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[0:00] I'm just going to read something to you before we get started here. I'm trying to find a spot I want to read from. But a fellow named David Daniels has taken over the Chick Publications Ministry that Jack Chick started over in Ontario with the Chick Tracks.

[0:25] And David Daniels writes a lot of material and defends the King James Bible a lot and is just kind of over that ministry now. And they send out a newsletter. And in the newsletter recently I received, I just caught my attention about something with California schools.

[0:41] And he writes a little article and then he also makes some comments in another section about the same thing. And what he comments on was how back in 62, prayer was removed from schools and the Lord and pretty much everything was removed from schools.

[0:57] And most of the nation didn't even bat an eye at that. They bought it. They believed that, yeah, we cannot insert religion into education. We've got to separate the two.

[1:09] And they decided it's unfair to expect schools to teach Christianity and not teach everything. And there's so many things out there, so we just have to stay neutral in educating our children.

[1:21] And they were unable to take one nation under God off of the currency. But I'm surprised that's still there. So they say that they can't teach God, but they can teach anything but God and teach atheism and you know all of this.

[1:39] So the books have changed. And over the years now they've come up with this course called Multicultural Studies where students were instructed, that is they were taught, how to pray a prayer to Allah, the false god of the Muslims.

[1:55] And this prayer was how to become a Muslim. It's almost like teaching what we would call the sinner's prayer, how to call on Jesus Christ and believe on Him. They were teaching a prayer of Muslims to students.

[2:08] And he goes on to talk about that for a while. And then he says another course called Ethnic Studies. School children are instructed to pray to ancient Aztec gods, asking them for help and thanking and getting to invoke their assistance and, quote, chant for emotional nourishment, end quote.

[2:31] So students are being instructed in these kind of things. And from the beginning of this was you can't tell people how to pray or who to pray to. That's why we have to get God out, Christianity out.

[2:41] Turns out that's a lie after all because now they're instructing you how to pray to false gods and devils. And so here's a little more detail on something that came to light this year.

[2:53] In January, this publication, The Christian Post, reported that the California Department of Education said it's removing two religious chants to Aztec gods from its ethnic studies curriculum in response to a lawsuit filed by parents.

[3:12] Praise the Lord, some parents are paying attention a little bit to this. It was a state-approved ethnic study model curriculum, and it included what they call a module on affirmation, chants, and energizers that spelled out prayers to five Aztec deities.

[3:32] The prayers were not just historical or poetic expressions, but, quote, addressed the deities both by name and by their traditional titles, recognized them as sources of power and knowledge, invoked their assistance, and gave thanks to them, end quote.

[3:46] And so children are being taught how to pray to devils is what it amounts to. The curriculum instructed students to chant the prayers for emotional nourishment after a lesson that may be emotionally taxing or even when student encouragement may appear to be low.

[4:03] You know, your Bible tells you to do when you need something. It says you go to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And our California school system is teaching students to chant and pray to Aztec deities to find some emotional nourishment when a lesson is taxing or when their encouragement may appear to be low.

[4:28] The idea is to use them as prayers, is the statement that David Daniel makes. So this lawyer gets involved, and she says some things, and what she ends up bringing out was how the West, how our culture has decided to take and make the white man, the aggressor and the European that came over here wicked, and the Indians or the, what do you want to call them, the, I'm trying not to say savages, the natives, yes, thank you, Native Americans or native tribes here, that they were all peaceful and they were happy people.

[5:04] And so the lawyer here in this lawsuit brings out this. She says, The human sacrifice, cutting off of human hearts, or cutting out of human hearts, flaying of victims and wearing their skin are a matter of historical record, along with sacrifices of war prisoners and other repulsive acts and ceremonies the Aztecs conducted to honor their deities, the ones children are being taught to pray to.

[5:28] Any form of prayer and glorification of these bloodthirsty beings and whose name horrible atrocities were performed is repulsive to any reasonably informed observer.

[5:40] And he goes on to talk about some more things with that. But that's, that caught my eye because it's, that was in the California school system where probably nobody in this room ever knew it or even paid attention to it.

[5:53] But underneath, take prayer out, take God out, and trickling down the road, just insert a little here, insert a little there, and nobody's the wiser, nobody pays attention, and the devil's running this thing better than you know.

[6:07] All right, so let's get into the Bible. Last week we started a study. You're going to go to 1 Corinthians 11 is where we'll pick it up from where we paused. 1 Corinthians chapter 11.

[6:18] 1 Corinthians 11.

[6:48] We're not exactly sure where the line is. And some of the areas I mentioned were music and language and dress and your personal appearance or some things that you eat or drink or some just common practices of life, of your home, of this church building, of what restaurants you go to, whether or not you have a television in your house or in bedrooms in your house, those kind of things.

[7:14] And there's no verse that you can just say, I mean, you can be like, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. And so you could take that as a principle to develop a conviction from. But there's, so what we want to do is lay out four categories for the convictions that we have and hold.

[7:31] And the real thrust of this is that you understand what category your conviction is in. Because they're not all coming out of the Bible like you think.

[7:42] And people say this all the time, well, the good book says so. And then the reply is chapter and verse. Please. If it says it in the Bible, then tell me and show me where it says it. Otherwise, don't teach me that it's biblical.

[7:56] And that's a big deal. Now, I taught you that there's a strict side to this where people say abstain from everything. No matter what it is, just abstain from it. And that's the safest way to be.

[8:07] And the sad thing is, it develops a form of self-righteousness. And it develops an arrogancy. And instead of being Christ-centered, you kind of just think your Christian life is on what you don't do.

[8:18] And a list. And that's really prevalent in certain circles of Christianity today. Then another side, which is probably also very prevalent in Christianity today, is the loose side.

[8:29] We have liberty in Jesus Christ. And if you look at them, you don't know. You can't really tell. Too much evidence that they're born again. And that Christ is in them, changing them, transforming them.

[8:42] That's what the Bible teaches us to be. Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. You're not to conform to this world, but you look at that certain brand of Christianity that's pretty prevalent today, and it sure looks worldly.

[8:54] So there's a strict side, there's a loose side, and the best is always balance. And I want to emphasize that as much as possible. Now we got into the first category, and this is where we're going to continue this morning.

[9:08] The first category was natural convictions. And that is things that you don't need a Bible to teach you. They're innately ingrained in you as a created being of God.

[9:20] You might say this is some kind of a morality that God instilled in you, and a conscience that God placed within you. And there is an asterisk to put with this because you can sin against that conscience.

[9:32] You can violate it. The scripture even uses the word damn. You can damn or destroy your conscience. Paul talks about them having their conscience seared with a hot iron.

[9:44] It's seared. It's numb. It's not responding the way God intended it to respond and understanding in the situations. So the asterisk is that although there are certain things that you should naturally understand, the sinfulness of man, as we read in Romans chapter 1, can be so against God and against what's natural, what he should understand naturally, that he can be turned over to a reprobate mind and just allow anything and think it's all good.

[10:12] And the example I gave you in Romans chapter 1 was the homosexual crowd. And the verses 26 and 27 of Romans, and I will just read that to you so I don't, just by review, some of you aren't here, so understand, for this cause God gave them up into vile affections.

[10:29] For even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned their lust one toward another.

[10:40] Men with men, working that which is unseemly. So human nature, or the natural thing, is man, a man, and a woman. And that's the start of the family and procreation and all of that.

[10:53] And that's the natural conviction. It's the understood thing. It's all over. Anything God created, the animal kingdom especially, they don't have any trouble with this.

[11:04] So the other side of that, the perversion of that, has to be taught. And as man rejects God, God gives them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts. So man can reject the light and because he loves darkness, he will refuse the light and won't come to the light.

[11:24] And therefore, this natural conviction that is in them and was ingrained in them can be numb. It can be, I don't want to say removed from them, but it can be tucked away so far that they don't even experience it because of the sins of their society and of their flesh.

[11:41] The second one is in Romans chapter 2. Where it describes Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law. They don't even have the word of God, but they're doing things that are prescribed and written by God in his word.

[11:57] Where does that come from? Well, it's natural. It's a natural conviction that stealing is wrong, that killing someone else is wrong. It's naturally understood by the human race.

[12:09] Cultures all over the world have developed some form of law and order, of crime and punishment. And it's a natural thing. So here's the third one.

[12:20] And this is where we'll stop with this first one. I think it's a pretty easy category for you to understand. The third one in 1 Corinthians 11. Look at verse 13. The Bible says, Judge in yourselves.

[12:33] Is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Now the passage all the way back earlier into verse number 4 talks about praying and prophesying, having the head covered. And the woman praying and prophesying with her head uncovered, dishonored with her head.

[12:47] And it's talking about her hair. Because verse 6 talks about her being not covered, let her also be shorn. And it's a shame for her. So it's talking about hair on the head. And it's something that, I don't know how culturally, I don't want to say relevant, but how understood this kind of stuff is.

[13:09] It had its place and it had a stronger meaning then maybe. Or at least a stronger understanding of what he was teaching. Let me get back to verse 13. Judging yourselves is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?

[13:21] Doth not even nature itself teach you? That if a man have long hair, it's a shame unto him. But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covering.

[13:35] So there's plainly the text of what the covering is. Her hair is given her for a covering. It's not putting a little bonnet on the back of your head like some of them do. Now here's the natural conviction from verse number 14.

[13:49] It is a shame unto the man to have long hair. And it's not nature like the animal kingdom teaching you. It's natural to the human race, to men and women, to understand this.

[14:04] That men should not have long hair or keep it cut. If the woman has long hair, in Revelation chapter, I'm not sure what chapter it is, nine, it references these beasts and it says they have the hair of women.

[14:18] As if it's not the same as men. There's a difference. And it's an understood thing. So having long hair for a man is a shame.

[14:30] Having long hair for a woman, according to verse number 15, is a glory to her. So sayeth the scripture. Now let me conclude with this thought here. Look at verse 16, just to wrap it up clearly.

[14:43] Paul says this, But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God. So if a man wants to have long hair, Paul's like, we don't have any custom about this thing.

[14:56] Don't kick him out. Some of you probably think, kick him out. Get him out of here. Don't let the kids see that. We don't allow that. Well, the apostle Paul said, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.

[15:07] I don't know if you've ever heard a preacher preach, I don't want to say, for men having long hair. Typically the preaching is against it.

[15:18] I heard a guy in a revival meeting, of all things, decide that he's going to teach that Samson did not have long hair. And his statement was, 1 Corinthians 11 says that nature itself teaches that it's a shame, and that he thought that's a contradiction.

[15:36] If Samson has long hair, but the Bible says it's a shame, he says, my Bible doesn't have any contradictions. Samson didn't have long hair. Neither did Jesus, neither did any of them. And so he tried to twist the scriptures, and he didn't know how to handle it.

[15:49] It wasn't a big deal. He didn't have to make a deal about it. He could have not wasted our time that night. But this is a natural conviction. Do you see that? Do you see it from the Bible? Doth not even nature itself teach you?

[16:01] Not the Word of God teaching you. Not necessarily a particular culture or a family or parents teaching you. It's just something natural that a man looks this way, a woman looks this way.

[16:13] Now again, as men reject God and worship something else, they will deaden this natural morality and convictions within them and receive anything.

[16:26] So just because these are natural, you might say, well, why doesn't our society live like this? Because they're wicked. Because they said, God, we don't want you. We never wanted you anyway. We don't want your word, so get lost.

[16:36] And God gives them up. So don't expect the world to be governed by these natural convictions, but understand they exist. Now this is the first category we need to move on because this is a pretty easy one to understand.

[16:48] There are natural convictions. All right, now the second one, very easy, is spiritual, I'm sorry, scriptural, scriptural, Bible, convictions.

[16:58] These are convictions we have and believe and live by as Christians, especially because the Bible says so. That's why. And I can show you the verse and the chapter and I know where it says it.

[17:11] That's why I live this way. That's why I do this. That's why I don't do this. Because the Bible says so. So this is category number two. These are convictions we submit to because of their, you might call them Bible commands.

[17:24] Now understand this. Not all of your convictions not all of them are scriptural convictions even if you think they are. I'll show you that as we study this throughout.

[17:37] Not all of your convictions actually fall into this category. Now if it is a Bible command there's no flexibility and there's no leeway. It's the book. We obey the book.

[17:48] We study the book. Now let's understand, let me take you through a little trip here. Come back to Deuteronomy 32 and some of the last words of Moses to the people of Israel before he died and he exhorts them to follow the book.

[18:09] Obey the scripture. And the difference in a sense, the difference between these Jews and us today is that God gave them some very specific commands.

[18:24] Deuteronomy 32 verse 45 And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel and said unto them Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day which ye shall command your children to observe to do all the words of this law for it is not a vain thing for you because it is your life and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land whether you go over Jordan to possess it.

[18:54] You better get the book and pay attention to the book and observe the book the whole thing it's your life and if you obey it God will preserve you he'll bless you and so forth.

[19:05] Now turn to Joshua just a page over Joshua chapter 1 and as Moses passes on the scene the word of God continues throughout and it's expected that the book of the law verse 8 verse 7 only be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee turn not from it to the right hand or to the left that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe the second time he said it observe to do according to all that is written therein.

[19:46] So these are for an Old Testament Jew the law was plain the law had specific details it was very direct and understood and if you had a problem or if something arose that wasn't black and white to the letter of the law they would take it to the judge Moses being the first one that sat before them and handled their problems and gave them the word of God on it or gave them the mind of the Lord.

[20:11] What the Jews had was a detailed thing on dress they had a thing on how men could wear their hair they had a thing on what kind of plants they could and couldn't sow beside each other a thing on their diet on what they could and couldn't eat what animals were clean and what animals were unclean they had a very specific thing and they listed them by name these animals they had how to deal with each other and certain things and with their servants with their possessions with their property lines with when a beast got out and did some damage and how to handle that I mean it's written in the law go to the word of God there's your answer so all of this now was for their holiness remember that much of that was not just for their getting along with each other but that they would be righteous and do right in all manner of their lives and even in the unforeseen circumstances they would respond right according to the mind of God a lot of this law said thou shalt not such and such and so there's nothing left to discuss thou shalt not don't do it these are more than convictions maybe these are commands now the Old Testament standard all throughout

[21:24] I could take you through a dozen verses back here in the law that it's holiness that it's that you be holy unto me and the New Testament standard is no different God still expects holiness he said through Peter be holy for I am he quotes the Old Testament and puts it on the New Testament Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4 God hath not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness so God's standard for us is just the same however the scriptures don't necessarily contain that exact list that we're familiar with if you read your Bible that Old Testament list he doesn't tell you about what about having a garment that's a poly like we all have polyester that's against the law mingling two different fibers together he doesn't give us those kind of things does he there's no exact list of details that constitutes holiness and righteousness in every single area there's plenty of things we can read and follow and submit to but in every single area so there's no list of scriptural convictions that describe how long your hair can be or how much makeup you can wear or how many earrings you can have or if and or how long your dress should be there's there's no

[22:49] New Testament list or measurement or standard that you can just say there it is chapter and verse for these finer details and so we need to develop some convictions now we'll talk about some of that stuff in a future week but let's get back to the scriptural convictions let me give you a few examples of some scriptural convictions and I'm just going to give you ones that I have go to Proverbs 30 some that I live by because they're in the Bible and I'll show you how this is a conviction and not always just a straight up command it's a belief based on the scriptures it's not based on my mother and father it's not based on my culture or the United States of America or the government or anybody it's based on this book right here and what it says and I've developed a belief because of it so here's one

[23:51] Proverbs 30 verse 5 you've heard a lot of this talk lately verse 5 says every word of God is pure I believe that I believe those words right there and because of those words in my Bible I have a belief a conviction that my Bible is pure and that if I have the word of God then it's pure that's a conviction I get from the Bible and I hold to that not everybody that has a Bible has that conviction do you know that not everybody that has a Bible that walks into church carries this thing says holy Bible not of them believe that it's holy or that it's pure or that every word is pure they don't have the conviction I do I believe that that means something to me I hold on to that every word of God is pure that's a scriptural conviction it's in black and white right there it is in your Bible if you have it you've got it and you can hold to that one too let me give you another one

[24:54] Matthew chapter 19 this one doesn't have anything to do with the Bible or the Bible issue or the scripture it's in an entire different arena of life Matthew chapter 19 and here he talks about a husband and a wife I'll begin reading in verse 3 the Pharisees also came unto him tempting him and saying unto him is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause that's a divorce is it lawful what's the law Moses the Old Testament the law what they're supposed to live by is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause he answered and said unto them have you not read that he which made them that's God obviously at the beginning made them male and female and said for this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh verse 6 wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh what therefore

[26:06] God hath joined together let not man put asunder now there's two things we can draw from this but the one I'm after is what Christ said there what God joined together let not man put asunder that the male and the female twain shall be one flesh the conviction I hold from the word of God is that marriage is instituted by God and it is for life it's not for when you disagree or for when you have a little tiff or for when somebody gets sick or for when they or there's reasons that you get all sidetracked but I believe it from the book that marriage is for life and that saying I do until death do us part those are just words you know committing to each other but what God hath joined and by the way man can put it asunder and he does it every day that happens all the time but intention for it and God's will and mind on it is let not man put it asunder let not man separate what God joined and you can see in verse 7 he's talking about the writing of divorcement so what do I believe from the Bible a scriptural conviction is that my marriage to my wife is for life till death do us part now there are allowances in the Bible there are scriptural allowances to be the Bible word is loosed from a marriage and the one is death if your spouse dies you're loosed from that marriage you're not bound anymore to that spouse they're long gone another one is desertion if a spouse leaves you and walks away from that marriage and puts it asunder you are no longer bound to that spouse if they desert you and then the third one is infidelity and that's the one that's mentioned in this passage here infidelity is another reason but it doesn't necessarily mean it has to be but that's up to the married couple to sort out marriage is instituted by God it is for life and the other thing about this passage is from verse 4 that he made them male and female and so marriage is between a man and a woman that's another scriptural conviction based on the word of God so that's an easy one to receive for us surely it's an easy one to receive but the idea is

[28:30] I don't just decide how I feel today of whether I'm going to stick around or keep the no I have a conviction from the book that I submit to that this is for life alright let's look at 1st Timothy chapter 4 we're running out of time so fast this morning 1st Timothy chapter 4 you remember in Daniel chapter 1 when they were taken from their homes and Daniel and those certain children that were well favored were taken to Nebuchadnezzar you remember what Daniel did he purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's meat why did he purpose in his heart you know why because he had a scriptural conviction that that food that I'm about to be it's going to be placed in front of me that food by the word of God is unclean to me a child of God and Daniel purposed in his heart I'm not going to defile myself where did he get the idea that that food would defile him from the scripture he had a conviction based on the book do you know why his three friends

[29:35] I try to call them their Hebrew names Azariah Hananiah and Mishael Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego you know why they wouldn't bow to that image in Daniel chapter 3 everybody else was bowing because they had a conviction they had a scriptural conviction thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them I the Lord thy God am a jealous God they believed and submitted to the word of God they said we're not bowing to that thing be it known unto thee O king we're not bowing to that thing we can't they had a conviction and they got it from the scripture so here we are 1st Timothy chapter 4 and look at I have to start at the beginning this again this is one that I take personal this is mine I'm not just giving you a list of do's and don'ts and that thou shalt not but this is the one that I believe in verse 1 now the spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter time some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils speaking lies and hypocrisies having their conscience seared with a hot iron forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe even know the truth but they don't because they're speaking lies and hypocrisy and Paul goes on to expound upon this thought about receiving or about whether you should or shouldn't abstain from meats he says for every creature of

[31:12] God is good and nothing to be refused so there's no list of clean and unclean anymore nothing to be refused for it is received if it be received with thanksgiving for it is sanctified cleansed cleansed by the word of God and prayer now I'm not going to talk about food and what I can and can't eat although it sounds like we're going that direction like I feel like hey bring it on it's all good for me that's true too that's a scriptural conviction that I have I don't go back to Moses I rightly divide the word of truth and I go to 1st Timothy 4 and understand that under grace and in this age we're not bound by that law and I can eat anything alright now verse 6 says if thou he's talking to Timothy the preacher if thou Timothy put the brethren in remembrance of these things what about eating meat no he's going all the way back through these things plural about the those departing from the faith those that are giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils and here's a few of the doctrines what they do and he's talking about the false doctrines of the current age and he said if thou

[32:24] Timothy preacher if thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine whereunto thou hast attained so that may not mean much to you you read through that and just keep on reading but to me when I see Paul telling Timothy you can be a good minister of Jesus Christ if you keep the brethren in remembrance of all those false doctrines that are out there and what they're teaching and the doctrines of devils that people have fallen away from the truth and they're holding and they're deceiving even believers with you're going to be a good minister Timothy you're a good minister for Jesus Christ if you tell about their lies and expose them to the people of God and so that's a scriptural conviction for me it's from the book and it's one that I believe is my duty in the pulpit is to expose false doctrine and to make you aware of it and to keep you from being deceived and from believing lies which can very subtly and craftily sneak in just like that subtle serpent in Genesis 3 knows how to do it and so that's what I live by

[33:37]  I hold to now we're running out of time this morning so we're going to stop here next week I'll give you maybe just one or two more just to show you the vastness of all of this it's not just in one area of what you wear or what you don't wear but there's more convictions here that we can call scriptural convictions and then we're