Faith Lesson 14 Week 3, Start Lesson 15

So let's see, where did we leave off? We are on Lesson 14. By the way, 14, 15, and 16 are all back there. I think we can get through the three of them pretty quickly because basically what we're talking about and will talk about over the next weeks is how faith relates to temptation, and Trials and Suffering. So we are doing an overview of Temptations and Trials and Sufferings together. Then we will separate it out. Concentrate today on Temptation and a little bit next week on Temptation. Then we will go in and talk more expansively on Trials and Tribulations. So how both of those things do fit under the heading of Faith. I think we got through question 6, right? Does God have a purpose in our trials? Does he have an eternal purpose? What do you think? Does he have a purpose or is this just... Just so he can have fun watching us squirm. He has a purpose.

Yeah, what is it? Well, it was kind of taking two different things to, you know, to be transformed into the image of Christ. And then to glorify him. Yeah, glorify himself. That's right. And let's get something. pretty clear here, and I know that we have a mindset about trials and tribulation, that the trials and tribulations themselves conform you to the image of Christ. That's a false premise. What conforms you to the image of Christ? The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit doing what? Doing the Word. I'm sorry? Doing the Word. What kind of learning? The way of God. That's right.

2 Corinthians 3.18 says, Beholding is in a mere the glory of the Lord. When you say beholding is in a mere the glory of the Lord, what are we beholding? A list of facts? Or a person? It's the beholding of the person that does the conforming.

The trials and tribulations get you to the point where you will behold, because you'll stop beholding whatever you thought was really important to you somewhere else outside of Christ. And there comes a time when He, the Lord Jesus Himself personally, becomes the most valuable thing and person there is in your life. And isn't this something that the Spirit of God has set it up so that one, we can behold Him, his glory, and two, that that process would allow for a conformity to his very image. That's pretty cool when you think about it. That fits under the heading of grace like it should, because beholding is not something that you do spiritual push-ups about. Beholding is the work of the Spirit as he reveals through the word the very person of Christ.

He has the purpose to conform us to Christ and by conforming us to Christ, what does he accomplish? He is able to reveal his glory to you and from you. Do you see that? Because if you are conformed to the image of Christ and you are walking around, it isn't Ralph, a really cool Christian guy, it's the manifestation of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ through him to God's glory. The sequence though is it's got to be through the word.

The spirit of God comes along and takes the word of God and reveals to us the truths of God and then he makes them personal. So it is through the word by the spirit of God that he reveals to us objective truth and then that objective truth goes from I remember way, way back when, when I first met Miles Stanford. He would have us write these little things in our Bibles, little sayings. Half the time I didn't understand them, but I wrote them in there anyway.

He said, faith goes from objective fact to a personal affection for the Lord Jesus Christ. So it starts out with objective fact. But that isn't the end of it. The objective fact is designed by the Spirit of God, by God, and implemented by the Spirit of God to reveal the person of Christ to us.

You okay with that? I would say, Don and I were talking about that coming down this morning, if there's something that needs to be more talked about within the body of Christ, that's it. Because if you get the idea, the principle and the doctrine that what God is up to is to reveal his glory through you and the way he's going to do it is to reveal Christ to you which conforms you to his image, then his life begins to be lived out from you. What are you doing in that process? You're doing the coolest thing of all. You're getting to behold him with an unveiled face.

To me, it doesn't get any more special than that. That I can be reading the Word of God and the Spirit of God through that is revealing the glory of Christ to me and then consequently through me. That's a conformity process that takes place so God is glorified in the deal. That's really cool. I don't see you jumping up and down, maybe that's the only thing that's cool. So God's spirit reveals God's glory through God's word. God's spirit shares God's glory by conforming us or forming Christ in us. And our personal faith is focused on God's revelation of himself.

So how would you define the process, I'm already at question 7, I'm really moving along. How would you define the process of sanctification? So we said it's a process. What does sanctification mean? It means to be set apart for God's own use. So how would you define that process? Is there a... is part of that our position?

I mean, then there's a condition we can grow into? Positionally, we've already been set apart, haven't we? Yeah. Sure. Conditionally, not so much. But then, when we get into things like that, and then I think that growing into the knowledge and the grace of our Lord, Would that be part of our tradition? Part of it, yeah.

Let's turn in your Bibles to Romans 8.28-29.

We're going to find out what God's purpose is in these verses and then kind of a simple thing is how he's doing it. Somebody when you get there read it out loud. And we know that God causes all things to work together for the good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that we would be the firstborn among many brethren. Okay, so it's God who works all things together. It's Him, He who does it to accomplish His purpose. You know what He says? And I'm working, I God, I'm working all things together to accomplish my purpose. And then he tells us what this purpose is. And the purpose is absolutely certain because he foreordained that this was going to happen. And by the way, this predetermination is only for believers, it's not for non-believers. What's he going to do?

According to verse 29. Yeah. I think that those two verses that one of the things that it's really an eye opener for me or has done is that Christ would be the first born among many brethren. Yeah. And that to me really sets us apart. There you go. There it is. It really sets us apart. It sure does. And for me it really drove at home that we're a new creation. And Christ is the head. That right there really drives it home for me. Isn't it interesting that that's what he's doing? He's conforming you to the image of Christ. It's a foreordained deal, so it's going to happen. And to be set apart to Christ is absolute separation, absolutely set apart to him. Position already there, condition is what's going on all the time.

But what does that, you know, I thought that he said that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. So did Christ really come and die for us that He has a family. Okay, good question. That he might be the firstborn. The firstborn does not necessarily mean he's the first guy that shows up. Although it does mean that. It means that he is of the first in kind and quality. He's the first one like him.

And that all those that belong to him will be just like him. new creation, as you mentioned. And that would be something. That would be like when we were in Adam, and Adam was in places. As we talk about the identification truths, that we were crucified, buried, and resurrected with Christ, well the resurrected side of the cross really is becoming one of the exact replicas, is that a good word, exact image of the firstborn who is Christ.

Every one of us will be exactly like him. Why is that so cool? Why is that so important to us to know that we are going to be exactly like the Lord Jesus Christ? Because we leave everything behind. We do. We leave everything behind that's of Adam. And now we're conformed to... Let's think about who Christ is at this point.

Who is he? And where is he? And what's happened to him? He's in the heavenlies, at the right side of the Father. He's been glorified as a man and he has what's described as a body of believers who belong to him and who are of his very creation. If any man be in Christ, you're a brand new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, everything has become new.

The only God we will see? Yeah, because he's the Logos of God, you get to see God in Christ. But think about this. I mean, if you sit down... He's also on the right side of God. Yeah, on the throne. But he and the Father and the Holy Spirit are one. And he even says in John 17, hey father that they may be one as we are one, that they may be one in us. What's interesting about that, what does that oneness consist of? You have to be exactly like Christ to be one with him.

So could you say he was the first man in the image of God? First in the image of God? I would say this, He was the implementer of the first creation. It was created through Him. He is the new creation. But when it says first born, that means that others coming, so that would be like, I'm coming, I said.

Let me go at it another way. How does a believer How does a human being get into the Adamic race? Born into it. How does a human being get into the race of Christ? Born again. You've got to be born in that too, don't you? Well, there's got to be a first there. Who's the first?

It's Christ. And it's not just, you know, we switch fraternities. This is an entirely new creation that has never been before. And this new creation is heavenly in character and the growing in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus. A big part of that is understanding what it means to be in Christ and to be set apart to him.

I mean you read weird things that in Christ there is no male or female. There used to be a guy who came to church who was really upset about that. He didn't want to be a girl the rest of his life. There's no male or female, bond or free, you know? This new creation that we're in is something that we're just beginning to learn about, that has no relevance to the old creation here on the earth. Isn't that something? I mean, think about it. It's easy for you women to decide, to see that at some point we're going to be the bride of Christ, but we men are kind of like, well that's sort of weird.

But if you are a member of the new creation, in order to be united to Christ, you have to be just like him. I use the example, I can't go home and marry my dog, because my dog and I are not on the same level of creation. Well, is Adam on the same level of creation as Christ? No. Is a born-again believer on the same level of creation as Christ?

Absolutely he is. Above the entire Jewish nation? Yeah, absolutely. So the qualifications of sanctification to be set apart are not just, well, we're going to switch political affiliations. This is a new creation we're talking about. As we learn and grow, we start to find out that One of the most important parts of all of this is to find out that we are heavenly people.

We're not from the earth anymore. We don't belong here. We're here to manifest the life of the Lord Jesus and to serve him while we're here. But we're not from here anymore. We're from where Christ is from, heaven. And we're ambassadors of the reconciliation. What do we represent? We represent Christ in the heavenlies. So sanctification is really qualifying us on a conditional level to actually be a representative of who we are positionally. You can't represent where you come from unless you know where you come from.

And you know what the circumstances in this situation is there, how important and how different it is. Because really what is evangelism? A person who's an evangelist, really what's he saying to, let's say that Bob was not a believer and he's abiding in Adam and he lives in the world and here comes an evangelist and what does an evangelist really invite Bob to do? To leave everything that he knows and come to Christ.

Walk away. Now we've kind of messed it up over the last hundred years by trying to modify who we are to go into the world and fix the world. No. You stand in Christ and you say, come over here. Come over here. And that changes everything. It changes your perspective. So you stop praying that God will come into your circumstances and fix them. No. He wants you over with Him. Does that make sense? You know what's a good picture of that?

What's happening in the world of Islam with all the people getting saved? When they become Christians, they have to go over here. They totally give up everything. And they are going over here. Sure. I kind of see that in that picture there. Well, it's the same thing with Jews. If you're Jewish and you become a Christian, they pray you out of the synagogue. It's as though you were dead. That's their whole attitude towards you. Well, you know what, they're right.

So how should we define the process of sanctification? The process is God, typically the way he does things is he establishes us in a position of separation in Christ. And then the Spirit of God enters in and begins to conditionally separate us unto God, unto Christ, from a conditional standpoint. See that? And part of that process is this conformity process that goes on.

We've kind of talked about this, but are trials and temptations the same thing? Question 8. Are they the same thing? OK, if you say no, you've got to explain. Well, I'm sorry, I said. Sometimes in the Bible, the word for trial and the word for temptation are used synonymously. They seem to say the same thing. So we're back to talking about the two Greek words, documazo and parazo. You remember what those words meant? Well, if you'd show up, you'd know. Approval and attempt. Documazo is a word used for testing with a view towards approval. Why the refiners fire, I don't know. I was watching the Broncos last night. They've been three, four weeks in Documazo. They're being approved so that they can make the team.

The other word is Parazzo or Parasmos. If it's translated in a negative sense, it means that it's a temptation to sin leading to failure. For the purpose of leading to failure? A temptation is for the purpose. A purpose. A purpose is to tempt us in a negative sense so that we might be a solicitation to sin.

Where the word documanzo means that we have a trial or a circumstance that really is designed for us to be approved, not failed. So again, we will spend a lot more time on these words as we get a few weeks from now when we talk about trials and tribulations. But I think it's important to understand that the Greeks actually had two words that say the same thing in English, but if you kind of understand what word they're using, it helps you understand understand really what they're after. So just for your edification, DocuMazo is used for words that mean to test or to prove.

So here comes a situation in your life, trial, tribulation, it's not designed for you to fail, it's designed to prove. It's like your faith, your faith is going to be tested, right? So that God knows how cool you are? No, he knows already. What he's doing through a test is proving to you that what he told you is true. And you can settle down on it. And so you come through it approved. Okay? Proving to you. What was the rest? Proving to you so you would know what he said is true. That's what he said. Okay. That is really good. I have to write that down. We'll spend more time on that a couple of weeks from now. And what book can you give that is really complicated that has these words? These two words? I don't know.

Actually a lot of this is taken from a guy who used to be the pastor here, Hal Malloy. And he put together a thing on faith and a couple of chapters on these words, which are really terrific words when you see them. And we'll define them. And you'll be able to see, I think, as you read the English, you'll be able to tell, oh yeah, that must be documazo. Yeah, that must be prosmos. Must be that word. And we'll see it when we start down this thing.

Oh, James, of course. I'm sorry. James, of course. Yeah. Oh, that's good. This whole thing is from James Chapter one. And we'll talk about the words. There's two right there. What's that? We re-taught it. We re-taught it in the last year or so, two years. We taught from Alan's work.

On the website. On the website, yeah. Oh yeah, you can go on the website and see this. It's on there. In the study of James, James, when we did our class on James, I don't know. They did it. It's Roger myself. Yeah. So was there only one study? Well, that we had a camera. The first one I did was on the website for it was just from his mouth. I can't remember where we spend a lot of time. So I want to know where. Sure. I actually also look a little more complicated one of it.

The infamous Zodiacs. If you look at those two words, you know, showing Mike last week, it kind of explains that if you look at Zodiacs, the Greek guy who defines these words. If you look at those two words, you can see how they're used. As I said in the Baradzo one, it can't be used as a negative when used by God as a testing. But it can be used by the devil as testing. But the DocuMas is proving it.

It kind of explains that in Zodiates if you ever get like his... But I got that book. The Zodiates? One time and then it was... I didn't... Yeah. Sometimes it helps. Sometimes it gets way deep in the weeds. But you know, this one usually has a summary right at the top and some of these words. And then he goes into great detail a lot of times. But that sometimes can help.

But it's important. I think the reason that those two words are important for us to have at least a cursory understanding is so that when we see it in the word in English, protesting or tempted in the context, you should be able to tell, oh yeah, that's Parasmos, Parazzo, attempting what we'll see in James. Or if you look at it in another place, oh I see what's going on, that God is testing or I'm in a trial so that he can approve me. That's really cool when you realize that. that he is never in a position where he's going to solicit you to do anything that has anything to do with sin, but he is going to test you. It's part of the conformity process.

Mike, it seems like this, I wrote it down because it's just so amazing. Proving to you so you will know what he said is true. When you say proving, I have to understand it this way, otherwise I'm not getting what you're saying. And you know, from the things that you've been teaching, it seems like, or at least that I'm listening to anyway, over the recently, is it seems like that's like the crux of everything.

Because we don't believe, I'll speak for myself, I have trouble believing that what he says is truly to the extent that it should. And that's what Adam and Eve did in the garden. They didn't believe what he said. So is that like the Well, it's the crux of, as we go through these four things, it's really just saying the essence of faith has to do with the things of God. And what do they teach us? That those things are reality and proof, the things of God. And then there's the faith that has to do with specific truth like the gospel or identification. But then when you get to personal faith, What do you do with the information that comes to you through the word? What do you do with it? Well, no fair saying to God, I'm not going to believe it until you put me through the test.

That's doing it backwards. He just wants you to rest and trust him that when he tells you something, it's true. Now you may not be settled down in it, that's what I mean. Okay, settled down. You may not, or another way to say it, you may not own it as a truth for you, But you trust God enough to recognize that, well, he doesn't lie to us.

You know, it's like I say to Donna once in a while, when's the last time I lied to you? And she doesn't answer, thankfully. Isn't that the objective truth versus subjective? Well, objective and then you mentioned Miles would call it a personal affection. That's exactly right. It's just a growth in faith.

Yeah, it's a growth thing because let's say you're cruising through the Bible one day and you read that you were crucified with Christ and you never heard that before. Or you're in a class in this church and you hear it and you think, what is that name?

So you say to the Lord, OK, I don't really know what you mean, but I trust you, I believe you. So the Spirit of God begins the job of, as my friend used to say, once you believe God, hang on because you're going for a ride. He will persuade you through trials and testing, through revelation, through his drawing you, that that really did happen. to you personally, that I really was crucified. And when we start going down this one, you get down to it and you sin, what do you do? Sin and confess, sin and confess, sin and confess, and on and on and on.

No, there's a whole other view based on faith that you enter into, based on what you know, and you've rested by faith, and the Spirit of God has worked this into you. The word reckoning is a word that believers are familiar with because you reckon as God cements you into the truth.

You don't have to be argued anymore, you don't have to be persuaded anymore, you know and you reckon it to be so. You see that? It's beyond just It's almost like a child has to learn to walk and things like this. You don't know everything once and you just have to go through the process. Sure, and they trust you. I'm growing.

Yeah, one of the great examples that I've read a long time ago about a young child, like four or five years old, their house caught on fire and the child was up on the second floor and couldn't get out and couldn't see to the ground, but his dad was out there saying, go ahead and jump, son. and he knew the dad's voice and he trusted him so he jumped. That's reckoning. Because he knew the dad would catch him. He didn't see him, but he knew if he jumped the dad would catch him.

We know that God is faithful because he has proven himself to be faithful to us. He has established me in the elements of his things the evidence and the proof. He has shown me. I'm the one that's ignorant here, not God. I'm the one that needs to learn and to be settled down in God's truth. Matthew 4, 1-11. This is when the Lord goes out into the wilderness to be tested.

What kind of test? Docky Masa Perazzo. It's for approval. You think it was? No, Satan wanted him to fail. Think about it. From Satan's perspective, he's doing the tempting. What is his goal? Failure? Yeah, absolutely. When Satan tests the Lord Jesus, or tempts him... He was tested by the tempter. When Satan tests Christ from Satan's viewpoint, is he hoping for failure? For sin? So what word would you use there? Forosmos. That's his whole purpose. He wants, if you're the son of God, do all these things, because then I'll have you if you do.

And that temptation came after the Lord was a 40 day and 40 night fast. And by the way, you could say that Satan is the personification of perazzo. He's the tempter himself. Was he actually tempted? The Lord Jesus? From Satan's side of the coin, yeah, he was. But not really. But not from the Lord Jesus' side. It was a solicitation for Christ to sin, but he couldn't. You know, at some point that's going to be true of you. He didn't have an old man. He didn't have an old man. Satan didn't know that. Well, he should have. But neither did Adam and Eve, but he still went after them.

So one of the temptations was to fall down and worship Satan. What was the Lord's response? He called it scripture. Yeah, he called it scripture. So as we will learn here, as we are tempted, Scripture is going to be the salvation of temptation because you're going to know how to deal with it. And it isn't to lose and then confess. So let's start with this.

Go to James 1.13. Somebody read it. 1.13. Let no man say when he is tempted. Stop. What word is that? That word you said. Let no man say he is tempted. What word is that? Prosmas. Prosmas, right? Prosmas. Yeah.

Okay, go on. I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. So, really interesting information. God is never, ever, ever going to tempt you to sin, to see how you're doing with it. Huh? It makes sense now the way you've explained all those words. I've always had trouble with that verse. Now it totally makes sense. It makes sense, doesn't it?

You get the right word in there. So, it's used in a negative sense, but God never uses this. word in your testing or trials, okay? Yeah. Is it true that you can't be tempted unless God allows it? That's true. Okay. That's true. But we're going to find out where those temptations come from, and when we find that out, we're going to think, oh gee. Yeah. Okay.

Go to Lesson 15. Are you paying attention, Courtney? You got more than three questions? You're going to be charged with speeding. It's OK if you want to race your lessons like that. So with the James verse freshly in your mind, question number one is how are we as believers tempted? by our own evil desires. That's exactly right. And we are solicited to sin. Right? Now, when we are solicited, how strong is the desire? Let me set this up right I think.

If my sin nature is going to solicit me to sin, it's got a history with me. It knows what my triggers are. It's been hanging with me since the day I was conceived. So when it comes at me, it doesn't come at me with, well, I'll try this and see if it works. No, it knows exactly how to get me.

And the second part about your sin nature is the fact that it's stronger than you are to resist it. I'm in hot water now, huh? If that dog in me knows exactly where my weaknesses are, exactly where my triggers are, and seizes any situation or opportunity to tempt me and it's more powerful than I am, I'm really in trouble, right?

We used to, as kids, use that phrase, the devil made me do it. The devil made me do it. So we're going to talk about the devil here for a minute. Wanda's right, we are tested by our own desires. All right. Let's just let's jump down. Let's jump down to questions. You're not. Don't you. I said James is right. I got that. So 13 of 14 James 13 14 says that each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own desires. You can't blame Satan. Let's talk about Satan. Why can't you blame Satan on this deal? Who is Satan, by the way? Who is he? He's a fallen angel. He's a fallen angel. He's Lucifer, isn't he? What's that? Isn't he Lucifer? That's him. Yeah.

So, my buddy Charm used to come to the Tuesday Men's Bible Study and I'd ask for prayer and he'd say, boy, pray for me. Satan has been on my case today." And I would say to him, Satan doesn't know your name, he doesn't know your address, and he doesn't care. Oh yes, he does. I said, so you're, of all the human beings and Christians that are on the earth, you are the most important Christian and the biggest danger to him, so he came to Denver just to pick on you.

Right? Well, no, I guess not. But his lieutenants were there. Satan is not omnipresent. He can only be in one place at a time, right? One place at a time. So you can't blame it on Satan because you're not important enough to be picked on by him. So you say, well, he's got all of these lieutenants, all these fallen angels, and so they're not omnipresent either. They don't have them. Did Satan and all his fallen angels share the same mind, like we share the mind of Christ? No. They're evil, the personification of evil. But Satan doesn't have to mess with us. He doesn't have to mess with the world.

Why? We've got these little things called sin natures. And oh, by the way, they have very strong desires and they're They're like your heart, they're pumping blood all the time, 24-7. The biggest problem I have is me, my sin nature. It isn't Satan, it isn't screw tape. It's me, I'm the problem. So we have to get over this idea that Satan has anything to do with the temptations because James says, where did the temptations come from? comes from within me. So there's a power source behind a very strong temptation I experience.

What is it? It's the sin nature. It's set up, I don't know, I just kind of thought the world system is sort of set up by, let's say, I don't know, by the Bishop or by Satan? And then doesn't the world system kind of interact with our own sin nature and that is a part of the situation? Absolutely. It's not just our own sin nature but also the, do you see what I'm asking? Sure. And a lot of times we don't realize that your sin nature is operating trying to convince you what it's tempting you about is good.

Because what tree did you come from in the garden? You came from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Most Christians think, well, now that I'm saved, I move from the evil branches over to the good ones. No. No. You have to climb down out of the tree, go down the garden and get up in the tree of life and notice there isn't a contrast in the tree of life. There's no such thing as good and evil in the tree of life. There's just life. So the sin nature, because it's a product of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, will tempt you with what appears to be good.

What did he tell Eve about the apple? She said, oh man, it looks good. And not only that, it's desirous to make one wise. Where did she get that information? From our boy Bilzy. He said, hey, look at this thing. God's lying to you. He knows that if you eat this, that you're going to be as smart as Him. So this very strong temptation to solicitation to sin sometimes doesn't appear to be evil. Here's an example.

I got my rights. and you better not step on them. Do you have your rights? You can't come in and get in my face. I've got my rights and I'm going to pay back or I'm going to protect who I am if you verbally assault me. or you tell a lie about me. I've got a sense of justice, I've got to make it right.

Is that a temptation to sin? How many think it is? How many think it's not? How many are too chicken to raise your hand? Tell me why it's not. Well, I think justice is a quality of God. It's holiness, righteousness. I think the motivation for justice can be wrong, though. But not always. So there are times when you do have to stand up for what is right. But if your motivation is for yourself, then that can be a temptation to sin.

Yeah, if I have to stand up for myself, who am I standing up for? Self. How about when Paul exercised his right as a Roman citizen? And appealed to Caesar. Right. How about like that? Yeah, what was he doing? Was he protecting himself? Was he demanding justice? I mean, there's no question that what he'd been accused of and what he'd gone to trial for had been an injustice. He didn't do or wasn't any of that thing that the Jews say he did, but he appealed to Caesar. Why did he do that, I wonder? because he was a Roman citizen and thought, gee, this is another escape.

It's interesting that Paul in Corinthians tells believers, don't sue each other. Wait a minute, what do you mean I can't sue you? I live in a society that gives me a remedy for you trying to take advantage of me and I'm going to get a lawyer and I'm going to go after you. Why does he say, no, you can't do that? Can't you to other people outside of the church family? Answer the question first and then we'll go to yours. Why can't you do that? Because you should solve it yourself. What's that?

Individual Christians should solve that problem between themselves. Between themselves or between the under-shepherds that God has given them? Doesn't the Bible say that Satan is the prince of the world and roving to see who... Prince of the power and the very God, he is. So I don't think it's appropriate for me as a believer to sue anybody who's a believer, no matter what. So what do I do? You tell on him. Who do I tell? Do I have a remedy?

The church. Yeah, I do. The body of believers that I'm in, I can go and solicit them. especially the leaders, and say, here, I'm in this circumstance with this other believer, you know, I need you to arbitrate this situation for me. The purpose is reconciliation, not... That's the goal. Yeah. That's the goal. And in reconciliation, a lot of times you have to, you know, bite your tongue.

But didn't, now back to Paul and, you know, being a Roman citizen. Right. Isn't he talking about the law? He's not acting as a Jew there under Mosaic law. He's acting as a Roman citizen under the legal system that he lives under. And so he knew that every Roman citizen had a right to appeal their case before Caesar. And that's what he did. But that was a law. Yeah, it was. How did it work out for him? You got a larger audience. Larger audience, but ultimately what happened to them? They took his head off.

So, I think we've got to be careful about, and again this is a work of the spirit in a believer's life, am I really trying to protect self? Or defend self? Or defend my religiosity? Or my reputation? Or am I really in a position where I'm defending who I am in Christ?

Christ in the temple would be an example. He tipped over the tables. Are you familiar with the, I guess you'd call it the conversation that's going on about, I don't know how to do this now, about the way we respond to ISIS and that kind of situation, the conversation about if the church would have gone in and proclaimed the gospel, these are some large population kind of rich areas, that they wouldn't have gotten to this place and that now what the, The people that are being persecuted and the people that are advocating for them are really talking about that we don't need to go in and kill these people. We need to go in and show them the love of Christ and that's why they're being saved. Thousands of Muslims are getting saved. Do you understand what I'm asking?

Connecting it with kind of what you're saying. You can go after somebody. Or you can, I guess the bottom line is you can go after somebody, or you can show them the road of Christ, which is the better thing. Is that kind of similar? It is and it isn't. The issue there is, has God called you to do it? Okay. And is God in charge of ISIS and what's going on with them? Absolutely He is. Doesn't look like it, but yeah. Absolutely He is. Doesn't look like it to me. And you know, I look at the birth and the growth of the church, in the time that Paul was spreading the gospel through Asia Minor and the Mediterranean Basin. It was much worse then than it is now. The society that they lived in. Think about it.

If you were a criminal, if you lived in Ephesus, if you got within the border of the temple of Diana, they couldn't prosecute you. So if you happen to go in around the temple, guess what kind of characters were hanging around there? If you were a politician, more than likely you were corrupt and probably a pedophile. You could kick your kids out of the house any time you wanted. You could divorce your wife. If someone offended you, you could pull out your sword and kill him, if you were a Roman citizen.

I mean, there wasn't any justice or righteousness going on in that society. Come on. It was an awful thing. The Romans were killing the Jews as fast as they could and the Jews were responding. The Roman Empire didn't become the Roman Empire because these guys were really persuasive with love. Now they had a lot of swords and they were really sharp and they used them. That's how they got to be so powerful. Next week, let's go with your father, how we thank you for your word. And we thank you that we can study it and we can enter in more fully to the grace that we live under. We thank you, we pray in your son's precious name. Amen.