You'll take your Bibles and go to 1 Corinthians 1, if you would please, 1 Corinthians 1. You might be wondering where Pastor Matt is. He was going to the city to pick up Brother Merriwelly. Of course, with the weather being what it is, especially in the Midwest, Southern Midwest states, he's had some delays today, so he wasn't getting into about a quarter to seven. He was supposed to get in around three o'clock this afternoon, so it's been delay, delay, delay. And so that's where Pastor Matt is. But we're having church, amen? Well, he's not going to miss out on preaching. I think Brother Maraweli will be preaching about eight times in the next few days, so he'll get plenty of preach to, okay? You know, we've been going over this series on personal and ecclesiastical separation. And this is the fourth lesson in that series. And this is gonna take, I believe, as we get deeper and deeper into the topic, an elevated view of maturity. When you get into certain basic truths of the word of God, as it says in Hebrews chapter six, therefore leaving the principles and the doctrines of Christ, let us go on to perfection. So there's that aspect of growth in the Christian life. Some truth is easy to grab hold of. Some truth is a little bit more difficult, especially when the culture that we live in tells and dictates otherwise. And so when we get into the subjects of separation issues, then of course that's where there's quite a disparity of agreement amongst what we would say is good Christian people. So that's why it's so important for us to really go to the scriptures because there's no doubt in the scriptures. You say, well, everybody has a interpretation. But as you heard me say, there's always a primary interpretation, but several applications, but you need to find out what the primary application is first before you can make those other applications. So it's important for us as we look at this particular topic that we look at the scriptures. We're going to look at a lot of them. And I know the last couple of times I've preached, I've gone a bit overboard and I went long. I'm going to try not to do that this evening. And so if we don't make it all the way through, we're just going to pick up at another time, unless the Lord carries this coming and you know, I'm used to that anyway. But what I want to really get across to you tonight is you may not be in agreement with some of the things I say, but I ask you to really weigh heavily the points I'm trying to make, the principles I may try to get across to you, the scriptures that we may use. Don't just discount them because you may disagree with maybe a name that I name. an illustration that I use. So I think I told my Sunday school class Sunday, I said, you know, Spurgeon said, windows in the house are good because they let a little light in. And that's what an illustration is. Don't miss the truth, though, that's trying to be brought out. And so on your study sheet, I say this, it is one thing to separate over doctrinal reasons quite another over some of the other, I say, petty issues. Now, letter A, people separate many times over personality. And I am just rife with examples of people who have gotten upset over personality differences. Of course, we know that there are some people we connect with. some people we don't connect very well with. There are some preachers that we really enjoy listening to, I think, and then there are others that maybe they just don't come off as well as we'd like. Maybe they don't just tweak us a certain way. Maybe their voice is such where we have trouble listening to them. Maybe it's the humor that they may use. Maybe it's the inflection of their voice. There's a myriad of reasons why sometimes we get enamored with a personality. It could be that someone's friendly and someone seems to be stoic in the way that they bring their points across, the way they may exchange things with individuals. And so we draw certain conclusions. That's why when you get to 1 Corinthians, it's interesting to me that out of these 16 chapters, Paul starts with this. Now this is God actually giving Paul what he's to write. And so this is a problem that we must admit in our Christian circles and specifically in our churches, not just this church, but in all churches, there are these potentials that we find in these 16 chapters that we have to make sure that if they're in our midst, we take care of them and get them out. Otherwise, as well as if they're not in our church, make sure they don't get in our church. And so here we find here, if you'll go down to verse 12 of 1 Corinthians chapter one, it says, now this I say that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, that's Peter, and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius. lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name. And I baptized also the household of Stephanas. Besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. The point he's trying to make here at the start is there was a division that was happening here in the Church of Corinth. This was a fleshly church. This was a worldly church. So when you reach these particular points in the book of 1 Corinthians, these are indications that there's an element of the flesh that's active and working. And so that means where the flesh is rearing its old ugly head, so to speak, then the Holy Spirit of God is not doing and not able to do what He wants to do because of the flesh taking precedence. It's our pride, in other words. And so we find here that some are saying, oh, if Paul's preaching, I'm going to be there. Oh, but if Apollos is, I don't appreciate Apollos. And then it could be vice versa. And so we get really segmented with the personality sometimes that God chooses to use. And we have to be careful that we're coming to the house of God to really receive the truth that God has through that particular vessel at that particular time. And so, of course, every preacher wants to be one that people will enjoy listening to, but at the same time, just being a realist with the various personalities that we have in Christendom, there are gonna be those that we connect with and those that we don't. I can remember, as we look at the point here, people separate over personalities. You know, there were, in the early independent Baptist movement in the southern states, right around the end of the 50s, early 60s, there was a split that took place in the Southern Baptist Convention, and that's where Howes and Roloff Some of these others had come out and later on Roberson and some of those had come out of the Southern Baptist Convention and really made what I would say in our particular area, the independent Baptist movement more prominent and more popular. And yet there also were those within the movement that people said, you know, I agree with some of the finer points of this preacher, but not over here. And there used to be a big split that happened years ago with Bob Jones Sr. as well as John Rice, J. Frank Norris and John Rice. They had some things that they clashed over, some positions that they had. And it was amazing where a lot of these men and the passage of time they would work through those issues, they would actually preach on the same platforms together, but people would actually, after they had drawn their favorites and drawn to those sides, then they wouldn't hear the others if they were preaching and so on and so forth. And that's gonna make sense when we get later on in this study. But we have to be careful that we're not personality-driven in our Christian circles. I love listening to old preachers and some of the old recordings that are out there now. I thank God for that. And recently I've been listening to some of the older preachers of the past and how rich their sermons were. And even though they had different types of ministries and so on and so forth, they're a blessing. And you get a wide range of personalities. Some use humor. in actually talking to the crowd and warming the crowd up. Some don't use humor at all. They use big illustrations. Some use movement. They will walk around quite a bit. They'll walk on pews. They'll do all kinds of things, which would just be anathema. if they were to do something like that up here. But down there, it's standard operating procedure. So there are some times where people separate over personality. Then letter B, people separate over preferences, over preferences. Let's go to Romans chapter 14, just a couple of pages up from where you are now in 1 Corinthians 1. We'll look here in verses one to five. Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may eat all things, and another who is weak eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not, and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth, for God hath received him. Who art thou that judgeth 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. We have what we call the individual soul liberty. That's one of the distinctives that we have. As Baptist, you take the acrostic, you have biblical authority, you have the autonomy, you have the priesthood, you have the two church ordinances, and then you get the letter I, it's individual soul liberty. That means every individual has to decide for themselves from the word of God what they believe. And that's why when you get to passage of scripture like Romans 14, 12, where it says, so then every one of us shall give account of himself to God, we have that personal responsibility to search the scriptures, make sure these things are so, and align our lives up. accordingly, because we'll have to stand before God as an individual at the judgment seat, and He's not gonna say, what did your preacher say? He's not gonna say, what did your mom and dad say? He's gonna say, what have you done with my word? So we're each gonna be responsible for the decisions we make. That doesn't mean that we just throw counsel to the wind, but it means ultimately, no matter what counsel we receive, we're responsible. It's our fault, in other words. And so we see important here, we see letter B, we separate sometimes over preferences. There are some people that they may not enjoy church because the order of service is different. And there's some people who say, well, I just don't like the way they do church there. I don't like the way they do the song service there. I don't like the way that they, you know, skip verses of the hymns. We like to sing all the stanzas. You go to a lot of churches, and when I travel, I go to churches, well, they're saying, let's sing the first and the last, or hey, let's sing the first here, and then they'll go on to something else, or they'll sing first, second, and fourth, you know, that kind of thing. And people get uptight. over those types of things when they're traditionally used to a particular mode of service. How about building issues? You know, whether you want an auditorium like this or you want an auditorium that's more streamlined, where do you want the sound system to be, the lighting to be? People get uptight about that. How about the color of the carpeting? There was a church in Oklahoma that actually split. Several hundred people left the church because the pastor put down green carpet in the auditorium. And there were a great number of the people that didn't appreciate the green carpet. They wanted a mauve carpet. Now that seems so childish. When we look at it that way, but I mean, let's stop and think about what we get upset about. You see, and that's why I say it's one thing to separate over doctrine, it's another thing over pettiness. And if we just really analyze some of the issues we have in church, it has to do with pettiness type issues. And so we have to be very, very, very... Very, very careful. So we need to make sure that when we're making our stand and drawing our lines in the sand, that we are actually on solid ground scripturally, if I could say it that way. And then we see here, letter C, excuse me, people separate over differing gifts. over differing gifts. And this is a real issue because if God, and since God has gifted you with at least one gift, several people have been gifted at salvation with a multiplicity of gifts. And the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 12 that He's the one that gives the gifts. So it's not me sitting there saying, I think I want the gift of mercy, or you know what, I want the gift of prophecy, because I want to just burn bridges and rain down fire from heaven and that kind of thing. No, that's not our choice. God gifts the believer and brings them together in the local church, and as each one exercises their God-given gift, Then a picture of Jesus Christ living out in society gets to be clearer and clearer to a lost and dying world. And they see an organism like the local church exercising those gifts and working within the community and so on, and they're drawn to the Savior. Let's take our Bibles and go to 1 Corinthians 12. And I just wanna point out just a few things here, verses four through six. And first of all, I want you to see, and I just wrote this in the margin of my notes, and I probably do it, I didn't do it in my intercessor Bible yet, but I normally will make a little note off to the side so I can keep my mind straight on what is actually being talked about here. But he says, there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit. There are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God, which worketh all in all. Next to verse four, I say, well, how many? Okay, now there are diversities of gifts. That talks about the multiplicity of gifts. How many gifts It says, but the same spirit. Later on in this chapter, as I mentioned earlier, verse 11, but all these worketh that one of self, same spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. So it's the Holy Spirit that distributes the gifts. So I didn't choose the gift I have. You say, Pastor, do you know your gift? I believe I do. I believe I have the gift of exhortation. That's my primary gift. I like to see people grow. I like to teach Bible truth. And so that's what I believe my gift is. Now you may differ with me on that. You may think I'm something else. But then I think I have some secondary gifts as well. And so at the same time, that's to use to the honor and glory of God and to be worked out in the context of the church. But you can imagine the conflict that would happen as you have someone in the congregation that has the gift of prophecy, which a prophet sees people more or less in issues in a black and white kind of a contrast. They see something as either being all the way right or all the way wrong. There's no gray area. There's no in between. You're either a sinner or you're pure. It's just like boom. And they're the kind that will just crack the whip just quicker than quick. And they don't really many times take in consideration who may get hurt in the process. A prophet is one who really exposes error as such. Then you come within the congregation and you have the gift of mercy. Well, mercy is saying, oh, you know, don't be so hard. You know, you're being mean. And so you can see the conflict that could potentially come because you have someone here that just does not see what the prophet is trying to get across and saying, he's a mean, Dude, you know, but then you have the one with mercy who they just, I mean, they don't wanna crack down on anything. They want anything just to, hey, let's just go with the flow. Let's be nice, be nice, you know, don't be so mean, you know, let's be accepting and let's give them, you know, and that kind of thing. And so we see here in verse five, and there are differences of administrations. And I wrote down here how they're worked out. In other words, you're given a gift. Say you are a teacher. You've been given the gift of teaching. And so you may work it out by working in Master Club. You may work it out by working not in Master Club, but in Sunday School. You may work it out by having a Bible study. There are a myriad of ways to exercise your God-given gift. What you have to be careful of is that you're not actually trying to, what, with envy saying, oh, I want to be where they are. No, you exercise the gift that God has given you where He's placed you and grab hold of the opportunities that He gives you. So you have in verse four, you have the how many gifts. you have how they're worked out, and then also where they're worked out as well. And I spilled over in my explanation where it says, in their diversities of operations, okay? But it is the same God which worketh all in all. So that means someone with the gift of prophecy, the gift of exhortation, the gift of mercy, the gift of giving, the gift of whatever we, the gift we identify, that means they can all be Holy Spirit filled believers. Serving in the will of God. but they're gonna see things differently. They're gonna exercise their gifts differently within the body. And so it's so important for us to be patient with one another, understanding with one another, and knowing our place. so that we don't conflict, that we don't trip and fall over each other, that we don't irritate each other, that we also understand the total picture of what's happening in the context of the local church so that we can have a unified front, okay? And so some people will separate over differing gifts. And then letter D, people separate over taking up the offenses of others, okay? People separate over taking up the offenses of others. I would have to say that as a pastor, that this is probably one of the most primary reasons why people will separate, is they take up the offenses of others. Especially in a church where there's a lot of intermingling of activity. You might have a intermingling of activity with business deals. You may have it with family get-together. You may have it with, say, your homeschooling groups and things of that nature where you're having more social interaction. The potential for conflict is that much greater because you have your personality differences, You have your giftings that are different. And then you have your philosophical differences. You have maturity differences. Some people are just coming on board of a church or in their understanding of Christianity. And so there's some truth that they haven't learned yet. They haven't grabbed a hold of yet. And yet the more mature saying, hey, you ought to know better than this, or what are you doing doing that? Man, that's not right. And so on and so forth. And rather than seeking to graciously bring somebody along in maturity, as you would in a family with children, you would graciously bring them along. You wouldn't rain down fire and brimstone on a child because they haven't got all their ducks in a row. If that's it, you've got a terrible home. But at the same time in the church, you just have the potential for that taking place. And what will happen is somebody will get offended and then they'll take up that offense. And how many times, back behind the scenes, something's being worked out. Maybe they're going in and getting counsel. Maybe they're getting together on their own and they're working through an issue, a problem. But you see what has happened is other people on the peripheral has heard about the conflict. They've heard about the problem, and so they begin to choose sides. Then these two people get things ironed out, and then everybody else is still fighting the battle that they've solved. The case in point was what I mentioned about Bob Jones Sr. and John R. Rice. There was a booklet that was put out against Dr. Rice that was sold in the bookstore of Bob Jones University and it says, facts John R. Rice will not face. And then there was, I mean, there was just a tit for tat. Dr. Rice had the soul of the Lord paper, of course. And so there sometimes would get to be a conflict between guys in that way. Taking biblical positions they felt, but at the same time, people then would begin to draw lines of separation and say, oh, you're with this guy. and they began to really make it more of a personality thing down through the line. And they would continue at times to preach on the same platform. They got along with one another, but it was the people around them that drew those lines. You have to be careful about taking up the offenses of others. You don't know all the facts. You don't know all that's going on. You don't know what's going on back behind the scene. And you need to be very, very careful about that. And yet you see when we talk about areas of separation I started out by talking there is a difference between a doctrinal separation as well as a petty issue separation. And the fact of the matter is God has given us in His Word when there is a personality conflict, when there is an offense that is given there is a proper way to go and resolve those issues. And And you can really begin to see who's seeking to be spiritual in that, and who's seeking to be cardinal in that, when there are people who say, oh no, I'm not gonna get right, or I'm not gonna go there, or I'm not gonna do that, or they can just have it their way, blah, blah, blah. And what happens is, is they cause more and more of a rift within the local church. And more and more as we see in James chapter three, it says that, you know, when you allow the earthly you know, things to come into play here, you'll have what? Devilish, it's wisdom that's not from above, but it's earthly, sensual, devilish, the Bible says. And then it says about, there's every evil work. And so sin breeds sin. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. And so it's so important for us to understand some of these things and not get caught up ourselves in these petty, petty issues. And that means we stop and think, okay, is it really a big deal? whether we have blue carpet, or whether we have, you know, mauve carpet, whether we have maroon carpet, or whether we have, you know what I mean? And yet that's the kind of thing that we can get all bent out of shape, or, boy, you know, I can't believe they're having that for Canada Day celebration again. We've had those kinds of burgers for the last, ra ra ra ra ra, you know? And that kind of stuff, it just, and yet that sometimes will, the devil will use that to steal our joy, and our ability to really receive the truth. You know, we get offended. I remember in the early days, we had a well-known pastor come here at one of our conferences, and I love hearing him preach. He came here, and his particular methodology, I guess you could say, of getting the point across is he would get up, and he had warmed people up by trying to be personable, but he would tell some jokes. And I can remember he told a joke and when I think about it, it didn't bother me at the time, but then he said, you know, that Walmart was from heaven and Kmart was from that other place. And I had a couple of people afterwards say, pastor, since when do we have to make fun of hell? Well, he wasn't trying to make fun of hell. He was just trying to say that he preferred to shop at Walmart rather than Kmart. Now, you may say, well, you know, I don't agree with that either, Pastor. He should have said something else. But the point I'm trying to make is this. Okay, he wasn't saying that he thought it was from hell, right? He was saying, hey, Walmart's better. But the thing I'm trying to get across to you is they missed the rest of the sermon that God had. Why? Because they were hung up on that right there. And you have to learn at times in life to take those things and pitch it right behind you. And you say, well, man, I pitched it to the guy behind me. What's he gonna do with it? If he doesn't like it, he can pitch it back there too. And praise the Lord for those on the back row. It just stacks up back there. But I was taught real early just say, you know, if you don't like something, throw it behind you. I'm not talking about liberalism. I'm not talking about heresy. But I'm talking about some of these things that we get all uptight about. You know, boy, he preached long, or boy, you know, I mean, it's just all kinds of stuff like that, that if you stop and think, if you've been in church, if you've been a Christian for a while, you know I'm ringing some bells. You know that I'm talking the truth, because I've been there too, where there's some guys I enjoy listening, and some guys I don't. As a pastor, sometimes I wince inside, and I'm thinking, oh no. I'm gonna have to do damage control, or I hope he doesn't go down the road I think he's gonna go down. I mean, you just sort of worry about some of those things at times, because you're thinking, oh, how are people gonna take this? I had a preacher come here one time, and he took his foot, I'm not gonna do it, and he was like this, and he just put his foot on the communion table. That was terrible. Okay, now I understand respect. Okay, I understand respect. But you also have to understand sometimes the way cultures operate, I guess you could say. Down South, John, you've been in Texas long enough, you probably know what I'm talking about, where I've seen pastors climb up on the pulpit and preach. I've been in several church services where they've actually gone down and they will walk. They're trying to make a point that there's nothing gonna stop them from serving God. And I've seen them hit the first pew and take a step on every pew, go all the way back and turn around, come all the way front. You say, that's terrible. It may be terrible, but I know one thing, you'll never forget the illustration, You'll never forget the point, you see. I was down at Tabernacle Baptist Church there in Greenville, South Carolina, Harold Sightler's old church, and they were happy Baptists. And they raised their hand, they shouted hallelujah, and they'd just get with the program. And there were two folks there that were in wheelchairs, confined to wheelchairs, but they were those motorized wheelchairs. And during the service, the preacher was talking about heaven and they got happy. And they got so happy that they started running their wheelchairs down front. And they were going, woo-hoo, hey, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord. And they were just, choo, choo, choo, choo. I mean, they were just choo, choo, choo, choo. Now, I know that wouldn't go over here, but you know what? That wasn't even distracting to the people down there. Down south where I go and preach sometimes, You know what they'll do? They'll, you know, Brother Beckham got up here during the prayer conference. He said, you know, if I'm preaching and God touches your heart and you get convicted, why don't you just come down while I'm preaching? It won't bother me at all. And kneel here at the front, get right with God, go back to your seat. He's just gonna keep on preaching. And that's a regular occurrence in some of the churches. You know, well, we wouldn't think about doing that. But that's the way, there's all types of things that we can get bent out of shape about and then miss the truth that God has for us. Now, like I said at the beginning of this message, you may not like my illustrations, but at the same time, don't let those types of illustrations and those types of situations actually cloud the truth that God's trying to get across to you. See, for those folks down south, I was gonna say, they all pray at the same time. I can't pray with everybody praying at the same time. Has anybody been in church services where they all pray at the same time? Yeah. I mean, what I'm talking about is, they'll say, let's go to the Lord in prayer, and I'm going to ask Brother So-and-so to lead us in prayer. And so after a while, and when you're kneeling down here, everybody's saying their own prayer. I have to concentrate on my own words and my own prayer. And when I'm down there praying and everybody around me is praying their own prayer, I'm listening to this guy over here, listening to this guy over there, and I'm trying to keep my mind straight. It's confusing to me. But you know, it's not confusing to them. So I have to concentrate enough to keep my mind on what God's doing in my mind and heart. You follow what I'm saying? Those are differences. You go to Liberia and your order of service will be different than it is here. You go to Thailand and it's gonna be different. Unless you go to some places and it's Americanized and you go to other places where it's within that particular culture. Once again, I'm not talking about liberalism. I'm not talking about heresy. I'm talking about how it's worked out. And sometimes we get all bent out of shape over those types of issues rather than, hey, the doctrine that's being preached, that's being espoused. So just some people separate over taking up the offenses of others. Another illustration that I have in my notes that I don't think you have in yours would be Galatians chapter two, with the conflict that Peter and Paul had. Of course, Peter was at fault. He had segmented the congregation. He was the apostle to the Jew. And so when he was in the churches of Galatia, Well, of course, those were Gentile churches for the most part. And Peter was, you know, fellowshipping with them, preaching with them and having a great time. And then the Jews came, that was his primary ministry. And then he separated from the Gentile believers because he wanted to be with his buddies and he didn't wanna offend them. And so Paul saw what was taking place and saying, oh, you're causing a division. It'd be like here in our church, if instead of us trying to all worship together, we'd have our English group, we'd have our German group, we'd have our Russian group, we'd have this group, we'd have that group, we'd have this, and we would have it all segmented, and then there'd be a division. Because, oh, this one is better than this one, and this one's better than this, and you have to be careful of that. That's the truth of Acts 15. How can we all worship together? and they laid out some parameters for that. Okay, and so some people, letter E, separate over the use of terminology. Some people separate over the use of terminology. That's because at times we fail to really find out when a person uses a certain word what they mean by that word. If you do soul winning, which you should, you ask somebody if they're saved, you may get a yes answer. But the next question ought to be, what do you mean by saved? You know, what do you mean by being saved? Then you begin to zero in on where that person is placing their faith. If it's Christ, if it's their baptism, if it's their church membership, if it's some other thing, you find that out. But they may say the same terminology, okay? And so here I've given an example here of legalism. That's been really abused. Legalism scripturally is adding works to salvation, but it has come to mean through the process of time amongst those who disagree with standards as saying, oh, you are believing in law. And so on, they don't equate it to salvation. They say, oh, you're a legalist because you have maybe personal separation issues, dressing a certain way, going to certain places, things of that nature. Oh, you're a legalist, but that's not scriptural. And then you have here also an example of fundamentalist. Fundamentalists, that used to be a term that really let folks know that you were really sold on the Scriptures and adhered tenaciously to the Word of God, and now you're considered an extremist. You see, if you use the term fundamentals. So a lot of people quit using it. It used to be back maybe 40, 50 years ago, where that was a common term that was used to identify a church like ours. And now we've gone to Bible believing. Okay, well, I like that term. But Bible-believing, just about any church would say Bible-believing, but when you identified yourself as fundamentalist, they would say that, oh, you are stricter in some areas than others. So letter, excuse me, Roman numeral number two, it is one thing to separate over an idea, or issue quite another to exercise discernment between right and wrong, truth and error. It is one thing to separate over an idea or issue, quite another to exercise discernment between right and wrong, truth and error. Letter A, we will be judged based upon the way we judge others. And of course that's found in Matthew chapter seven, Sermon on the Mount. Says here, judge not that you be not judged. People love that verse of Scripture. When you're pointing out a particular sin maybe they're involved in, oh, you can't judge. But that's not what this passage of Scripture is really trying to get across. Jesus is not saying that you can't make a judgment call. Because we constantly make judgment calls. All the time, you know. You're gonna turn right or left. There's a judgment you have to make. Okay, and it says here, for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considereth not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, let me pull out the mote out of thine eye, and behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. And say here, we will be judged based upon the way we judge others. In other words, you have a strict judgment on others, and don't be surprised if people don't judge you the same way. And then let me just hit this. If you'll go to 1 Corinthians chapter five, I'm not gonna handle this entire passage here, I just wanna show you about judgment. In 1 Corinthians chapter five, immorality in the church. And if you'll go towards the end of the chapter, he says in verse 12, he says, for what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Talking about without the church. He says, do not ye judge them that are within. In other words, there's a judgment towards the unsaved, how you treat the unsaved and so on and so forth. There's also another judgment that needs to be exercised towards disobedient Christians in the church. He says, but them that are without God judgeth. That's the great white throne judgment. He says, therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. So it's not wrong to judge, just make sure that you're using proper judgment, righteous judgment, the scriptures talk about. And so I wanted you to see where, you know, when it talks about judge not lest you be judged, and I've always said, you can't judge a person's motive but you can make a judgment as to their action or activity. If you go to Galatians chapter five, I think it's around verse 19, maybe verse 17, where it talks about the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, and it lists all these things. So when it lists those things, I can look at somebody who's involved in that activity and say, they're not walking in the Spirit. They're not being Holy Spirit controlled. They are walking in the flesh, they are carnal, they're not right with God. Because God has said, this is a work of the flesh, you see. And so that's not me passing judgment, that's me agreeing with God on that matter. And so we need to understand and have that discernment amongst ourselves. And it says here, letter B, we are to judge apostasy. That is a deviation from the truth. And we have Matthew chapter seven and verse 15, I'll just read that since we're here. Beware false prophets. which come to you in sheep's clothing, but are inwardly, they are ravening wolves. If you'll write down these passages of scripture as well about apostasy, in 1 Timothy chapter four, 1 Timothy chapter four, in verse one, it mentions the following. If I get there, it says, now the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, speaketh expressly. I mean, he's very clear here. He says that in the latter times, we're living there, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, Speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron. So we see here that there are those that when they are apostatizing, when they are deviating from the truth, we need to be able to identify them and then take a stand accordingly. If you'll look at your Bibles in 2 Timothy or write it down, 2 Timothy chapter four, I believe it's verses three and four, it says, For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables." You see, so they will hear the truth and say, you know what? I don't like hearing this anymore. I wanna go someplace where they have a different message for me. where they're not always convicting me, where they're not always, and many times when someone's under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, they think that the preacher's always preaching at them. I can remember folks telling me, oh, that pastor, he always preaches on baptism. And one time I preached a sermon on, and I just happened in that sermon to mention John the Baptist. and the people took offense that I was always preaching on baptism. Know that that was a point of conviction for them. You see, and so you have to understand that, okay? We are to judge apostasy, letter C, and I'm drawing close here, letter C, we are to identify those who teach false things. In Romans chapter 16, in verse 17, the scripture says these words, now I beseech you brethren, Mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them. And if you're a student of the scriptures. then what you'll do is you'll look at those 16 chapters and you can identify when there's a doctrinal deviation. Those first 10 1⁄2 chapters, very doctrinal. You know those 10 1⁄2 chapters, then you get to from the middle portion of chapter 10 to chapter 16, and there you have the application of the doctrine. You see, and so what he's essentially saying is, it says, look, when we've been laying this foundation in Romans, if somebody comes along and causes you to divide over these issues, try to lead you astray, then he says that you've learned, you avoid those individuals. So you have to have discernment. You have to be able to discern between what's right and what's wrong. And that's why you can't go by your feelings. And that's what gets us in trouble. I was talking to somebody recently, and I mentioned, we have to make sure that we go according to the Word of God, the facts of Scripture. You have the facts, you have the faith, and then you have the feelings. If you allow your feelings to dictate, they're going to cloud your ability to actually act properly on the facts. And so you have to put it in the right order. I always use the train as an example. You have the engine, which are the facts, you have the cargo, which is the faith, and then you have the caboose, which is the feelings. You can get your cargo where it needs to go without having feelings. Now it's great when you have feelings, but the fact of the matter is we as believers have to go with what? The faith and the facts. Whether we have the feelings or not. And many times we are emotionally driven. And when you put yourself in a position to act emotionally rather than based on the facts, then you set yourself up for trouble, for compromise, for making wrong decisions because they're emotional in nature. And emotions change, you see. And so they're a poor yardstick to make decisions. When you think emotionally, you usually miss out on some important facts to rely upon. Okay, and so we see that we are to identify those who teach false things. And Romans 16, 17, 1 Timothy 1.20. I'm gonna have to stop with this particular passage of scripture though. Let's go to 1 Timothy chapter one, 1 Timothy chapter one. And I want you to see where names are mentioned here. And probably later on in the series, we will mention some modern day names as we go on. But I want you to see people get really, really uptight when you begin to mention personalities that are very closely aligned with a particular position that may not be right. We get, oh, we get really tense. you know, and hopefully you know what I'm talking about there. But notice where Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, God said, you need to put these names down. You need to deal with these guys. You need to identify them because they have an opportunity to influence those around them, either with their teaching or their social circle. And so you want to avoid them. And it says here, of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I've delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. Okay, let's go to 2 Timothy 1. And I'm just hitting the high points here just to show you about how God names names. We find here in 2 Timothy 1 in verse 15, he says, This thou knowest that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me. They abandoned Paul. He says, of whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. Wow. So that may mean that you'll have to take a stand based upon the facts and have to keep your emotions and it may draw a line in the sand between your loved ones between your friends because you're gonna stand and do right. And that's where the rubber meets the road and where it's tough. I'll just tell you, it's tough taking a stand. And when you take stands like this, you are so misunderstood. But in the final analysis, it's when the lights go out and you're peeling your head at night, you gotta be able to just talk to God and say, God, have I messed up here? And then you say, this is what I've been basing what I've been doing on the Word of God and this is the principle. And then you have to say, I can't do anything else but what we've done, you see. And people will have to draw their own conclusions accordingly. And so we see that and look at chapter two in verse 17. Notice the names that are mentioned. It says, in verse 16, it says, but shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase into more ungodliness, and their word will eat at death a canker. That's like a cancer. Of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection has passed already, and overthrow the faith of some. So that lets you know if somebody's off on prophecy, that's an important issue. Okay, and so we see, let's go to chapter four. Chapter four, verse 10. For Demas hath forsaken me. This guy abandoned me. This guy left us high and dry. He says, having loved this present world and has departed in Thessalonica. Drop down to verse 14. Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil. The Lord reward him according to his works. Now, it's obvious that many people in those Bible days, as is this day, have the same name. So God said, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, it's Alexander the Coppersmith. So they knew exactly, like when I look at, I mentioned about Jake Friesen, I'll say Anna's Jake, or it's Nettie's Jake. you know, is identified. And the same thing here, God said, there's a lot of Alexanders out there, and they're good men. But there's one here, Alexander the coppersmith. He did me much evil. The Lord reward him according to his works. There you actually see how vengeance is mine. I will repay Romans 12, where you just say, he was just essentially turning and said, hey, the Lord's gonna take care of that. He says, whom be thou where also. He says, hey, I'm warning you, I'm warning you. There've been times in the history of the church where we've had to stand up and say, look folks, I'm warning you. And you know, other people have said, well, I don't like that warning, and I don't think you're right, we're leaving. Then others have stayed. And God will shake it all out in the end. But you notice here, it says, at my first answer, no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge, notwithstanding, and this is the key right here. Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me. And so when you make these decisions, you need to know that you're on God's side and God's on your side. Because you and God are a majority in any situation. And I wanna show you one other thing if you go to 1 Timothy chapter five, and I'm not gonna finish the rest of this tonight. Something we need to understand, and that is in verse 24. Sometimes we see people doing wrong, and seemingly getting away with it. And they're doing wrong. You go to the scriptures and say, how in the world can they get away with this thing? How can they do that? God says it's wrong, and yet, is he gone on a holiday? Why isn't he doing something? And here's the answer that Paul told Timothy. Some men's sins are opened beforehand. Sometimes you see God act. He said, I mean, it's just obvious. Boy, God stepped in and took care of that thing. But he says, some men's sins are opened beforehand, going before the judgment, and some men they follow after. And some you may not see in this life the judgment that God will exercise on them. but make no mistake, you and I can't violate this and get away with it, no matter who we are. And so sometimes God chooses to say, I'm gonna expose this right here, right now. And other times he says, you know, I'm gonna let this slide for now. And that's the grace of almighty God. And so what you and I need to do is we need to do right regardless. And we need to take a stand regardless. Amen.