and you know brothers and sisters that's what the Bible says and the psalmist says David says how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity it's so pleasant it's so good David said God wanted the people of Israel to be united.

God wanted the body of Messiah to be united. It is good. It is pleasant. In Hebrew, it is tov. It is naim. It is so pleasant when the brothers and sisters are dwelling together in unity. And unfortunately, many times we do not have the enjoyment of practically having the unity among the people of God. Psalm 133, look to the future, when Israel as a nation will be gathered and accept Yeshua the Messiah, and when Israel as a nation will accept the Messiah, they will bow to His authority, and He will be the one who will be the Lord and the King of the nation, and there will be such a wonderful unity will exist among the nation of Israel.

That's Psalm 133, takes us to the future. So the apostle is writing here in Romans chapter 14 and in those first 12 verses he is dealing with some gray areas that you and I might have here in the life of the believer, the Christian life. There are certain areas that are very gray. Things such as this. Should a believer smoke or shouldn't he smoke? Should a believer have his hair that short or a little bit longer? Should a sister wear a skirt or a dress over the knees or above the knees? Should we go to the movies or shouldn't we? Should we drink wine or shouldn't we? Should we eat meat or shouldn't we?

Should we keep a day or shouldn't we? What day can we keep, or what day we should keep, or what day we want to keep? See, there are certain gray areas in the believer's life in which we need a lot of wisdom and sensitivities from the Lord. And there is constantly, constantly appealing by the apostle for the unity among the people of God. And if you look over, I'm not going to read to you all the verses, but you read almost every epistle, Whether it is Romans, or whether it is Corinthians, or whether it is Galatians, or Ephesians, or Philippians, and Colossians, and 1st and 2nd Thessalonians.

Almost every letter that our pastor Paul wrote to the churches in that locality, there was an issue of the need of unity. There was an issue of the need to seek to maintain unity among the peoples of God. And so, in chapter 14, he began to share with them the necessity, in those 12 verses, the necessity to receive one another. How important it is to receive one another. We're all coming from a different background. I'm Jewish, coming from Israel. I have my Jewish-Israel issues. I grew up in a home, in a Jewish home in Israel. I speak the language. Which I grew up, even as a little boy, as a boy that grew up in a conservative home, could not eat anything that was non-kosher, at least in my grandparents' place.

On the other hand, somebody else coming from another country, and they got saved, gloriously saved, like I have gotten saved, and God now put us together in the body of Messiah, and we're all coming with issues and background and problems and exercise and burdens, and we are all in a different stage in our spiritual life. So now he is telling them, listen, brothers and sisters at Rome, you are all saved, you have accepted the Messiah, and now I want you to conduct yourself in such a way that you will receive each other as the Lord has received the other. And so, he's telling them here in these verses 1 to 12, he wanted them to live in harmony with one another, and he gave them some reason why they are to receive each other.

Why should I receive you in spite of your failures, and you will receive me in spite of my weaknesses and failures? Why? Well, he gives us here some reasons. And so notice, the first reason that he gives us, or the first thing that he says to the Romans believers, is that they are to receive one another because God had received each and every one that accepted Yeshua the Messiah, the Lord Jesus the Messiah. This is the first three verses. Notice he says, Him that is weak in the faith, receive ye, but not into doubtful disputation, for one believeth that he may eat all things. Another who is weak eateth herbs.

Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not. Let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth for God. Notice his expression at the end of verse 3. For God had received him. You see, he is now making a difference between the strong believer and the weak believer. Actually, here in this text, the weak believer is the person that has a problem with various things, such as what to eat and what not to eat, and when to eat and when not to eat. And here he's saying, listen, in verse 1 he's saying, you receive the weak without judging them. Receive the weak without judging them.

You know, years ago when I was handing out tracts in New York City, After we hand out trucks, we hand out thousands of trucks in New York City. And then we end up to have a break to go for lunch so we can continue in the afternoon to hand out trucks. Some of the people that were with us were Jewish believers who came with a conviction that they could not eat in a restaurant that is not kosher. So they did not feel like going to the same restaurant that other of us had the liberty to go there. So we went to the one restaurant, the one group, and the other group went to another restaurant because it was kosher, it was sanctioned by the rabbis.

And we had to, when we finished the lunchtime, we got up and we all continued to hand out tracts to share the message of the gospel with the people of New York. The important thing that he's saying, listen, receive the week without disputation. You know, people have a conviction about certain things. You see, here he says, him that is weak. Now, again, I want you to understand that here the point is emphasizing the fact that the weak is the one that have various restriction upon himself or herself. That's what he's saying here. The strong one, the one who is mature believer, might have certain liberty before the Lord, but the weak one might have certain restriction upon himself.

And so he says receive let him that is weak in the faith receive but don't receive him and give him a trip give him a hard time or give her a hard time receive them you have to understand that they have certain individual conviction before the Lord and so we are to receive one another and then he says in verse 2 now he's talking about food he said for one believer that he may eat all things and then in verse 3 continue but another who is weak notice another who is weak eateth herbs and no more so apparently the weak one in this present day dispensation the weak one is the one that set a limitation to himself according to this text now i know we have a lot of issues about it especially in a messianic movement what should we as Jewish believers and non-Jewish believers are we are under the law are we are not under the law well as far as the Bible.

Teaches us brothers and sisters we are in this dispensation of the grace of God and we are not under the law because had we have been today under the law we have already violated the law even by coming to the meeting today and driving with our car. Because if we would light a fire on a Shabbat, according to the law, we will be disciplined. And God had given this to the people of Israel. And so it is important to understand the dispensation in which we live under, but a person might have certain personal conviction, and we should allow each other to have personal conviction. Talking about food for a moment, it is important to see how the Bible shows us that in various dispensations, God has dealt differently with mankind in connection with food.

Let me show you this for a moment. If you turn to Genesis chapter 1 and verses 28 to 31, there we find out that before the fall came man was only eating vegetables look at this Genesis chapter 1 i read verse 26 on it says like this and God said let us make men in our own image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him.

Male and female created he them. And listen to verse 28. And God blessed them. And God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue the earth, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And verse 29 he said, And God said, Behold, I have given you every herbs bearing seed, which is upon the face of. The earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielded seed, to you it shall be for food. Interesting that he does not mention that they could eat all the living animals that were in the earth at that time, but he told them clearly that they could eat the seed, the fruit of the trees and the herbs that are growing out from the ground.

Interesting. Well, that was before the fall. Apparently, Adam and Eve have enjoyed the fruit of the land. They've enjoyed the trees. Now, by the way, you notice what happened. You know how the fall came in and they end up eating of the fruit of the knowledge of the good and evil, which they should have not eaten. But they had liberty to eat from all the herbs and all the trees of the field that was prior to the fall prior to the sin when sin came in time went on sin came in if you read later on chapter 3 sin came in and you know ultimately the flood and the judgment of God upon this world came and now you jump to chapter.

9 and look what God says to man in the new dispensation under the new world when Noah and his family came out of the ark chapter 9 and the first three verses of the book of Genesis Genesis 9 1 to 3 and God blessed Noah and his sons and he said unto them be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every fowl of the air and upon all that moveth upon the earth and upon all the fish of the sea unto you or unto your hand are they delivered and here it is verse three every moving thing that livers shall be meat for you even as the green herbs have I given you all this.

Now notice, now he added what he did not give Adam and Eve to enjoy in the garden he had given Noah and his sons and their wives and his wife in the new world he had given them the liberty in chapter 9 to eat every moving thing that moved upon the face of this earth. So in one dispensation he had given them to eat only herbs prior to the fall. When the new dispensation came, the dispensation when Noah came out, the government of God came and when Noah came out he had given them the liberty to eat every moving thing. Now there are some moving things that i'm telling you i will not eat them today either doesn't matter how fast or how slow they move i'm not going to eat them but apparently God had given them in this dispensation to eat every movie thing that was now when the government the new dispensation has started now let's move to the book of Leviticus for a moment and read with me Leviticus chapter 11.

Just a couple of verses there as well in Leviticus chapter 11 now we are moving to the next dispensation or another dispensation which we call the dispensation of law when God had given the law to the nation of Israel he has chosen Israel he had bring Israel to himself and in Leviticus chapter 11 he had given Israel our very own people instruction of what they could eat and what they couldn't eat i'm not going to read all the chapters but i want you to see that in Leviticus chapter 11 out of all those animals that could move that did move God limited Israel to eat only some of those animals that move and some of them he did not allow them to eat let me read some verses in Leviticus 11, beginning in verse 1.

And the Lord spake unto Moses and to Aaron, and he said unto them, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth. Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is cloven. So he gives them a list of the things that they could not eat. Notice verse 4, they couldn't eat a camel. Verse 5, they couldn't eat a connie. Verse 6, they couldn't eat a hare. And verse 7, they couldn't eat the pig, the swine. You see that? You see, there are certain of the moving animals, moving beasts upon the field that God have allowed in the time of Noah.

But in the dispensation of the law, God did not allow this to the people of Israel. You might ask why. I might ask why. Well God by giving limitation to the nation of Israel he has separated our own people of all from the rest of the nations of the world he distinguished the nation from the rest of the nation of the world and one of the things whereby he distinguished them from the rest of the nation of the world is with the food that Israel was allowed or not allowed to eat if you will read the whole chapter it's not only the beast of the field it's also those the fish in the water some he allowed them to eat and some he didn't from verse 9 to 12 and if you look from verse 13 on it's the fowls the birds that fly in the air some they could eat and some Israel could not eat so what we learn from this up to this point before the fall only herbs after the new world when noah came out government every moving thing then we are back moving now forward in the time.

That God have instructed in his word the people of Israel now Israel were restricted to eat only certain kind of food and certain kind of food they were not allowed to eat no pork no pig no camel no corny and all these other animals that are mentioned in Leviticus chapter 11 well what about this present day dispensation brothers and sisters remember that we are not replacing Israel we are part of the body of Messiah Jewish people and Gentile people united in the body of Christ the body of Messiah we are those that have been elected out of the nations of the world and out of the nation of Israel and so to the present day company of the people of God there is another instruction that is found and i'm not going to read you all the verses but one verse i want to read in first Timothy chapter 4 let me read you that verse before we continue on with our chapter first Timothy chapter four and that's verse i'm going to read the first four.

Verses the apostle writing to Timothy and he's saying to Timothy the spirit speaks expressly that in the latter time some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrine of demons speaking lies and hypocrisy having the conscience seared with hot iron verse 3 forbidding to marry and commending to abstain from meats or from food which God has created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth And then he says in verse 4, For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving. Look at now. Now we are beyond the law, the dispensation of the law.

Now God is speaking to the body of Messiah, speaking to Timothy, the truth concerning the body of Messiah. And he's saying to Timothy, We are going to arrive in the last day when there will be those who will be forbidding us to marry, forbidding to eat certain food that God has allowed us to eat, and there will begin to be some restrictions that men will put that is not placed by God at all. Romans chapter 14 is addressing this kind of situation. Paul is saying in verse 2 of Romans chapter 14, each person have a different conviction, he says, And he says, for one believeth that he can eat all things.

And as we have read in 2 Timothy chapter 4, we have the liberty, biblically speaking, to eat all things. We might not have a desire for that. We might not have a conviction for that. But nevertheless, there is that had been given to us in the Scripture. So he's saying, another one that is weak, eat only herbs. So he's saying in verse 3, let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not, and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth. And you know, that is exactly what oftentimes happens. Oftentimes, brothers and sisters, listen, we cannot put our personal conviction upon one another. We can maybe suggest it.

We should maybe encourage each other, you know, there are certain foods that we know are not good for us, period. We know that. And that's why God has told the people of Israel not to eat them. But we cannot make out of it a rule and a law and say, I am not going to have fellowship with you. I'm not going to receive you because you have the liberty to eat that. We have to be extremely careful. And you know why? Because it says at the end of verse 3, if you are not going to receive him, it's not going to change anything because God has received him.

And so we are to learn to receive each other. We might not agree with what one has a liberty to eat or not to eat. But nevertheless, please, God is saying to us, let's not get divided over this. Let us receive one another because God has received every one of us. Whether we have liberty to eat or whether we don't have liberty to eat. Now, but it's not only that, Paul is saying. Not only that. And by the way, if you will read Mark chapter 7, you will notice what Jesus, the Messiah, Yeshua said. He says, not what come into the mouth defile a man, but what come out of the mouth defile.

Out of the heart, the mouth speaks. You see, it's not what we bring in our mouth defiles us, but what comes out of our mouth, which is coming out of our hearts. And if our hearts is not submissive to the Lord, the mouth will speak things that will be dishonoring to the Lord. And that's why in Mark 7, Yeshua said when he was speaking in verses 15 on, he was speaking concerning the accusation about what the disciples eat. And he dealt with it and he said, not what comes into the mouth defiles the man, but what comes out of the mouth. Because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth would speak.

So God receive us all, and therefore let us receive one another. Notice the second thing. Not only that God receives us, but also God sustains the child of God. He sustains us. That is in verse 4. See, he says in verse 4 now, Who are you, the judge, another man's servant? To his own master he will stand. Or fall. Yet he shall be holden or held up for God is able to make him stand. See, we have to be careful because we can very easily be Judges of somebody else. And Paul, by divine inspiration, is saying to the Romans believers, he says, who are you that judging another person's, another man's servant.

How can you have the liberty to judge? I don't know about you but oftentimes in the back of my mind I have an opinion about somebody and I immediately judge that person if I'm not careful before the Lord. We are immediately judging this person and we don't realize that I have no right to judge somebody else's conviction about what he eats or what he doesn't i'm not the judge of this person i cannot be i cannot be the judge because God is the one that sustains this person he's able to hold him he's able to sustain him he's the one that is the judge we cannot judge one another now mind you there are certain things we need that are clear.

Cut in the Bible that we need to judge we need to act upon immorality we need to act upon we need to take a stand and certain things that are clear cut in the Scripture we need to take a stand but in a case such as this we would just need to commit that brother or sister to the Lord just as much as he or she need to commit us to the Lord to leave us before the Lord and to pray for the other brother or the other sister so God receives us God is able to uphold us even if the others do not do so thirdly he's saying here in those verses verse five on five to nine the third thing that he is teaching us here that not only that God receive us and sustains us but the Lord Jesus Yeshua is Lord and he is the one that is the master of every one of us notice he's saying here eight times you notice how many times the word Lord is.

Mentioned here in verses five to nine it says in verse five one man esteemeth one day above another and another esteemeth every day alike let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind he that regardeth the day regardeth unto the Lord notice that and he that regardeth not the day to the Lord he does not regard it he that eateth eateth to the Lord and he giveth God thanks and he that eateth not to the Lord he eateth not and he giveth God thanks in those verses brothers and sisters we have the second point that our apostle dealing with is not only what we eat but also what days we want to commit to the Lord you know that God had given Israel our people the Shabbat in fact the Shabbat is part of the law if you read in Exodus chapter 19 and 20 you will see part of the ten commandments you shall keep the Shabbat day holy unto the Lord he gave the.

Shabbat to be kept by the nation of Israel as a nation to the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob he wanted the nation of Israel to keep this day unto him but what happened today in this present day dispensation now we meet on saturday on Shabbat day and we use this day and especially to be able to reach Jewish people to come to the meeting but again i want to suggest to you brothers and sisters that actually we cannot keep the Shabbat the way God had given it to the nation of Israel in the Tanakh in the Old Testament under the law why can't we because we live first of all in this dispensation this dispensation of grace and also when you think of the limitation and the responsibility that came with the Shabbat, you tell me yourself if you truly have kept this Shabbat day according to the way that the Bible gave it to the nation of Israel.

And you will have to say, I didn't. They couldn't light a fire on a Shabbat day. They couldn't walk any certain distance on a Shabbat day. Shabbat day was a unique day within the realm of the nation of Israel in connection with the, specifically with the land. We could not keep the Shabbat day the way that God had given to the people of Israel we may meet on a Shabbat day we can use the Shabbat day in a special way we don't want to despise that but we cannot under the law keep the Shabbat day because we are in a different dispensation the Shabbat specifically was given to Israel as a nation it was not given to the the Gentile world.

It was not given to the church. We know that from Scripture. But yet, some may have a burden and a desire to keep this, or to make this day a very special day as unto the Lord, and that's fine. But we have to understand, one man esteemeth one day above another, and another esteemeth every day alike. You know, others might say, as far as I'm concerned, every day is the same. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, every day it is alike. I'm going to devote these days unto the Lord. And for me, they are just alike. So what do we do now? What in the world are we going to do when one person have a conviction about keeping one day and another person have a conviction about every day being alike?

What do we do? So the Apostle Paul showed to us, listen, Everyone has to be persuaded in his or her own mind. As before the Lord. Because Yeshua, the Messiah, is Lord. He is in charge. He is the one that is in charge over his own people. Every believer needs to be assured in his own mind. That's why he says in verse 5, that every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. If you are not, if I'm not persuaded, in my own mind about certain day, I better ask the Lord, Lord, show me what to do. Show me how to deal with this exercise that I have.

But we need to be persuaded. Let every man be fully persuaded in our own mind, in our own personal conviction, in our own mind, that we will know what we allow ourselves what liberty do we give ourselves i remember listening to someone who was sharing the word about a certain young lady who came to the spiritual leader to the pastor or the spiritual leader and she said to him the discussion was about the ability of the freedom that we may have to go to the dance to go to dance to go to the disco and this young lady said well i can go i'm a christian but i can go to the discotheque and i can go because i can talk about the Lord and i can share the word of God anywhere.

I have liberty to share the word of God anywhere. So obviously they had all kinds of opinions. So she went one time to dance in the disco and she got to the place of dancing. She said, well, I have an opportunity now. I'm going to share the gospel with this young man. She was dancing apparently there. So she shared with him. She asked him, do you know the Lord? Do you know the Lord Jesus? He's your Savior. He says, no. He asked her do you he says yes i'm a christian he said and he said to her what in the world are you doing here see not the believers told her what to do but the unbelievers know how the believers and where the believers should be and how he or she should behave we need to be persuaded before the Lord in our own mind in our own heart that whatever we do we do it is unto the Lord he's our Lord another statement that i've heard that i thought was very good if we do something and we think we have liberty to do that and then we do that and then later on we feel guilty and we say why have i done it that is only a proof that what we think we have liberty to do we actually know in our own hearts and we are persuaded in our own hearts that we really shouldn't have been doing it and that's the point that's the lesson that we learn here in these verses if the Lord Jesus is.

The Lord of our life he is the one that we should be accounted to we should give him an accountability and we should recognize that after all whatever i'm doing i want to please him i want to honor him do you want to keep a day to the Lord do you want to have saturday or sunday or monday or tuesday or any other day of the week as unto the Lord do it do it as before the Lord as unto him but don't make it a rule for everybody else and give liberty to the other who want to keep another day who have a concern about another day and leave room for each other recognize that Yeshua is the Lord of each and every one who belong to him and so one man esteemeth one day above another another esteem with every day alike let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind notice verse 6 he said he that regardeth the day regardeth unto the Lord and he that regardeth not.

The day to the Lord he does not regard it he that eateth eateth unto the Lord and he giveth God thanks and he that eateth not to the Lord he eateth not and he give us God thanks those of us who have liberty to eat various things let's give thanks to the Lord and recognize that he is the Lord of our life and be persuaded before him that we have this liberty those of us who do not have have liberty to eat anything or everything those ones should be also giving thanks to God for what the liberty that we have and then recognize that the Lord Yeshua the Lord Jesus is the Lord over our life how much dividing have happened over these issues you wouldn't even believe it you will look around and you will see how many brothers and sisters have been divided over this in the body of Messiah now continuing here in verse 7 8 and 9 he's still speaking about.

The lordship of Yeshua the Messiah and in verse 7 he says that no one is living or dying to himself you see it says for none of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself it's important to understand this verse this verse really teaching us that whatever we do as believers we're doing it in connection in relationship with our blessed Lord Jesus the Messiah we get up in the morning we are connected with him we go to work we are connected with him we are going to school we are connected with him we are coming to the meeting we are going to whatever we do in our life in our relationship always he want to be the Lord of our lives whether we live no one lives to himself whether we die no one died to himself you know what's happened when a person dies he's absent from the body and present with the Lord since the day that we got saved our sins have been forgiven.

We are so intimately connected with Yeshua the Messiah that our life here and when we end our life here and we die we leave this scene we are always going to be with him so if we are going to be with him eternally and we are to start to enjoy it now he's saying in verse 7 none of us lives to himself none of us live to himself you know brothers and sisters even though we don't feel it many times but he said i'll never leave you nor forsake you even though we don't experience this really many times because of our carnality the holy Spirit of God is indwelling the believer and we are constantly there is a divine person indwelling a believer in Yeshua the Messiah so none of us live is to himself and now no man dies to himself verse 8 is saying we live or die unto the Lord verse 8 says for whether we live we live unto the Lord whether we die.

We die unto the Lord whether we live therefore or die we are the Lord we belong to the Lord that is very precious to know you know while he's speaking about how we are to deal with each other but this gives us such a comfort we belong to the Lord we belong to the Lord and he belongs to us we are eternally connected and associated with Yeshua with our Lord Jesus the Messiah this is so wonderful when you are discouraged when things are going bad in your life think about the Lord who said i'll never leave you i'll never forsake you you belong to me i am always going to be with you we are the lords this expression often people ask you know does he belong to the lords are you the lords meaning are you saved are you forgiven do you belong to Yeshua we are the lords brothers and sisters we are the Lord even when we fail him and divided ourselves and scattered we are the.

Lords because he paid the price for our sins but he wants us the opposite he wants us not to be divided but to be united enjoying each other look another verse here in verse 9 in verse 9 he tells us why we belong to the Lord verse 9 for to this end the Messiah died that's why he died and he rose and he was revived why that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living you see that's the reason why Yeshua came to this world he came to die so we will be belongs to him he is our Lord he is our Messiah he is our adon and we belong to him and therefore whatever we do we are to be persuaded that we do it as unto him to recognize the lordship of Yeshua the Messiah he is our Lord there is a verse in first corinthian chapter 10 and verse 31 that says this and i'm going to read it first corinthian 10 and verse 31 whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever.

Ye do do all to the glory of God whatever we do we have to do it to the glory of God because we belong to the Lord Yeshua the Messiah that's wonderful these are wonderful so we learn up to now in verses 1 to 9 God received us we have to receive the others God sustains us we got to allow conviction of individuals and then finally Yeshua is the Lord let us allow the other to have the liberty to keep a day or not to keep a day to eat or not to eat certain things let them give them the liberty to do it because after all they have to give account to the Lord the Lord Yeshua is our Lord now finally for this afternoon ministry is the last verses that we have read verses 10 11 and 12 finally here we find out that Yeshua is not only Lord but he's also the judge verse 10 that is a amazing verse but why does thou judge your brother or why does thou set at.

Not your brother for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Messiah of Christ some translation used the word instead of Messiah, Christos, Mashiach, used the word God. Why do you judge your brother or your sister? Why do you set it not your brother or your sisters? Do you know, brothers and sisters, that we all are going one day to stand before the judgment seat of God, the judgment seat of Christ, the judgment seat of Messiah? Do you know that? Do you know one day, brothers and sisters, every one of us in this room belong to the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. We are going to stand before him.

Everything that we have done in our life here will be evaluated before him. Now, we are not going to be at the judgment seat of the Messiah in order to get saved or not to get saved because only believers are at the judgment seat of the Messiah. The judgment seat of Christ. The unbelievers are going to be at the great white throne judgment at the end of the tribulation period, and only unbelievers are going to be there. We are going to be at the judgment seat of the Messiah as believers. And he will evaluate all what we have done, how we have lived, how we have conducted ourselves here in this world.

It's not I'm going to judge you and you're not going to judge me. But I'm going to stand, you're going to stand, we're all going to stand. All believers are going to stand before the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. And it says here that we shall all, you notice that word, the word all? No one going to be eliminated from that time of the judgment seat of Christ. And he's going to look. He's going to evaluate our lives. He's going to play the DVD. Of the record of our lives as believers. I'm going to show you. You're going to show me. And you're going to show us before our own eyes the realities that oftentimes we ourselves don't even know of how we conducted ourselves as believers.

We're ready to judge somebody else. We're ready to set someone else at naught. We have passed opinions about others and maybe we have hindered and stumbled others, thought that we are doing God a favor, and he's going to show us everything. And he's going to show us our own failure, our own shortcoming. He's going to show us how much of our motives, what was the motives that we have done one thing or another. And can you imagine when he's going to play that record or play that DVD before us, We're going to have to look, and we're going to see how much failure we ourselves had in our own lives, how much disobedience we had in our own life, and how we were ready to judge somebody else, but not our own self, no self-judgment, but others' judgment, and he's going to show this to us.

And I don't think we're going to be happy to see our own failure, but you know, thank God that at the judgment seat of the Messiah, we are not going to be judged for our sins. We're going to be judged of how we lived the life of the believer. And whatever that have not been for the Messiah will be burnt in the fire. And whatever we have done for the Lord is going to be kept. And there the Lord is going to give us to reward the believers, specifically in connection with the coming messianic kingdom. But you can just imagine, he's going to sift the wheat and the chaff.

That which will need to be burned, will be burned. Turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 3, please 1st Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 10 just a couple of verses to the right he says according to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder i have laid a foundation and another build their own but let every man take heed how he buildeth verse 11 for other foundation can no man lay then that is laid which is Yeshua the Messiah now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and stubble every man's work shall be made manifest. For the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and a fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

If every man's work abide which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. See, to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul said to them, listen, let every man take heed how he builds upon what God had given to him. The foundation is Yeshua the Messiah. And the building and the work and the action and the deeds and the attitudes and the ways in which we conduct ourselves, that is going to be evaluated. And as it says here, every man's work shall be made manifest.

Verse 13 of 1 Corinthians chapter 3. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Messiah. 2 Corinthians 5 also teaches us, verse 10. And here in Romans 14 and verse 10, for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of the Messiah. We are all going to stand there. And therefore he said to them in verse 10 why do you judge your brother why or if we understood it if we understood that we will judge each other much less and we will seek to build each other up we'll seek to edify our brothers and our sisters instead of evaluating them and judging them and condemning them and speaking against them we will end up building each other up and that's what the Lord delight to see that what the Lord delight to see among the people of God so now Paul is quoting the Old Testament Scripture in verse 11 and he says yes it is written what is written Paul well he says look what Isaiah said what God said to the people of Israel through the prophet Isaiah as I live say as the Lord every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess before God.

Everyone will have to stand before God. We are going to stand before God as believers. The whole world is going to have to stand before God one day. Those who didn't accept the Messiah had the great white throne judgment only to be cast into the lake of fire. Those who have accepted the Messiah will stand him at the judgment seat of the Messiah there to cast all our evil works and to burn them and all what has been done for the Lord will remain and rewards will be received. Every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God. And he closed that section in verse 12 and he says, So then, every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

Brothers and sisters, every one of us is going to give an account before God. So, let us receive our brothers and our sisters. Maybe they are weak in the faith. Not that they are weak in being saved, they are weak in certain convictions that they have. Maybe they haven't mature and they need to grow. Let us not divide over these. Let us accept one another. Let us receive one another because God has received us all. God is able to uphold the believer. Yeshua is the Lord, not us. And Yeshua is the judge, not us. That's the lesson that we learn in the first 12 verses of chapter 14 of the book of Romans.

So, may the Lord help us with this. And really teach us. These lessons are very important. This way we'll be able to walk in harmony and be more sensitive to each other and understand the other. Because others coming from a different background, different historical setting in their lives, and they need more time to work things out. The Lord had to develop. The young believer, as he grows up, he has to develop the believers Just so they can grow and mature and become not weak, but a strong child of God. Be a good testimony and a good balanced believer for the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.