Convictions, Pt. 1

[0:00] All right, good morning everybody.

[0:13] I forgot to grab that mic back there. Yeah, if you don't mind. Meet you halfway. So if you can turn in your Bibles this morning to two places to begin.

[0:32] We want to go to Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 10. Romans 14, and these are just two passages to kind of jump start with some thought here, what we're going to try to cover in the next several weeks.

[0:58] And really this is not an introduction that covers all the bases by any means. This is just going to be one of many places we could have began.

[1:12] But there's things in this Bible that we need to understand. And as we grow in grace, there's some things that are going to change in our minds.

[1:26] So Romans 14, and let's read together the first three verses. Where the Bible says, Him that is weak in the faith, receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.

[1:39] For one believeth that he may eat all things, another who is weak eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not.

[1:50] And let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth. For God hath received him. So there's two different opinions here. Two different beliefs.

[2:00] And the one's not supposed to despise the other belief. The other one's not supposed to judge the other. Because God received him. And the one is said to be weak in the faith.

[2:12] Verse number one. And you're supposed to receive him. Knowing that he's got some growing to do. So be patient with him. And train him. And teach him.

[2:23] And be an example to him. But don't despise him. Because he's ignorant of some truth. But notice there's believers that have different opinions on certain things. In this case it's about what you can and cannot eat.

[2:36] One's saying you can't eat meat at all. They're vegetarian. And of course they're weak in the faith. So you can eat meat all day long. Praise the Lord. But notice that.

[2:47] Okay. So now let's move to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Those different believers have different convictions about something.

[2:58] And we're not to kick each other for our convictions. In some case. In that case in particular. One is just young in the Lord. And weak in the faith. And has some growing to do.

[3:11] 1 Corinthians chapter 10. And notice what Paul says in verse 28 through 30. Verse 28. But if any man say unto you. This is offered in sacrifice unto idols.

[3:24] He's speaking about a feast that you could go to. And a particular meat that's set before you. And if they tell you this is offered in sacrifice unto idols. Eat not for his sake that showed it.

[3:36] And for conscience sake. For the earth is the Lord and the fullness thereof. Conscience I say. Not thine own. But of the other. Now here's a question. For why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience?

[3:49] For if I by grace be a partaker. Why am I evil spoken of? For that which I give thanks. Similar context here about eating meat.

[4:00] And having different opinions or beliefs about what can be received. And what can't be received. And whether it's right or wrong. And Paul offers that question. Why is my liberty?

[4:10] I can eat it by grace. I know that it's no thing before the Lord. The kingdom of God is not meat and drink. I know I can partake. And I know it's not going to defile me.

[4:22] And have anything to do. But because of their conscience. He resists it. And tries to be an example to them. Of kind of taking a higher road. And disassociating himself from things connected to idols.

[4:35] And that kind of thing. Now why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience? Is this question. It shouldn't be. And Paul is making that statement. It's not. It can't be. But he'll go on in other passages to teach us.

[4:48] And even in verse 32. Give none offense. And I'm going to do my best. Not to offend others. Because I want to draw them to Christ. I want them to be saved. I want them to grow. And so forth. Now there's different convictions here.

[5:01] In this passage. And what we're going to do starting this week. And go for as long as it goes. Is a study on convictions. And I want to try to help you to understand. That the convictions you hold.

[5:13] And that you believe. Some of them are going to be coming straight out of this book. And then you can't go wrong. But some things you believe. Don't come from this book. But you firmly believe they're the truth.

[5:25] And that's the way you're supposed to live. And I want to show you. That I believe there's four categories. Four different categories. Of convictions. And this all started.

[5:36] It started with. When I taught a young adult Sunday school class. Years ago. And this single mom. No I shouldn't say that. She came to church.

[5:47] She was married to a lost man. But she came to church with her kids. And she came up to me after the Sunday school class. And said. I'm struggling with something. And it had to do with standards.

[5:58] It had to do with. How she should be raising her kids. Because her husband's not going to be backing her up on this. But I feel like they should be this or that. And she had come from another church. That was very heavy on the standards.

[6:09] Of what you. How you look. And how you dress. And how. I mean some of that was pushed so hard. She didn't know where the balance was. And she asked a question about it. And. Weird.

[6:21] But immediately. As she asked that question. I remembered a message. That I heard Dr. Sam Gipp preach. 15 years before this. And it was a tape that I had.

[6:32] A cassette tape. Which. I don't even know if they exist anymore. And it's. It just. When she asked this question. Immediately. It's like the Lord brought to mind. A message that I heard him preach.

[6:44] On convictions. And I said to her. I said. I want to go look something up. And maybe we'll do a study on this. And try to help you with that. And try to help everybody with that.

[6:55] And so I went back. And I. And I researched. And of course. I couldn't find the cassette tape anywhere. Back then. This was probably 10 years ago. When that happened. And so I started looking online.

[7:06] For this message. And I found. That somebody had posted this message. On whatever. Or some preaching site. Somewhere. And I listened to it. And I went through.

[7:17] Four convictions. He preached in this message. Four categories. And he preached. One. Two. Three. And then. Because it was. Transferred from a cassette tape. They didn't flip the tape over. And finish the recording.

[7:28] And so I could only get. Three out of four. And I could not. For the life of me. Remember the fourth. And figure it out. And so I emailed him. And he emailed me back. With the fourth one. With the little passage.

[7:39] And illustration. And then it was like. Yes. I recall it all now. And so I went off of that outline. And really dug into it. A whole lot further. Than his one sermon. Which was just kind of a.

[7:50] Just a broad stroke. Of the thought. And turned it into a. Much more detailed. And thorough study. And really. Really. Got something out of this.

[8:01] And this has been a big help to me. It's been a big help to a lot of people. And I've taught this. More than once already. And every time I do. And this is not. This is not trying to get your. Excitement here.

[8:11] But rather. It's just the truth. I've heard more feedback. Over this material. Than anything I've ever done. And people have. Requested it. And so. I think it's going to help you. I really.

[8:22] Really. Really do. There's areas in life. That we. We all question. Whether this is right or wrong. You know. You might say. The gray areas. There's. There's a thousand of them.

[8:33] And you say. Well. Show me from the Bible. If you want to be on this side of it. You challenge somebody. To show you from the Bible. Where it's wrong. If you want to be on this side of it. You just. Try to generalize.

[8:43] Or try to find a way. To prove that you're right. Areas of life. Like. Music. Isn't that a one? Where do you draw the line. On what music is right and wrong?

[8:54] What music is. Contemporary. Where is it. Pleasing to God. And not pleasing to God. Where is it. Spiritual versus carnal. Where is the line.

[9:05] I mean. Is there an exact line. I think. If there's. Genres of music. Or. Qualifiers. There. You could go from one to a hundred. And there's.

[9:16] Every number. There's something. Filthy. Wicked. Or. Wonderfully spiritual. Where is. The turning point. From. Clean to unclean. Clean. How about.

[9:27] Modesty. Your dress. That's one. I mean. That's. That's something. I don't. Park on too hard. And. And spend a lot of time on. But that's. There's a. You ought to have a conviction.

[9:37] About what's presentable. And acceptable to God. And how you should dress. When you come to church. There's. I think there's a way. You should dress. To be pleasing to the Lord. First.

[9:48] And to show that you put. Coming to church. Above. Going bowling. Or going to the movies. Or whatever else you may do. Work. If at all possible. I don't want you to get sidetracked now.

[9:59] And start thinking. Well I have to come from work to church. So be it. Lord knows your heart. Do what you got to do. But that's an area where people have convictions. About dress. Go to some churches. And today.

[10:10] They'll be mentioning. Your dress standards. Like they do every Sunday. What about your language? Some. Some people. Allow certain words. In their repertoire.

[10:22] Some Christians. Think these words are acceptable. They're nothing wrong with them. Some people would say. Oh. You shouldn't talk like that. What about. Your just overall appearance. With.

[10:32] From head to toe. People have convictions. About how long your hair should be. About. If you should have. Tattoos on your skin. Or piercings on your. Body. Anywhere. People have convictions.

[10:43] About all these things. Some people have convictions. About flip flops. And sandals. Or showing your toes. In church. You go down south. Out. Back east. Go down south. And find some places.

[10:54] There's some. Holiness. Movements. That they. They're over. Kill everything. People have convictions. About pork. People. People have beliefs. And convictions. About alcohol.

[11:06] Some people believe. They can teach. They. They go to the bible. And say. We can use a little. Or they. Just in moderation. Preacher. They have a belief. About alcohol. And what's acceptable.

[11:16] And what's not. Don't they? I mean. Am I telling. Is this not the world. We live in. And Christians. I'm not talking about. The lost world. I'm talking about. Christians have. Beliefs. Some people have beliefs.

[11:27] And convictions. About bringing. Drinks. Or food. Into the sanctuary. Because it's a. Sanctuary. Set apart for God. And.

[11:38] There was a guy. There was a guy. Who left. Our church. Previous. Because the pastor. Said. If you bring. If you need a drink of water. You know.

[11:48] I don't care. And he got upset. He says. I'm up here. I drink a drink of water. And he got upset. Because he's like. No. These people. Because they were bringing in their. 7-11 slurpee.

[12:02] Into church. And I was like. Man. This has got to be cleaned up. Yeah. That bothered me. And so. You know what. I don't have a Bible verse. To say. Sister.

[12:13] Brother. You can't bring that slurpee. In here. But it's a conviction. And Rich has it. And Russ has it. Amen.

[12:25] People have a conviction. About working on Sundays. Where do they get that from? A lot of them. Because they believe. Sunday is the Sabbath day. For the New Testament. But that's not Bible.

[12:36] You can't preach that. There's no. There's no. Pauline epistle. Or command. That you have to rest. On Sunday. That's not in there. But they believe it. They've been taught that. For so long.

[12:48] I. Where I lived. When we lived on a church grounds. There was certain times. Where it just rained. Throughout. Friday. Saturday. The lawn was out of control. And I was like. This is my.

[12:58] Window. And I'm not going to be able. To get to this. For a few more days. And I just couldn't do it. Not because I didn't. I had a conscience. Or conviction about it. Because I knew people. In the church. If they saw me.

[13:09] Mowing the grass. On the church grounds. I would have been. They'd have been going to pastor. And it just would have caused. A stupid little problem. I just had to. Avoid it. For their conscience sake. Like Paul said.

[13:19] With the. Eating of meats. Some people have. Convictions about driving. Motored vehicles. They take carts. And draw it by horses.

[13:31] That's a conviction. And electricity in the house. So these are all convictions. Right? And they. They. In one way or another. They. Govern our life. What time we get up.

[13:41] In the morning. How late we allow ourselves. To stay up. What we do with our time. Throughout the day. We have convictions. We live by them. At least you're better. Now I'm going to give you.

[13:52] Some things. In this whole study. There's a. There is a Bible list. If we could ever make it up. There is definitely. A list. In the scripture. Of things to do.

[14:03] And don't do. However. There are. Like I said already. There's a lot of gray areas. A lot of things. That aren't just. Clearly defined. And specified. And that leaves people. Uncertain.

[14:14] Some religions. Have their own list. Of yes. You can do this. No. You can't do this. It's. It's kind of the. I'll give you one example. Look at Matthew 15. Quickly. Matthew 15.

[14:27] Here's a. An example. In the Jews religion. It's not scripture. But it's a list. That they made up.

[14:38] And. Subjected themselves to. Matthew 15. Verse 2. The Pharisees. Asked Jesus. This question. Why did I. Disciples.

[14:49] Transgress. The tradition. Of the elders. For they. Wash. Not their hands. When they eat bread. They didn't say. They're transgressing. The law of Moses. Or the word of God. It's the tradition.

[15:00] And this is a conviction. They lived by. That that's defiling them. That's unclean to them. Not to wash their hands. And Christ just. Waved them right off.

[15:10] With some scripture. That's in. That's a religion. That has a. A list. Of what you can. And can't do. Some churches even. Take it even a step further.

[15:21] Some churches. Probably based on. The pastor's opinion. Or his own conviction. And he'll preach. His conviction. Sometimes. Not. Not always found. In scripture. But what he feels.

[15:31] And what he. Believes. And so it depends. On the pastor. And you go. Through different pastors. You'll find different. Preaching. Different beliefs. Different convictions. That they hold.

[15:42] And stand on. Now here's. Two different groups. Here. One group. We'll call the strict. And one group. We'll call. The loose. The strict.

[15:52] Have a motto. That says. Just abstain. From everything. If it looks evil. If it even. Could possibly be. Don't even get near it.

[16:03] And some of them. Not all of them. But some of them. Preach so hard. On abstaining. From everything. And worldliness. That. That they. Insist.

[16:13] That your compliance. To. Doing. And don't doing. Is evidence. Of your salvation. I don't. I don't know. If you haven't heard this. From this. Paul. But praise the Lord. But there's churches.

[16:24] All over this land. These independent. Fundamental. Baptists. And these other groups. That. That push their standards. So hard. That. That is the fruit. Of your salvation. And it's being strict.

[16:37] And it's staying sanctified. And separated. From everything. Some say. Well they won't go so far. As to say. You have to do this. To be saved. But they imply it.

[16:47] That if you don't do it. If you don't live like me. You're probably not saved. That's out there. That's this. This heavy hand. That's been. Put on God's people.

[16:58] For years. Ages. That you have to prove it. In order to really be saved. It just brings out confusion. And I. It's a horrible teaching. I'll give you quick thoughts.

[17:09] On why it's so horrible. And it's a horrible system. To be around. Because it breeds arrogance. It breeds a self-righteous attitude. That I'm better than you. Because I do this.

[17:20] I'm cleaner than you. And they're always looking at each other. It's never looking at Jesus Christ. And trying to grow close. It's always like. You don't do this. You don't do that. You should dress like this.

[17:32] I heard you. That you went to here. I saw what you posted. And it's always. I'm. I'm up here. You're down there. And then you become self-centered. Consumed with your works. Rather than Christ-centered.

[17:43] And like I said. There's an emphasis on works. And like that is your Christian life. Is how clean you are. Or what you do and don't allow in your home. This is my Christian life.

[17:55] This is my Christianity. That's what comes from that strict motto. Of abstain from everything. Your Christian life should be. Your fellowship with Jesus. It should be what Christ said. Abiding in me.

[18:07] Abiding in Christ. And what he makes you into. Now the second group is the loose group. And their motto. Their favorite word is liberty. Liberty. Paul says.

[18:18] Why is my liberty? That's their favorite word. Jesus is wonderful. Jesus saved me. And I have liberty to do anything. Because I'm saved. And this loose group.

[18:31] If you looked at some of them. You wouldn't know they're saved. Because there is no evidence. That they're set apart unto God. That they're making any attempts. Now look at.

[18:41] Let's see two verses on this group quickly. Look at 2 Corinthians 3. 2 Corinthians 3. And Galatians 5.

[18:52] Just to make a comment. A scriptural comment. About this group. We're still in the introduction here.

[19:06] And we've got time. To get through all of this. So the loose liberty group. Has a verse they love.

[19:19] Look at 2 Corinthians 3. Verse 17. I've heard this. I've seen this on websites. On people. Defending their position. And their teaching.

[19:29] And they love this verse. Verse 17. Now the Lord is that spirit. And where the spirit of the Lord is. There is liberty. And because there is liberty in Christ.

[19:41] And we're not to be. We're supposed to stand fast. In the liberty. Wherewith Christ has made us free. Then. Wow. We can do anything. We're under grace.

[19:53] Not under the law. Alright. Now come to Galatians chapter 5. This group allows so much.

[20:08] Claiming liberty. Galatians 5 verse 13. For brethren. Ye have been called unto liberty. But notice this.

[20:19] Paul has to add this. Because he knows. What's inside of us. Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh. That's what they do.

[20:32] They use their liberty in Christ as an occasion to the flesh. It won't send me to hell. I'm accepted in the beloved. So God just accepts everything. And they turn a blind eye to the commands of scripture and to separation.

[20:46] Now what I'm going to say about these two groups is as always balance is best. Balance is best. You don't. I heard a preacher say that I preach against everything.

[20:58] I even preach against things that are right. And he's just making that you know that little shock value statement to make you think he's super super ultra separated.

[21:08] And that same guy made the comments to say that if you're not born again like I've been born again then you're not born again. He's going on to just to try to say you're not saved if you don't live like I live.

[21:22] And I hate everything that's wrong even things that are right. Anyway. There's two different groups. Kind of two different extremes. Balance is best. Now what we're not going to do here is go down a list of determining if two earrings is worldly but one is okay.

[21:43] We can't pull that out of the word of God. But that's something somebody would say from a pulpit. I really hope you haven't been exposed too strongly to this kind of stuff. But it's out there.

[21:54] It is out there. I'm not going to. I heard a guy preach. I already mentioned it. He preached against open toed shoes in church. Like where is that?

[22:05] He didn't have a verse or to maybe just super broadly apply some statement about the flesh. But get out of here. I'm not going to tell you what restaurants are off limits for you to go with your family.

[22:20] Because of what they may have inside of those doors. But some people would tell you that. You need to have convictions. What we're going to do here is study some types of convictions and put them in categories of what your convictions are.

[22:36] And I promise it's going to open your eyes and reveal to you where you're getting your belief system from. And how much of it is from the word of God. And how much of it is from how you were raised.

[22:48] Or just other things that are out there. But let me say this before we go on about convictions. Is you better have some. You better have some and you better live by them. To somebody that doesn't have any convictions at all.

[23:01] You're wasting your life. You're probably as worldly as can be. And pretending that it doesn't matter. And that you're okay. But you better get some convictions. You better learn how to seek Jesus Christ.

[23:13] And love him and desire him in your life. And allow him with an open door to come in and change whatever he wants to change. And deal with your heart however he wants to deal with your heart.

[23:26] Based upon nobody else in the church or out of the church. You and him. I said it the other week. It's more important than you believe. There's nothing more important than your personal relationship and fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

[23:41] If that's right. That's the best thing you can have that's right. Wives you can follow your husband's and his spiritual wisdom and leadership.

[23:53] But better than him is the man Christ Jesus. Now anyway. You better have some. Christianity today is way too lukewarm. Today it's so anything goes.

[24:07] And it's so far off base. Now the categories. I'll give the four categories to you right now. And we'll just step into the first one this Sunday.

[24:17] The first category of convictions is natural convictions. That is they don't have to be found in the Bible. They're just naturally known.

[24:29] And I'll explain that. And we'll even use scripture to show you some of these. The second one is scriptural convictions. Straight out of the book. Can't go wrong because it's in the word of God.

[24:39] It's plain and black and white. The third one we'll call spiritual convictions. And what do you mean by that? I mean the Holy Spirit of God dealing with your heart about your life and your walk with him.

[24:53] And I'll show you and I'll give you examples how God through his spirit can lead me one way and lead you a different way. And deal with us on different levels. Much like him that is weak in the faith.

[25:04] God's not going to put a lot on that weak Christian. He's not going to bombard him with the whole thing at once. But he might put it on you if you've been around for a while. And there are spiritual convictions.

[25:15] There are things that your relationship with God that he will lead you in and he's not leading your brother in. And a tendency for a lot of people, even guys that have a position in front of others, is that where God leads them he feels he has to put that on everybody else.

[25:32] Like this is the will of God. And I want to steer you away from that. And then the fourth one is intellectual convictions or we call them psychological convictions.

[25:44] They're up here. You think they're right. You think they're true. But they're not in the Bible. And I'll show you why that is. And that's a good one. I'll also say this as we get started.

[25:57] I confess I don't have all the answers to all the areas of your life of what is right and wrong in every single department. I may not have a Bible verse.

[26:07] I may not have a principle. I may not be able to just say, oh, it's easy. This is it. I don't necessarily have it. So how important it is for you to walk with God and allow his spirit to be able to lead you.

[26:18] All right. So the first category, we'll just get started on this one. Natural convictions. Again, these do not have to be found in the Bible. These convictions are not necessarily something that has to be taught by your parents or taught by society.

[26:34] And it's things that you understand to be right or the right thing to do or the right way to live without God necessarily expressing it to you in a tangible way.

[26:47] And I'll give you three examples. Let's start with an easy one. Romans chapter 1. A natural conviction.

[27:12] Mom and dad didn't have to teach me this one. God didn't have to declare it in his word. It's naturally within me to understand this and believe this.

[27:25] Romans chapter 1. And just check out verses 26 and 27. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections.

[27:39] It uses the term there's something against nature.

[28:05] What is that? It's this homosexual crowd. Women and women. Men with men. Burning in their lust one toward another. Working that which is unseemly. That which is against nature.

[28:18] You don't have to take a Bible down to some tribe deep in the jungle and show them how to procreate. You don't have to train them in that. It's a natural understood thing.

[28:29] They say the plumbing doesn't work. Women with women. Men with men. The animal kingdom doesn't have this issue. And it never has and it never will.

[28:42] The conviction is, this natural conviction is, it takes a man and a woman and that is the right way. And any other formula is unnatural. Any other formula is against nature as it says.

[28:56] The Bible says it's wrong. But I don't need the Bible to teach me that it's perversion and that it doesn't work. You can't have children. Two women cannot produce children.

[29:09] Two men cannot produce an offspring. It's just a natural thing. So to believe that that's accepted and that's okay. The Bible word, we call it sodomy based upon Sodom and Gomorrah and what was going on there.

[29:25] It has to be taught that it's acceptable. And that it's viable. And that you were born that way. You have to teach somebody that. Because naturally it doesn't sink in.

[29:36] You have to be in a society that says, that promotes it and promotes it and pushes it and suggests it and gives you that out. Now I can't speak to every single individual.

[29:47] I mean the further this society gets away from God, the further God allows them. Well notice it's even in this passage. You know what? Let's just read this passage. This shows us why these natural convictions are becoming more and more accepted and more and more deluded to where it's not even natural anymore.

[30:09] Because man has so long refused God and promoted sin that God, like we just read, has just given them up. I'm going to go all the way back to verse 19.

[30:21] And we're going to go down through this passage. And we won't get too much further today. So the Bible says, And so God did something.

[31:07] Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature more than the creator who is blessed forever.

[31:21] Amen. For this cause God, second time, gave them up unto vile affections. For even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature.

[31:32] And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another. Men with men, working that which is unseemly. And receiving in themselves that recompense of their heir which was meat. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient.

[31:53] Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetous maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things.

[32:09] Disobedient to parents, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful.

[32:20] Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same but have pleasure in them that do them. So some of these, I guess I'd just say it's getting harder and harder to locate in this particular area the natural conviction that God placed in man.

[32:43] Because he's continued to resist God and to ignore God and to not honor him as God and become vain in their imaginations.

[32:56] God just gives them up, gives them over to it, gives them up and as a result they get a reprobate mind. They believe a whole other set of things. But understand this first group of convictions, natural convictions.

[33:10] You're in Romans, look at chapter 2. I'll show you one more. Natural convictions, at least in our land, can become harder and harder to locate because we've turned our back on God.

[33:23] Alright, Romans chapter 2. And look at verse number 14. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law are a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness in their thoughts, the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another.

[33:54] So, one of the evidences, one of the arguments for a creator and against evolution, one of the arguments is that man has a moral nature.

[34:08] He has a moral nature. The animals don't. The trees don't. The sand, the dirt doesn't have a moral nature, but man does. And if we all came from the same source, why is it that human race has this moral nature of right-wrong?

[34:27] Well, there's a thousand examples to illustrate man versus beast and morality. Man was created with that moral nature.

[34:40] Civilizations around the world without the word of God show evidence of morality. They have some form of law and order. They don't even have a Bible.

[34:51] We like to boast that we were formed on the Bible. Our constitution, our government, it's from the Bible. It's from the word of God. What about the places that don't have a Bible that still say it's wrong to steal? And they say it's wrong to kill.

[35:04] As a matter of fact, you steal and you get caught, they'll cut your hand off as punishment for thievery. That's a pretty good one. That'll deter you. It should. Now, that shows evidence of morality.

[35:18] That shows evidence of a law written in their heart, verse 14 said. What they do by nature, the Gentiles that don't have the word of God, by nature they're doing things.

[35:29] This is a natural conviction that they didn't get from the scripture and it didn't evolve. And it's not something necessary that mom and dad had to train them. It's just that each civilization and culture developed.

[35:43] They have these. They exist because it shows the work of God in their heart. They don't have ten commandments, but they still punish somebody for doing things against what we would say, the word of God.

[35:54] And what are they? Those are natural convictions. They're doing them by nature. So there's two. And next week there's a third that I'll give you here about natural convictions.

[36:07] And then we'll move into the next category. This is really an easy one to grasp. Is that there's just some convictions that you have because they're almost innately ingrained within your being.

[36:18] Now as I said, the further, the more you would reject God in truth and light, the more you'll just kind of deaden yourself to that and then receive error. And like the Bible says, that's why we are in the position we are in this land.

[36:32] It's because God gave us up. God gave men up. And he gave them over to a reprobate mind. And on and on they go, just resisting and refusing their natural convictions that were implanted in them innately by God, their creator.

[36:47] The Bible says that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. They won't come to the light as a result. And so as man rejects light, he chooses darkness and it results in him with having a reprobate mind that cannot do.

[37:05] That answers the question of, well, why are these kids so confused today? And why are they promoting and saying I was born this way? And they firmly believe it. It's because they had it shoved down their throats and it's because somebody has a reprobate mind and they passed it on.

[37:20] They are subverting the work of God in their hearts as a child early on and passing on their own truth to them, their own belief, and subverting the natural conviction that shows the work of God in their heart.

[37:37] All right, so we'll stop there today with conviction number one, category number one, natural conviction. And next week we're going to get into scriptural convictions. It'll be another easy one.

[37:48] We'll show you some examples. And where it really starts to open your eyes, I believe, is toward the end of this study. So let's take a break there and we'll come back at 10 o'clock. So let's take a break there and do some things.

[38:00] So let's talk about how I realized this thing. So let's take a break there. Let's take a break. We'll come back with appreciate it. Have you seen this question? So let's take a break there. So let's take a break która quickly. We'll see you then. Honestly, Unity Gunders山 kuin Christ save a 15 o'clock in publishing.

[38:19] Do you know what you Gr suits us,Barização ejemplo has a lot of assets... We'll see you often get mixed together. Now let's take a break. I'll see you later.