1 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:05,960 Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives. 2 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:09,040 The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist 3 00:00:09,040 --> 00:00:13,040 Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us 4 00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:17,280 or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look 5 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:19,760 us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this 6 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:22,000 message from God's Word will be a blessing to you. 7 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,560 Why don't you turn your Bibles to 1st Corinthians chapter 6 8 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:29,760 this evening? First Corinthians chapter #6 9 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:32,720 This preacher is grateful to be out of First Corinthians chapter 10 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:35,520 #5 No doubt. And we are in First Corinthians 11 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:38,400 chapter #6. You know, when two people in the 12 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:41,600 world argue about something and maybe it gets a little bit 13 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:44,040 heated and maybe there's a little bit of a back and forth, 14 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:46,600 it seems like the trump card that somebody wants to throw 15 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:48,400 out. If they just want to kind of end 16 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:51,840 the conversation and the debate, they'll say something like this. 17 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:53,800 Well, you know what? I'll see you in court. 18 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:56,320 You ever hear somebody say that? Maybe you've had to say that to 19 00:00:56,320 --> 00:00:57,280 somebody. I don't know. 20 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:00,760 But you know, when there's some irreconcilable differences, what 21 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:03,440 is the ultimate thing that you can say that will end the 22 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:06,040 conversation and really kind of take it to the next level? 23 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:08,840 It's something on these lines. I will see you in court now. 24 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:11,000 You understand why the world does this, right? 25 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:14,880 Because the world is, well, the world of the world used to do 26 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:18,320 things on a handshake, used to be able to make an agreement 27 00:01:18,320 --> 00:01:20,360 with somebody just by looking them in the eye and shaking 28 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:21,920 their hand. That's not the way it is 29 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:23,880 anymore. Contracts are really written to 30 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:26,160 be made to be broken more than anything. 31 00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:30,680 And the world is double dealing. And the world seeks inequitable 32 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:32,600 justice. And what I mean inequitable, it 33 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:34,560 means like more for me and less for you. 34 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:36,320 You know, that's the way the world works, isn't it? 35 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:38,440 They want more and they want you to have less. 36 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:41,880 So we understand when the world deals with these kind of things, 37 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:44,840 we know that the world, as I've said many times before, is going 38 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:46,920 to act like the world. That shouldn't surprise us. 39 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:51,800 But what happens when believers find themselves in the same 40 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:56,280 position and they can't handle conflict amongst themselves and 41 00:01:56,280 --> 00:01:59,920 they find the only way that they can handle a conflict between 42 00:01:59,920 --> 00:02:02,760 them is to take one another to court? 43 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:06,040 You say, pastor, Has that ever happened at Liberty Baptist 44 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:08,400 Church? By God's grace, it has never 45 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:11,280 happened at Liberty Baptist Church, but there is a church I 46 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:14,840 know of that it has happened at. Before and it's this the church 47 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:18,360 at Corinth. Or we've covered a laundry list 48 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:21,120 of problems the church at Corinth has had, and it's not 49 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:23,920 done yet because Paul is going to address here in First 50 00:02:23,920 --> 00:02:28,320 Corinthians chapter #6 the very grave issue of the church at 51 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:31,280 Corinth taking one another to court. 52 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:35,040 And so we're going to find this evening about why Paul explains 53 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:38,240 that it's wrong, why Paul explains that it should not 54 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:40,520 happen. And really a Christian shouldn't 55 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:43,360 sue another Christian because Christians are supposed to be 56 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:45,360 peacemakers. We're going to see that tonight 57 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:48,320 that we as Christians are called to be peacemakers. 58 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:51,040 And if two people, I'm talking about two people within the 59 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:54,680 confines of a church are committed to being godly in a 60 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:57,800 difficult situation, peace can be found. 61 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:00,240 I'm not saying that aren't difficult situations that can 62 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:02,920 happen in the life of a church. I'm not saying that there isn't 63 00:03:02,920 --> 00:03:05,880 someone that could be wrong within a church, whether it was 64 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:09,200 for an accidental reason or maybe even for a purposeful 65 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:11,200 reason. But I would say if two people 66 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:14,440 are committed to being godly in the midst of a difficult 67 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:19,480 situation, peace can be found. James 4 chapter 4 verse one says 68 00:03:19,640 --> 00:03:22,600 from whence come wars and fightings among you come They 69 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:26,440 not hence even of your lusts that war in your members. 70 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:29,760 So the question tonight is this, What happens when I'll see you 71 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:32,480 in church ends up to be this, I'll see you in court. 72 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:36,680 What happens when I'll see you in church ends up being I'll see 73 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:38,480 you in court. We're going to see what Paul 74 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:40,880 says about it here in First Corinthians here tonight. 75 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:43,040 So you remain seated, going to read the first 8 verses, First 76 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:45,400 Corinthians chapter #6 and it says this. 77 00:03:45,400 --> 00:03:49,280 Dare any of you having a matter against another, go to law 78 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:52,560 before the unjust, and not before the Saints? 79 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:55,680 Do ye not know that the Saints shall judge the world? 80 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:59,920 And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge 81 00:03:59,960 --> 00:04:02,960 the smallest matters? No, ye not that we shall judge 82 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:05,240 angels. How much more things that 83 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:08,400 pertain to this life. If then ye have judgments of 84 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:11,480 things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are at 85 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:14,160 least esteemed in the Church. I speak to your shame. 86 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:17,560 Is it so that there is not a wise man among you? 87 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:21,040 No, not one that shall be able to judge between his brother. 88 00:04:21,519 --> 00:04:25,000 But if brother go to law with brother, and that before the 89 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:28,200 unbelievers, now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, 90 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:31,920 because you go to law one with another, Why do you not rather 91 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:34,440 the wrong? Why do you not rather suffer 92 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:38,960 yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong and defraud. 93 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:43,080 And that your brethren, excuse me. 94 00:04:43,280 --> 00:04:46,520 Paul has launched a new attack this evening on a new area of 95 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:48,560 ungodliness within the Church of Corinth. 96 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:53,440 We talked about wisdom and pride and arrogance and grouping 97 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:56,920 themselves into different factions, pitting themselves 98 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:00,080 against one another, all in the name of godliness, saying I'm of 99 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:03,880 Paulos and I'm of Paul and I'm of Cephas and I'm of Christ. 100 00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:08,360 We've saw sexual immorality in chapter #5 and now here's the 101 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:10,280 issue. Christians in the Church of 102 00:05:10,280 --> 00:05:12,480 Corinth are taking one another to court. 103 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:14,720 Now let's be clear about something as we start here 104 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:17,680 tonight. Paul was not at all against 105 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:20,080 legal action. In fact, I would say this as a 106 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:24,760 Pharisee and as a Roman citizen, Paul was very aware of what his 107 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:27,440 rights were. I can give you 3 examples this 108 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:29,040 evening. You can bring that up here. 109 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:30,680 Thank you all. That's very nice. 110 00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:33,360 If you want to be really nice, you can get the clicker out of 111 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:34,920 Dad's office because I forgot it. 112 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:36,480 All right, so why don't you go do that? 113 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:38,520 She says I don't have to listen to the sermon. 114 00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:39,800 All right? No, you got to come back all 115 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:43,440 right. I'll give you 3 examples very 116 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:45,160 quickly. Paul is in Philippi. 117 00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:47,800 He gets thrown into prison. Well, he's beaten first and then 118 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:50,800 thrown to prison with Silas. Of course, we understand that 119 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:54,440 God makes a miraculous jailbreak where Paul and Silas are able to 120 00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:57,920 be brought out with this earthquake that they lead the 121 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:00,680 jailer and his family to Christ. And the very next day, the 122 00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:02,840 magistrates come and they say, oh, she, she liked the 123 00:06:02,840 --> 00:06:04,240 attention. All right, thank you very much. 124 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:06,040 You can be seated. That big smile. 125 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:10,520 All right. The magistrates say, hey, why 126 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:13,240 don't you just go ahead and be released? 127 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:15,720 We'll just let you go. And Paul says no, no, no, no, 128 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:18,680 no, I don't think so. He says if the magistrates want 129 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:22,280 us to be released, they can come into this jail and releases 130 00:06:22,280 --> 00:06:23,560 themselves. So why do you say that? 131 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:26,600 Because he was a Roman citizen and he was not supposed to be 132 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:28,240 bound. He was not supposed to be 133 00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:31,560 beaten, and he was not supposed to be jailed as a Roman citizen 134 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:35,480 without first having a trial. And so he knew his rights. 135 00:06:35,640 --> 00:06:39,360 You can go to Acts chapter #22 and they were going to flog him 136 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:42,120 in Jerusalem. And he said the same thing. 137 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:44,200 He said, are you going to flog me? 138 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:46,360 Are you going to beat me as a Roman citizen? 139 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:48,760 And the, the man who was in charge all of a sudden got very 140 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:51,400 afraid because he realized he shouldn't even have bound him, 141 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:54,840 let alone being able to flog him as a Roman citizen. 142 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:58,960 You can go to Acts chapter 25. And when Paul, dealing with the 143 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:02,160 same legal issue, makes his appeal unto Caesar, he 144 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:05,440 understands that the way he can get a free trip to Rome to be 145 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:08,360 able to preach the gospel is just to make his appeal unto 146 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:11,360 Caesar. No, Paul was very understanding 147 00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:14,560 of the legal system, and Paul was not making a blanket 148 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:18,720 condemnation upon Christians understanding and partaking in 149 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:21,840 the legal system in general. This is not an issue of a 150 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:24,640 Christian foregoing all legal action. 151 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:28,080 It's the impropriety of believers taking one another to 152 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:31,160 court, particularly believers of the same church. 153 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:34,800 It's important for Christians to settle disputes among themselves 154 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:38,080 according to God's principles. This can be done through the 155 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:40,320 church. This can be done through, I 156 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:44,040 would call Christian arbitration or an arbiter who is a Christian 157 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:47,600 would be able to use Christian principles to be able to handle 158 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:50,600 and settle differences between believers within a church. 159 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:53,400 You say, well, is there some kind of Christian arbitration 160 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:55,400 principle that we could use within the church? 161 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:57,040 Well, we read it a couple weeks ago. 162 00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:00,360 It's Matthew 18. Go to the brother and talk to 163 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:02,000 him. Then bring a witness, and then 164 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:04,200 if necessary, bring it before the church. 165 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:07,600 Yes, God has given us the way that Christians can handle 166 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:10,760 problems within the assembly without having to take one 167 00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:14,440 another to small claims court. Paul does not say that 168 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:18,720 Christians should not have their own system to handle criminal 169 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:20,680 law. We're not talking about criminal 170 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:23,480 law here tonight. You might have heard of Sharia 171 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:28,000 law before and how Sharia law in Muslim countries will overtake 172 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:29,880 the law system. It is the law. 173 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:33,080 And I would say that as Sharia law goes into other nations that 174 00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:36,679 are not Muslim exclusive nations, that Sharia law desires 175 00:08:36,679 --> 00:08:40,039 to overtake the legal system in the nations of which it's 176 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:42,840 implemented, whether that is in Great Britain as it's been seen 177 00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:45,240 there, or even here in the United States of America. 178 00:08:45,240 --> 00:08:48,520 No, that's not some tinfoil hat conspiracy by a crazy 179 00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:51,000 independent Baptist preacher. That's just the fact of the 180 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:54,200 matter of seeing what's happened in other places in the world, 181 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:57,640 seeing what the Quran says, and not wanting it to be implemented 182 00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:00,040 in the United States. What I'm not saying is that we 183 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:04,600 should have our own Christian criminal system where we are to 184 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:08,560 take care of those things outside of what the parameters 185 00:09:08,680 --> 00:09:13,080 legally are for US here in our towns, here in our counties, 186 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:15,480 here in our state, and with the federal government. 187 00:09:15,560 --> 00:09:18,440 In fact, quite the opposite. You can go to, in fact, turn 188 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:21,080 there real quickly. Go to Romans chapter #13 you've 189 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:23,080 read this before. No doubt it's just a few pages 190 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:25,560 away, but it's important for us to look at this again. 191 00:09:25,560 --> 00:09:31,200 Romans chapter #13 it's appropriate for the state to 192 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:34,800 handle criminal cases. However, Christians among 193 00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:38,480 themselves should be able to handle handle civil matters. 194 00:09:38,680 --> 00:09:42,400 Look at Romans 13 verse one. Let every soul be subject under 195 00:09:42,400 --> 00:09:46,640 the higher powers, for there is no power but of God, the powers 196 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:49,880 that be ordained of God. Paul saying this, there's no 197 00:09:49,880 --> 00:09:53,200 authority that can be in place without without God allowing it. 198 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:55,920 You say, well, pastor, there's some really wicked leaders that 199 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:58,320 are around the world and we've had wicked leaders even our own 200 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:01,320 nations at times and places. And that the answer to that is 201 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:03,040 yes. But what I'm telling you tonight 202 00:10:03,040 --> 00:10:05,800 is this is that none of that caught God by surprise. 203 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:09,720 There is none of that where God in heaven said this is not the 204 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:11,600 election returns I thought would happen. 205 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:14,640 I didn't know these hanging chads would be there. 206 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:17,800 God was not surprised by any of these things. 207 00:10:17,800 --> 00:10:21,120 No, no, no, God is aware God is in control. 208 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:23,960 Look at verse 2. Whosoever therefore resisted the 209 00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:27,680 power resisted the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall 210 00:10:27,680 --> 00:10:31,480 receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to 211 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:34,960 good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou not then be afraid of 212 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:37,560 the power? Do that which is good, and thou 213 00:10:37,560 --> 00:10:40,720 shalt have praise of the same, for he is the minister of God to 214 00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:43,080 thee for good. But if thou do that which is 215 00:10:43,080 --> 00:10:47,000 evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is 216 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:50,720 the minister of God, a revenger, to execute wrath upon him that 217 00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:53,280 doeth evil. Now Paul is writing this about 218 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:55,960 the wicked Roman Empire. You realize this is when this is 219 00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:57,960 being written. He's writing it about the Roman 220 00:10:57,960 --> 00:10:59,840 Empire. And what he is saying is that 221 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:03,400 when the system is as it ought to be, what is the government 222 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:06,560 supposed to do? It is supposed to punish the bad 223 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:08,200 and it's supposed to reward the good. 224 00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:10,720 You say, well, Pastor, it doesn't seem like the government 225 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:13,000 always does that. When the government doesn't do 226 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:14,720 that, who's ultimately in control? 227 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:17,960 The Lord is in control. The Lord is the one that will 228 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:19,720 reckon those accounts when they're wrong. 229 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:22,760 But I will say this, unless the government is telling us to do 230 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:25,600 something that is patently unbiblical, what are we to do? 231 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:27,520 Well, we are to obey the government. 232 00:11:27,720 --> 00:11:30,760 It says this verse 5. Wherefore you must needs be 233 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:34,640 subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. 234 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:37,960 For this cause pay you tribute also, for they are God's 235 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:40,520 ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. 236 00:11:40,840 --> 00:11:42,640 Render, therefore to all their dues. 237 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:46,160 Tribute to whom tribute is due custom, to whom custom fear, to 238 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:50,080 whom fear, honor to whom honor. If I could maybe summarize all 239 00:11:50,080 --> 00:11:53,080 of this in a way that I know would biblically help us to 240 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:56,160 understand, it would be this. Render unto Caesar what is 241 00:11:56,160 --> 00:11:59,080 Caesar, and render unto God what is God. 242 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:01,960 You find that in Matthew, you find it in Mark, and you find it 243 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:04,800 in Luke where Jesus tells the Pharisees when they tried to 244 00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:06,840 entrap him. Render unto Caesar what is 245 00:12:06,840 --> 00:12:09,320 Caesar's, and render unto God what is God. 246 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:12,120 Listen, we don't like hearing this, but we need to obey the 247 00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:14,640 government. But listen, take a time out when 248 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:17,600 the government tells us to do something that is patently 249 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:19,920 unbiblical. When the government says do 250 00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:22,200 something that's in violation of the word of God. 251 00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:24,040 What do the disciples say in the book of Acts? 252 00:12:24,040 --> 00:12:25,560 We ought to obey God rather than man. 253 00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:29,440 As Christians, one of the ways we can have a good testimony is 254 00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:32,640 by obeying the government. But also we'd have a testimony 255 00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:36,160 that we will follow God first before we follow man. 256 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:41,200 But here there's nowhere where we see that we are to issue the 257 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:45,800 legal system, to stay away from the criminal legal system, and 258 00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:48,480 that we are to make sure that what, what are we supposed to do 259 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:51,440 when it comes to civil matters, to disagreements? 260 00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:54,440 What are we supposed to do? Handle it amongst yourselves and 261 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:57,760 don't take each other to court. That's what the world does to 262 00:12:57,800 --> 00:12:59,800 each other. But we as believers, we ought to 263 00:12:59,800 --> 00:13:02,840 be able to handle within the body the problems that we have 264 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:05,320 within the body. We'll look more about why that 265 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:07,640 is in a second, but another thing I want to say, and I want 266 00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:11,920 to make this very clear tonight, churches have no business hiding 267 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:15,160 criminal activity under the guise of First Corinthians 268 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:19,160 chapter 6. Churches should not and are not 269 00:13:19,160 --> 00:13:22,880 allowed to hide criminal activity because of what it says 270 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:25,440 in First Corinthians chapter 6. And you can turn back there if 271 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:26,680 you want to. Because we'll look. 272 00:13:26,680 --> 00:13:29,440 More at that in a second, but I will say there have been times 273 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:32,680 in the past where there have been churches who have taken 274 00:13:32,680 --> 00:13:35,840 things, for instance, like sexual abuse and have tried to 275 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:37,720 hide it under the carpet. Why? 276 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:40,600 Under the guise of, well, the church is supposed to handle the 277 00:13:40,640 --> 00:13:43,120 issues within the church. Listen to me and listen to me 278 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:46,800 very carefully tonight. There is no biblical basis for 279 00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:50,640 any type of activity like that. There is no biblical basis for 280 00:13:50,640 --> 00:13:54,080 the church to hide any type of sexual misconduct that takes 281 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:56,920 place within the church, any type of criminal way to say 282 00:13:56,920 --> 00:13:58,320 well, the church is going to handle it. 283 00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:01,560 No, no, what do you do? Romans chapter 13, You let the 284 00:14:01,560 --> 00:14:04,480 powers take care of it that God has instituted and God has 285 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:06,920 ordained. I can take you to a campus in 286 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:11,520 Jacksonville, FL where a pastor for years and years molested. 287 00:14:11,680 --> 00:14:16,840 Up to 300 different young people 300. 288 00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:20,480 Now whether that can be verified, I don't know. 289 00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:23,920 But I do know this, that there was an admission of guilt that 290 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:26,320 took place later. But this happened when this man 291 00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:29,840 was in his 80's. The church found out about this 292 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:32,880 in the mid 1990s. They found out about many 293 00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:35,360 allegations. And they decided that this 294 00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:38,640 church, this pastor, should resign and then go on to the 295 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:42,240 mission field in Germany where he would be away from the legal 296 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:45,040 system in the United States. And everyone thought, isn't it 297 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:47,560 great that this pastor, he's about a retirement age, he's 298 00:14:47,560 --> 00:14:50,320 going to go to Germany and become a missionary, not knowing 299 00:14:50,320 --> 00:14:53,520 that church was trying to hide the misconduct that was taking 300 00:14:53,520 --> 00:14:55,840 place. There's only one word that I can 301 00:14:55,840 --> 00:14:58,120 use to categorize that behavior, and it's this. 302 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:01,800 It's wicked. There is no biblical basis for 303 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:04,080 that whatsoever. Hear me and hear me clearly 304 00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:06,160 tonight. Why could we look at First 305 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:09,880 Corinthians chapter 5 and see how clearly God dealt with those 306 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:12,680 kind of issues and then be so blase about it in First 307 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:16,320 Corinthians chapter 6? No, this doesn't make sense. 308 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:20,320 So Paul told the Corinthians that they should not sue one 309 00:15:20,320 --> 00:15:21,680 another. Why was that? 310 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:23,480 Well, there's three main reasons for that. 311 00:15:23,480 --> 00:15:26,360 And first of all, it's this number one, it's an issue of 312 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:28,360 trust. It's an issue of trust. 313 00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:31,520 Look back at verse #1 and Paul uses some very strong language 314 00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:34,040 here. He says, dare any of you. 315 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:37,240 It's almost like he's saying, how dare you do this? 316 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:41,320 What are you thinking, as some people would say around these 317 00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:42,920 parts, What's the matter with you? 318 00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:49,120 How dare you dare anyone of you having a matter against another 319 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:53,560 go to the law before the unjust and not before the Saints? 320 00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:57,120 When he says a matter among against another, he's talking 321 00:15:57,120 --> 00:15:59,560 about the brethren. Why would you go to the law 322 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:01,600 before the unjust and the unjust? 323 00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:03,080 Here we're talking about the unsaved. 324 00:16:03,280 --> 00:16:06,640 And so Paul is basically asking this, Why would you seek the 325 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:09,640 opinion of someone who is not just? 326 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:15,000 If you are looking for justice and you're a believer, why would 327 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:18,320 you go to the unjust? Why would you go to the unsaved? 328 00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:21,960 Would it make more sense to be able to find the wisdom that 329 00:16:21,960 --> 00:16:24,480 should be found within the local body? 330 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:27,920 Listen, there is no justice to be found with the unsaved. 331 00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:29,680 Listen, I'm not saying every judge is crooked. 332 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:31,360 I'm not saying every court is crooked. 333 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:33,680 Again, we just read Romans chapter 13. 334 00:16:33,680 --> 00:16:36,560 We're supposed to have respect for the system as we find it. 335 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:40,320 But just as a matter of principle, the unjust are going 336 00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:43,400 to be unjust. The unsaved are going to think 337 00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:45,960 like the unsaved. It's not that they can't think 338 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:48,040 of truth, and it's not that they can't act on truth. 339 00:16:48,280 --> 00:16:51,080 But when they think of truth and they act on truth, where do they 340 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:52,600 get it? From The Father of lies. 341 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:55,760 They stumbled upon it from God and God Himself. 342 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:59,200 And so we see that He says this. How dare you? 343 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:03,760 How could you possibly be believers and go to the unsaved 344 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:05,680 to try to settle your own matters? 345 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:08,640 It's not that there can't be good judges, but just as a 346 00:17:08,640 --> 00:17:11,359 general principle, why would you do this? 347 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:14,240 What would you be thinking? And so he says a couple 348 00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:17,119 different things about that. First of all, he says that the 349 00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:20,880 fact that you would go to the unsaved is an indictment against 350 00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:23,200 the brethren. It's an indictment against the 351 00:17:23,200 --> 00:17:24,880 brother. And the fact that two believers 352 00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:28,319 couldn't hash out their differences in a godly way is an 353 00:17:28,319 --> 00:17:31,760 indictment against them. In fact, verse #5 he asked this 354 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:33,920 question. I speak to your shame. 355 00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:37,360 Is it so that there is not a wise man among you? 356 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:40,760 And I find that ironic. And the reason that I do is 357 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:44,880 because when it says, is there not a wise man among you? 358 00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:47,680 Well, what did he talk to them about a few chapters ago? 359 00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:49,520 They all thought that they were wise. 360 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:51,800 And so it's kind of like, what are you doing? 361 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:54,640 I thought you all thought you were wise, and now you can't 362 00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:57,280 handle your own situations within the church. 363 00:17:57,280 --> 00:18:00,920 He says, no, no, these things ought not to be believers. 364 00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:04,760 It says in verses #2 and three, do you not know that the Saint 365 00:18:04,760 --> 00:18:07,760 shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged 366 00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:10,920 by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 367 00:18:11,200 --> 00:18:13,160 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? 368 00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:15,840 How much more things that pertain to this life Now, did 369 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:17,800 that catch your attention? We read through that the first 370 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:21,920 time, the fact that we as believers will someday be judge 371 00:18:22,120 --> 00:18:23,760 of the angels. And again, when it says the 372 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:26,200 Saints understand we're talking about biblical doctrine. 373 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:28,960 We're not talking about that Catholic group of people. 374 00:18:28,960 --> 00:18:31,680 Know what are we talking about? We're talking about those who 375 00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:33,600 are believers. The day you were saved was the 376 00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:37,040 day you became a St. It may seem strange to you, but 377 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:38,720 that's the way that it is. Biblically. 378 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:42,360 All the epistles start with to the Saints that are at Galatia, 379 00:18:42,360 --> 00:18:45,800 to the Saints that are in Rome, to the Saints that are at over 380 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:49,160 and over and over again. So it says the Saints shall 381 00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:51,920 judge the world and that they will judge angels. 382 00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:53,760 Now, what could that be talking about? 383 00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:56,440 Now I believe that when it's talking about this, it's talking 384 00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:59,800 about first of all, that there will be believers as judges 385 00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:04,160 during the millennial Kingdom, but also that believers will sit 386 00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:07,880 in judgement of the fallen angels at the very end times. 387 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:09,280 Now you say, why would you say that? 388 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:13,400 Well, Second Timothy chapter 2 verse 12 says if we suffer, we 389 00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:17,760 shall also reign with him. We deny him, He will also deny 390 00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:19,200 us. There will be a time for 391 00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:21,520 believers. Then we will reign where we will 392 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:25,000 have some level of judgment. Now I'm not saying that we will 393 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:29,200 be the judges, but we will stand in judgment along with the 394 00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:31,640 righteous judge who is Jesus Christ. 395 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:36,000 Daniel Chapter 7, verse 22. Until the Ancient of Days came 396 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:39,960 and judgment was given to the Saints of the Most High, and the 397 00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:42,440 time came that the Saints possessed the Kingdom. 398 00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:45,360 That says that there will be judgment that take place in the 399 00:19:45,360 --> 00:19:47,800 millennial reign. And I believe judgment that 400 00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:51,600 takes place before those fallen angels are taken and cast in the 401 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:54,280 lake of fire. So what's the end result of all 402 00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:57,160 of this? This is this God saying if 403 00:19:57,160 --> 00:20:01,240 you're going to be able to judge those things for eternity, you 404 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:03,800 can't handle the situations you have in your church now. 405 00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:07,120 If you're going to have to have that type of responsibility 406 00:20:07,120 --> 00:20:09,240 later, shouldn't you be doing this now? 407 00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:11,840 You have high and holy work ahead of you. 408 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:15,080 Why would you not be able to handle your business now? 409 00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:18,920 It would be like having two Supreme Court justices that got 410 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:21,440 into a quarrel with one another and the only way they could 411 00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:23,280 settle it was going on People's Court. 412 00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:28,920 You know, Dun, Dun, you know, could you imagine in walks in 413 00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:31,920 justice, you know, so and so could you imagine, you'd say 414 00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:36,560 these two are supposed to be, you know, at the very height of 415 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:39,960 the legal system with the United States of America, and the only 416 00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:42,640 way they can settle their dispute is in small claims court 417 00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:44,400 on television. You'd say that's crazy. 418 00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:48,520 That's the best that I can tell you is the comparison here in 419 00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:52,080 verses #2 and three Paul saying, listen, you realize the high and 420 00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:54,560 holy calling of judgment that is ahead of you if you're a 421 00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:57,840 believer. And you're going to the courts 422 00:20:57,840 --> 00:21:00,680 at Corinth. To try to get clarity about the 423 00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:03,520 situations that you're having with each other. 424 00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:06,280 What's the matter with you? It's an indictment against you 425 00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:08,240 as brethren. What's the matter with you that 426 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:10,840 you would think that way? The fact that the church would 427 00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:14,280 need the world to solve their problems is an indictment about 428 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:18,040 how unchrist like they were. But it wasn't just that it was 429 00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:20,640 an indictment against the brethren, but we also see that 430 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:24,120 it was an invitation to worldly thinking, an invitation to the 431 00:21:24,120 --> 00:21:26,760 worldly thinking. The fact that the just would 432 00:21:26,760 --> 00:21:31,640 think they need counsel, advice, or wisdom from the unjust is an 433 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:34,520 invitation to worldly thinking in a host of other areas. 434 00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:37,680 Look at verse #6. But brother goeth to law with 435 00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:40,480 brother, and that before the unbelievers. 436 00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:44,680 He's saying, why would you invite the council and the 437 00:21:44,760 --> 00:21:48,160 wisdom of the unbelievers in your life? 438 00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:50,440 You'd say the wisdom of the unbelievers. 439 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:53,320 Well, yes. Consider James chapter 3, verses 440 00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:55,960 14 and 15. But if you have bitter envy and 441 00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:59,280 strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. 442 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:03,960 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly and 443 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:07,080 sensual and devilish. He's saying, why would you 444 00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:09,880 invite the world's council into your life? 445 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:13,840 Why would you ask the world for advice on how you live your 446 00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:15,600 life? Listen, the world doesn't have 447 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:17,680 the answers. The world is the problem. 448 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:22,880 The world is on fire. It's like asking an arsonist how 449 00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:25,160 to set up a fire extinguisher in your home. 450 00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:30,160 It's like trying to ask a thief how you should set up a safe and 451 00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:32,480 a bank. Why on earth would you ask the 452 00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:33,360 world? And I'm not saying that 453 00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:35,760 everybody in the world is out to get you. 454 00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:40,280 I'm not saying that everybody in the world has this, this bend 455 00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:41,920 against you to try to take you down. 456 00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:44,680 I'm not saying that. But I'm saying the world system 457 00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:48,600 as it is set up, the world system, that the head of it is 458 00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:52,440 Satan himself, the father of lies, the one who seeks to kill 459 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:56,640 and steal and destroy. No, he has set it up that he has 460 00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:58,880 no wisdom. And when the world again does 461 00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:03,400 have wisdom, it's because they have accidentally Co opted from 462 00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:05,600 God because God is the God of truth. 463 00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:08,080 All truth flows from him and the world speaks truth. 464 00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:09,920 They're just speaking God's truth. 465 00:23:10,120 --> 00:23:12,600 And again, I'm not saying that the world can never speak truth. 466 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:15,640 I'm just saying that when the world speaks truth, it's not 467 00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:17,200 because the world produced the truth. 468 00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:20,080 It's because they stumbled upon God's truth. 469 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:24,440 And Paul counters this worldly thinking because he says this. 470 00:23:24,440 --> 00:23:26,200 He says, you know what? If you're going to have a judge, 471 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:29,520 if you're going to take care of some issues in the body, you 472 00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:32,560 know who should be your judge. Did you catch that? 473 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:40,200 Look at what it says again. It says in verse #4 if then you 474 00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:43,000 have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set 475 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:46,840 them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. 476 00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:51,760 Now what does the world say? The world says we need the most 477 00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:54,440 esteemed we need. The one with the highest 478 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:57,600 credentials. What does Paul say? 479 00:23:57,680 --> 00:23:59,120 Well, get the one that's the least esteem. 480 00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:01,000 We're not talking about the least character. 481 00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:05,320 We're talking about someone who is maybe not as regarded as 482 00:24:05,320 --> 00:24:08,520 everyone else, but that still is a godly person. 483 00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:11,440 And it's a reminder. Luke 1310 This is not worldly 484 00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:12,720 wisdom. This is godly wisdom. 485 00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:17,200 The the last shall be first, and there are first which shall be 486 00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:19,160 last. So what do you do? 487 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:22,400 You take someone who maybe is not the most popular, but has 488 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:24,080 the Spirit of God, and what do you do? 489 00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:27,960 You allow them to be the judge. I remember back at Westgate 490 00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:30,920 there was a man named James Clayton, and Brother Clayton is 491 00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:34,840 one of my favorite men there. Him and and his wife, Miss 492 00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:39,600 Sandra and Brother Clayton end up being a Deacon at Westgate. 493 00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:42,720 And I'd sit in deacons meeting sometimes just as a assistant 494 00:24:42,720 --> 00:24:45,160 pastor if there was something that I needed to help deal with 495 00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:47,160 in the church. You know, the thing I loved 496 00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:49,240 about Brother Clayton, I don't know if I say I love this about 497 00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:50,640 it, but the thing that was interesting about Brother 498 00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:52,600 Clayton is he almost never talked. 499 00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:54,920 I shouldn't say I love that about a person, right? 500 00:24:55,480 --> 00:24:57,680 But the thing that was interesting about it was he 501 00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:00,720 almost never talked. I would say in many ways he was 502 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:03,560 maybe 1 of the least esteemed in the church because he didn't 503 00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:06,400 have this outgoing, gregarious personality. 504 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:08,920 Now, The funny thing was he was an Army drill Sergeant, so I 505 00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:11,040 guess he got it all out in his younger years. 506 00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:14,200 But I will tell you this about James Clayton. 507 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:18,640 When he talked, you listen. He didn't waste his words. 508 00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:21,520 When he said something, everyone ears perked up. 509 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:24,400 He may only say something that deacons meeting two or three 510 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:27,200 times, but every time he did, he was listening to what was going 511 00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:31,840 on and made a contribution that was filled with wisdom and God's 512 00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:35,240 word in it. And when I think of the least 513 00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:38,320 esteemed among you, I think of James Clayton. 514 00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:41,920 Not that he was little regarded in the church, but the idea if 515 00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:44,360 you just walked into the church and you said we need someone to 516 00:25:44,360 --> 00:25:47,840 settle dispute, you'd see someone who maybe was gregarious 517 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:49,960 in their personality and that was maybe a little bit 518 00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:52,080 boisterous. And you maybe say, Ben, this is 519 00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:54,160 the person that everyone needs to listen to. 520 00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:56,320 There's James Clayton sitting in the background. 521 00:25:57,560 --> 00:25:59,880 He's serving. He's not served out in front of 522 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:02,080 everybody. He may have been least regarded 523 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:04,560 in some ways, but I'll tell you this, there's a lot of wisdom in 524 00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:06,760 that man. The world wouldn't agree with 525 00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:10,520 that, but in God's Kingdom, it's quite the opposite. 526 00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:13,720 So don't think worldly when it comes to these issues. 527 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:16,400 What, what do we do? We need to make sure that we 528 00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:18,320 think the way that God wants us to think. 529 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:22,080 And this is a reminder to us tonight, and I really want you 530 00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:25,520 to consider this tonight, that the center of wisdom in your 531 00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:27,680 life ought to be the local church. 532 00:26:29,160 --> 00:26:31,080 I know that sounds crazy, but follow me for a second. 533 00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:35,400 The center of wisdom in your life ought to be your local 534 00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:36,520 church. Why? 535 00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:40,320 Well, this text makes clear here that we ought to be a place 536 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:42,200 where differences can be resolved. 537 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:46,040 We ought to be a place where direction can be found. 538 00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:48,360 That's why we're not supposed to go it alone. 539 00:26:48,360 --> 00:26:51,560 As believers, you need a church body where we can help one 540 00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:52,400 another. Where you have. 541 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:54,480 Disputes. But disputes can be settled in a 542 00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:57,680 way that is better and more godly than how the world. 543 00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:02,160 Settles disputes. This is why we're not. 544 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:04,400 This is why we're not supposed to go it alone as believers. 545 00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:08,760 And the world should not be your go to. 546 00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:14,120 The world should be something that's avoided love, not the 547 00:27:14,120 --> 00:27:15,600 world neither the things that are in the world. 548 00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:17,680 Any man love the world the love of the Father is not in. 549 00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:20,280 But the church should be your go to for wisdom. 550 00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:23,640 I'm not saying that churches are perfect, but I will say this. 551 00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:28,200 We have a perfect book. We have a perfect spirit who 552 00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:30,120 lives inside of us. We ought to be able to be 553 00:27:30,120 --> 00:27:31,800 different in how we handle these issues. 554 00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:33,000 Well, I got to move faster than this. 555 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:36,720 All right #2 not just an issue of trust #2 it's an issue of 556 00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:39,120 testimony. It's an issue of testimony. 557 00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:41,560 If you were to take this text as a whole here tonight, 558 00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:44,280 particularly verses 6 through 8, let me ask you this. 559 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:49,120 What kind of testimony is it for a Church of believers to be able 560 00:27:49,120 --> 00:27:52,440 to go before an unbelieving judge and then accuse one 561 00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:53,760 another? Do you think they'd be able to 562 00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:54,720 give them a track when it's done? 563 00:27:56,680 --> 00:27:58,920 I know they weren't given tracks back then, but you understand 564 00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:02,840 the thought process of that. It is, would they be in a place 565 00:28:03,120 --> 00:28:05,720 after accusing one another? Well, this guy did this to me. 566 00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:07,480 Well, I'll tell you what, this guy's a scumbag. 567 00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:09,320 Well, you know what? You're a double scumbag, you 568 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:11,760 know, and they're going back and forth and by the, you know, by 569 00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:13,680 the time they're done, they say, oh, bad, by the way. 570 00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:15,640 Judge, if you have to have nowhere to go to church on 571 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:18,920 Sunday, we'd love to be able to invite you to Corinth Baptist 572 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:20,760 Church. And the judge said, you know 573 00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:23,120 what, I get enough of this out in the world. 574 00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:25,400 I think I'm good. Thank you very much. 575 00:28:26,360 --> 00:28:29,920 It's an issue of testimony. There ought to be harmony within 576 00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:31,360 the Church of God. Why? 577 00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:35,480 Because the world ought to see that the Church ought to act 578 00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:39,000 like the Church. The world ought to be able to 579 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:43,680 see that we as believers can walk in the way that we say that 580 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:45,440 we're going to walk. And again, I know we're not 581 00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:46,800 perfect. I don't want to set us up for 582 00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:49,240 failure here tonight. But there ought to be something 583 00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:51,800 different about us as believers. There ought to be something 584 00:28:51,800 --> 00:28:55,560 different about the way we look, the way we act, the way we talk, 585 00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:57,800 the way we think. And there ought to be something 586 00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:00,120 different about the way we handle conflict. 587 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:01,960 And there ought to be something different. 588 00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:05,000 We ought to be peacemakers. And that's why he didn't want 589 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:06,720 them to go to court. Because even when there were 590 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:10,320 real issues and there could be real issues, they needed to be 591 00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:14,800 handled in a biblical way. First, Peter chapter 2, verse 592 00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:18,120 12, having your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that 593 00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:21,320 whereas they speak against you as evil doers, they may by your 594 00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:25,320 good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day 595 00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:27,640 of visitation. Meaning this, that they see you, 596 00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:30,360 they don't want to appreciate what you're doing, but you're 597 00:29:30,360 --> 00:29:33,960 walking in such a way that is what the Lord wants you to do 598 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:35,680 that they can't argue with how you're living. 599 00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:38,920 You can't do that if you're suing each other in court. 600 00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:42,680 Philippians 215 that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons 601 00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:46,600 of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a wicked and or crooked 602 00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:49,760 and perverse generation, a nation among whom. 603 00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:51,840 You. Shine as lights in the world. 604 00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:55,640 I've given the example before, many years ago when I was a 605 00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:58,560 teenager and I was working with a young man at McDonald's named 606 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:00,600 Kevin. It was my first job, only worked 607 00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:03,280 there for a few months, making $5.00 an hour. 608 00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:05,800 Big money, I mean big money, you know what I'm saying? 609 00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:08,560 At the McDonald's, I was working in the front, Kevin was working 610 00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:11,520 in the back, and we were excited because our youth group was 611 00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:13,120 coming. Our youth group was going to 612 00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:14,680 come that night. Now we were working, so we 613 00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:16,280 didn't come to the youth department that night on a 614 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:18,520 Friday night, but they were going to come. 615 00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:20,760 And I thought, man, what a great way for us to be able to show 616 00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:23,640 the people that we work with about what it's like to be a 617 00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:25,880 Christian and about our church. It'd be so much easier to invite 618 00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:29,240 the other teenager we're working with at the church to church. 619 00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:32,760 It would be a great thing. Can I tell you, my friends, my 620 00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:38,680 friends trashed at McDonald's, they absolutely trashed it. 621 00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:41,240 And I'm not saying on accident. They did it on purpose. 622 00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:45,080 And part of the reason was they wanted to kind of have a go at 623 00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:46,400 me and Kevin. But here's the thing. 624 00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:47,960 Kevin was cooking the hamburgers in the bag. 625 00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:49,360 He. Wasn't going to clean it. 626 00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:52,600 So there's only one who was going to clean it, and that was 627 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:55,040 me. But you know who saw the mess? 628 00:30:55,480 --> 00:31:00,680 Every single person that we had been talking to about our church 629 00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:03,400 coming. And I had so wished that instead 630 00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:06,360 of telling him I was from Westgate Baptist Church, I'd so 631 00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:09,840 wished I told them that was from Incarnation Catholic Church that 632 00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:16,080 was right up the road instead. Like, why did I tell him I was 633 00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:18,960 from Westgate? Because it left such a bad 634 00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:21,720 impression, my manager was ticked off. 635 00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:26,760 My manager was upset. Listen, how we react as 636 00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:29,840 believers makes an impact in the world. 637 00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:34,120 How we make an impact as believers amongst ourselves 638 00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:37,320 makes an impact in the world. When the world comes into this 639 00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:39,880 building. I'm going to take this a little 640 00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:41,360 bit further here for a moment, All right? 641 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:46,000 We pray that the world comes to this building to be able to hear 642 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:48,120 the gospel message. That's the plan. 643 00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:50,360 That's why we hand out tracks. That's why I invite people to 644 00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:52,880 church, because we want people that don't know Jesus Christ to 645 00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:54,720 come to church to find what we have. 646 00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:57,760 I mean, that's kind of what we want to do, particularly at this 647 00:31:57,760 --> 00:32:01,680 kind of time of year. But listen, if the world comes 648 00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:05,680 in here and finds people that are not in harmony, they're 649 00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:07,880 going to leave and say, I can get this anywhere. 650 00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:12,320 You know what they ought not to see when they come into a church 651 00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:14,000 setting. They ought not to see people 652 00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:17,040 quarrelling with one another. You know what the world ought to 653 00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:19,640 see when they come to a church setting, not see people divided 654 00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:22,680 into cliques and groups. You know what they ought to see 655 00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:24,080 when they come into a church building? 656 00:32:24,080 --> 00:32:28,000 They ought to see people who are as interested in seeing them as 657 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:30,720 they are and seeing the person that they talk to every Sunday 658 00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:34,160 and every Wednesday. You say this is a little bit of 659 00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:37,120 a stretch from the text. I know that it is to a point, 660 00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:40,720 but there's an application here that's real, that when we come 661 00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:44,280 in contact with the world, they ought to see us acting like 662 00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:46,400 believers. And when two guys are in a 663 00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:49,080 courtroom fighting with each other and they both say they're 664 00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:54,320 Christians and an unsaved judge says what's going on, it's no 665 00:32:54,320 --> 00:32:57,720 different than the world coming in here because we've invited 666 00:32:57,720 --> 00:32:59,400 them. So they expect us to act like 667 00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:01,200 believers. And then we don't act like 668 00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:03,280 believers when they come into this assembly. 669 00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:08,120 What do we need to do? It's an issue of our testimony. 670 00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:13,440 Galatians 610 tells us, as we have therefore opportunity, let 671 00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:16,160 us do good unto all men, especially unto them that are 672 00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:18,440 household of faith. We should be doing right by each 673 00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:19,960 other. We should do right to the people 674 00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:21,680 in the world that don't always do right by us. 675 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:25,440 As a church, we are to be a shining light to the world. 676 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:28,680 So it's an issue of trust, it's an issue of testimony #3 it's an 677 00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:31,720 issue of tactlessness. It's an issue tactlessness. 678 00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:34,720 What does it mean, tactlessness? Well, having tact is an 679 00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:38,240 adeptness at dealing with difficult issues, meaning this. 680 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:41,240 The Church of Corinth showed they didn't know how to handle 681 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:43,760 difficult issues. They didn't know how to handle 682 00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:45,960 these issues where believers were supposed to act like 683 00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:48,920 believers and verses number 7 and 8 give an interesting 684 00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:50,680 thought that is very contrary to our flesh. 685 00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:53,600 Look at what it says now. Therefore there is utterly a 686 00:33:53,600 --> 00:33:57,200 fault among you because you go to law one with another. 687 00:33:57,480 --> 00:33:59,320 Why do you not rather take wrong? 688 00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:02,400 Why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? 689 00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:06,160 Nay, you do wrong and defraud and that your brethren. 690 00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:09,360 So he says this in verse 8. Listen, if you've defrauded your 691 00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:11,880 brethren, that's wrong. But he also looks at the ones 692 00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:13,520 who are defrauded and he says this. 693 00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:17,080 Listen, if you are going to court and you're willing to take 694 00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:22,280 this to court, wouldn't it be better to take a quote loss than 695 00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:27,480 to be able to go to court and. Maybe win your pound of flesh, 696 00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:31,080 but you really haven't won the battle at all. 697 00:34:31,600 --> 00:34:33,960 In fact, you've made things worse because of your testimony. 698 00:34:34,639 --> 00:34:37,239 One commentator put it this way. I couldn't say it better than he 699 00:34:37,239 --> 00:34:40,000 said, so I just want to read it. Paul called this man to do 700 00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:43,480 something hard, to give up what he deserved for the higher good 701 00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:44,840 of God and his. Kingdom. 702 00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:48,600 But the man who was wrong should not think Paul was asking him to 703 00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:51,400 take a loss. So I said a loss. 704 00:34:51,600 --> 00:34:53,199 He was not asking him to take a loss. 705 00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:56,760 No one who accepts wrong for the sake of God's. 706 00:34:56,760 --> 00:35:02,240 Glory will be a loser. No one who accepts wrong for the 707 00:35:02,240 --> 00:35:04,800 sake of God's glory will be a loser. 708 00:35:05,080 --> 00:35:08,080 Paul didn't say the problem shouldn't be handled, but he was 709 00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:11,960 saying if the church couldn't handle it as the last resort, 710 00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:15,080 the church should be the last resort and not the world. 711 00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:19,240 If the church could not handle it for whatever reason, take a. 712 00:35:19,240 --> 00:35:23,480 Loss because you're really not taking a loss because who is the 713 00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:26,040 one that handles reaping and sowing? 714 00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:29,840 God, you should be willing to be defrauded. 715 00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:31,600 No, he said, well, that makes me look like a sucker. 716 00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:33,320 No, that's not what we're trying to say at all. 717 00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:36,640 We're saying this when you get in those situations and it's at 718 00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:39,520 the very most desperate situation, and the other person 719 00:35:39,520 --> 00:35:43,080 is not being godly, the other person is not doing what they 720 00:35:43,080 --> 00:35:44,480 should. The other person's not being a 721 00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:47,240 peacemaker. Are you willing to take a loss 722 00:35:47,240 --> 00:35:51,080 and know this, that God will take vengeance for them and that 723 00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:53,560 God will repay me for being faithful? 724 00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:57,240 I'll say this, our flesh don't like that kind of talk. 725 00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:01,760 You know what I like? An eye for an eye, a tooth for a 726 00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:04,160 tooth. And you know, you got to say it 727 00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:05,800 like that because that's how they said the Old Testament, 728 00:36:05,800 --> 00:36:07,560 right? Actually, that's how they said 729 00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:09,880 in the West, more like it. But even the eye for an eye and 730 00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:12,560 a tooth for a tooth was a law of equitability and equitable 731 00:36:12,560 --> 00:36:14,840 punishment. It was not a law of vengeance. 732 00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:17,400 In fact, it was a law. To keep men from taking 733 00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:21,800 vengeance against one another. And that commentator continues. 734 00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:24,640 And he says ideally, the church should have settled the dispute. 735 00:36:25,160 --> 00:36:27,840 But if the church failed to do so, Paul asked the man to trust 736 00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:31,880 in God, not in secular judges and lawsuits and courts. 737 00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:36,720 So that doesn't make any sense. Well, in our economy it doesn't. 738 00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:40,840 But in God's economy, losing is often winning. 739 00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:43,240 We see that so many times, don't we? 740 00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:45,640 We already said the last shall be 1st and the 1st shall be 741 00:36:45,640 --> 00:36:49,240 last. 2nd Corinthians 12, verse 10 Paul said, Therefore I take 742 00:36:49,240 --> 00:36:51,920 pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches in necessities, and 743 00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:54,560 persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. 744 00:36:54,760 --> 00:36:57,480 For when I am weak, then am I strong. 745 00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:01,040 Matthew 16, verse 25 For whosoever will save his life 746 00:37:01,040 --> 00:37:03,960 shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake 747 00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:06,360 shall save it. That it would be better to be 748 00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:10,440 defrauded and trust the Lord that he will be able to repay 749 00:37:10,440 --> 00:37:13,880 you far more fold than whatever you would have achieved in 750 00:37:13,880 --> 00:37:15,960 court, but whatever would have been lost. 751 00:37:15,960 --> 00:37:19,640 In the testimony of those unsaved people who watched you 752 00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:23,200 hash it out in front of them, said you would be better to take 753 00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:28,600 an L You'd be better to take an L and know that God will repay 754 00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:30,960 you back far more than what the world can. 755 00:37:32,120 --> 00:37:35,920 We've dealt with this before. I've told the story before where 756 00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:39,160 our family was in the place where our church wasn't paying 757 00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:41,840 us and we were on salary back at Westgate. 758 00:37:43,640 --> 00:37:47,560 I, I, I don't know the exact amount of, of checks we were 759 00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:48,840 behind. I think I've said the number 760 00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:51,160 before, but I, I don't know exactly, but I know that we were 761 00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:56,520 somewhere about $6000 behind in our pay and that would have 762 00:37:56,520 --> 00:38:01,600 represented about 1/3 of year salary for me back in 2008, 763 00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:03,920 2009. It's a large amount. 764 00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:09,080 There was a lot of heartburn that went along with that. 765 00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:13,920 I'm not blaming anybody for what happened, I'm just saying that's 766 00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:16,200 what happened. It's a building program that 767 00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:19,840 went wrong with a lot of bad decisions that took place during 768 00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:23,280 that time. And it would have been easy for 769 00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:27,680 me to just go to a small claims court and say, you know what? 770 00:38:28,440 --> 00:38:31,240 This is what I'm deserved. This is what I'm owed. 771 00:38:31,960 --> 00:38:34,880 No one could argue. No one could argue that. 772 00:38:35,160 --> 00:38:37,480 The contract was such that the money that I was supposed to 773 00:38:37,480 --> 00:38:39,040 receive was what I was supposed to receive. 774 00:38:39,320 --> 00:38:42,520 The hours that I work were certainly equal to what I was 775 00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:45,440 supposed to, if not more. Than what I was supposed to and 776 00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:49,840 it was very easy for us to say, you know what, give it to me or 777 00:38:49,840 --> 00:38:52,600 I'll sue. What do we do? 778 00:38:53,720 --> 00:38:56,200 Some who were in that situation, the Lord LED them to different 779 00:38:56,200 --> 00:39:00,000 places to leave, and they left quietly for us. 780 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:02,360 We felt we didn't have the liberty to be able to leave. 781 00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:05,600 We prayed about it and just never felt it was right. 782 00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:09,800 But when the time came, a new regime came in and things 783 00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:12,640 started to get better, but that back pay seemed like it was 784 00:39:12,640 --> 00:39:15,520 gone. They were trying to repay, but 785 00:39:15,520 --> 00:39:18,120 they were paying it like $100 every month or something like 786 00:39:18,120 --> 00:39:20,080 that. At that rate, you know, I'd be 787 00:39:20,080 --> 00:39:22,160 collecting Social Security by the time it was all finished, 788 00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:25,960 you know, but we went on deputation, you know, that 789 00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:29,760 process where we left Westgate preparing to come here and we 790 00:39:29,760 --> 00:39:31,440 went from church to church to church. 791 00:39:32,520 --> 00:39:36,560 And can I tell you that when the churches that we went to, that 792 00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:41,720 God provided over and over and over again to the point that 793 00:39:41,720 --> 00:39:44,760 when we got to liberty, when we got ready to start the church, 794 00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:48,200 we could not believe how the Lord had financially blessed. 795 00:39:49,640 --> 00:39:54,840 It was incredible to the point that I got on the phone about a 796 00:39:54,840 --> 00:39:57,480 month before the church started and called Pastor Pert. 797 00:39:57,480 --> 00:39:59,400 Pastor Pert was not the one who accrued the debt. 798 00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:01,920 Pastor Pert was the one who was trying to fix the debt. 799 00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:04,680 And I'm thankful for him to try to do that. 800 00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:07,240 But we called him and I and I prayed about it. 801 00:40:07,240 --> 00:40:11,000 We said, Pastor Pert, this debt's not yours and it's 802 00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:13,880 holding Westgate back. So we want you to know we 803 00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:18,520 forgive the Church of the debt. You say what wasn't that big of 804 00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:19,520 you? I'm not saying it because it's 805 00:40:19,520 --> 00:40:21,520 big of me. What I'm saying is this. 806 00:40:21,880 --> 00:40:27,320 God paid back with interest and every time we've had a 807 00:40:27,320 --> 00:40:29,800 difficulty over the years that we've been here and there've 808 00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:32,440 been times of difficulty. I've told you, I've worked for 809 00:40:32,440 --> 00:40:35,160 Uber before and I've done different kinds of odd jobs to 810 00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:38,280 be able to make things meet. But I would tell you this, I go 811 00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:40,640 back to that and I always remember God provided. 812 00:40:41,800 --> 00:40:43,840 And when you're in a situation where you feel like, well, am I 813 00:40:43,840 --> 00:40:45,280 being defaulted by someone in the church? 814 00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:47,800 I, I loaned someone some money and they didn't give it back. 815 00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:50,760 There was a situation where I did work for somebody and it 816 00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:53,040 didn't seem like it worked out the way that it was supposed to. 817 00:40:53,440 --> 00:40:55,600 We were in business together and it didn't listen. 818 00:40:56,400 --> 00:41:01,920 Let it go to God. Try to take care of it. 819 00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:03,800 Oh, absolutely try to take care of it. 820 00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:07,040 But when it gets to the point that you're only remedy is going 821 00:41:07,040 --> 00:41:11,560 to court, just know this. There's a higher court than any 822 00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:14,720 court the Bristol County has. There's a higher court than 823 00:41:14,720 --> 00:41:18,480 anything this state has. There's a higher court than the 824 00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:22,000 so-called Supreme Court has. You know what that is? 825 00:41:22,680 --> 00:41:26,400 There's a God in heaven who makes things equitable and makes 826 00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:29,200 things right. I don't have time to go here, 827 00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:31,320 but there. Philippians chapter 4. 828 00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:35,040 Yeah, we'll go there. All right, Just give me two 829 00:41:35,040 --> 00:41:35,520 minutes. All right? 830 00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:38,440 Philippians chapter 4. I want to read this and we'll be 831 00:41:38,440 --> 00:41:44,200 done. Philippians chapter 4 say, 832 00:41:44,200 --> 00:41:46,000 pastor, what does this have to do with me? 833 00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:48,000 I mean, I don't plan on suing anybody. 834 00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:50,600 And my answer is sure you are. That's why I'm preaching it, 835 00:41:50,600 --> 00:41:51,880 right? Somebody wants to sue somebody 836 00:41:51,880 --> 00:41:53,640 around here, right? No, I'm just kidding. 837 00:41:53,640 --> 00:41:55,920 No, no, nobody wants to sue anybody. 838 00:41:55,920 --> 00:41:58,520 I, I, I get that. But here's the principle. 839 00:41:58,520 --> 00:42:00,560 What are we supposed to be in the church? 840 00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:03,640 Peacemakers. You know what? 841 00:42:04,080 --> 00:42:05,840 I'm not concerned about people suing each other. 842 00:42:05,840 --> 00:42:09,000 Liberty Baptist Church, you I am concerned about people to get 843 00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:12,280 cross ways with one another and can't handle it biblically. 844 00:42:13,320 --> 00:42:15,040 Does that happen in church? How long you been in church? 845 00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:19,760 That happens at church and it requires two people, not just 846 00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:23,040 1-2 people that are willing to act in a godly way to be able to 847 00:42:23,040 --> 00:42:25,040 handle that. Look what it says in Philippians 848 00:42:25,040 --> 00:42:26,440 chapter 4. This is not a question of 849 00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:28,160 somebody suing each other. But it is a. 850 00:42:28,160 --> 00:42:30,120 Question of division and strife in a church. 851 00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:33,160 Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved, and longed for my joy 852 00:42:33,160 --> 00:42:34,920 and crown, so stand fast in the Lord. 853 00:42:34,920 --> 00:42:40,400 My dearly beloved, I beseech Yodius and beseech Sintoki that 854 00:42:40,400 --> 00:42:41,760 they be of the same mind in the Lord. 855 00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:44,360 These are two women in the church that are fighting with 856 00:42:44,360 --> 00:42:46,480 one another. It says, I entreat thee also. 857 00:42:46,480 --> 00:42:49,800 True yoke fellow help these women which labored with me in 858 00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:53,080 the gospel, with Clement also and with other my fellow 859 00:42:53,080 --> 00:42:55,480 laborers whose names are in the book of life. 860 00:42:55,760 --> 00:42:57,720 These two women are in conflict with one another. 861 00:42:57,720 --> 00:43:00,960 What it was we don't know, what it was about we don't know. 862 00:43:01,120 --> 00:43:03,680 They were in conflict with one another and Paul said this he 863 00:43:03,680 --> 00:43:06,920 gave them two principles to deal with conflict and they are this 864 00:43:06,920 --> 00:43:08,720 and I'm giving you quickly and we're done. 865 00:43:08,920 --> 00:43:11,240 The first is this involve the flock. 866 00:43:12,680 --> 00:43:15,360 Involve the flock by the way, in a scriptural way. 867 00:43:15,360 --> 00:43:18,040 I'm not talking about going around and gossiping because 868 00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:20,560 what he's saying verse #3. He says I entreat. 869 00:43:20,560 --> 00:43:23,640 Thee also true yoke fellow, help these women which labored with 870 00:43:23,640 --> 00:43:25,880 me in the gospel. Those yoke fellow were the 871 00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:28,920 believers that were there. They were supposed to help 872 00:43:28,920 --> 00:43:34,200 together to help these women invoke the flock or involve the 873 00:43:34,200 --> 00:43:37,280 flock, but also invoke the future because it says at the 874 00:43:37,280 --> 00:43:40,400 end, it says whose names are in the book of life. 875 00:43:41,080 --> 00:43:44,520 Listen, we're going to have to get together, get along in 876 00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:47,080 heaven. I mean, we're going to be there. 877 00:43:47,080 --> 00:43:49,720 It's going to be perfect. We're going to get along in 878 00:43:49,720 --> 00:43:51,800 heaven. We might as well start now. 879 00:43:52,680 --> 00:43:55,800 What do we need to remember? Hey, involve the flock in a 880 00:43:55,800 --> 00:43:59,440 scriptural right way. If there's strife, Matthew 18 881 00:43:59,440 --> 00:44:01,640 says bring someone else in, as long as you do it in the right 882 00:44:01,640 --> 00:44:03,320 way. But what do you need to do? 883 00:44:03,440 --> 00:44:05,600 Remember the future? Invoke the future. 884 00:44:05,600 --> 00:44:09,840 Remember, we're going to live together for all eternity in a 885 00:44:09,840 --> 00:44:12,120 place that's perfect. We ought to get along with each 886 00:44:12,120 --> 00:44:16,120 other now. What happens when I'll see you 887 00:44:16,120 --> 00:44:18,880 at church turns out to be I'll see you in court. 888 00:44:20,080 --> 00:44:22,880 What do you do? Well, you end up reminding 889 00:44:22,880 --> 00:44:25,960 yourself that blessed are the peacemakers, for they are the 890 00:44:25,960 --> 00:44:29,360 ones that God will bless and that that is what we're to be 891 00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:32,720 within the church. Thank you for listening to the 892 00:44:32,720 --> 00:44:35,360 sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church. 893 00:44:35,640 --> 00:44:38,960 If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we 894 00:44:38,960 --> 00:44:42,080 can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at 895 00:44:42,240 --> 00:44:46,960 info@mylibertybaptist.org. Or you can visit us this Sunday 896 00:44:47,160 --> 00:44:50,880 at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA. 897 00:44:51,120 --> 00:44:53,960 May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.