The Dangers of Extremism - Dr. Adrian Rogers

0:00 Do you know how we'll make the biggest impact on this city? By love, by service, by wisdom, by letting people see the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ in us. You say, well, they're a bunch of ungodly sinners. They may be. But Paul told Titus, we were just like them before we got saved. Amen. What does grace affirm? We are to be zealous of good works. What does grace avoid? Extremism. I've been preaching for a number of years, and I have determined, and I really believe it is true, that the cause of Christ is often hurt by misguided zeal, ungodly extremism that denies grace. Last week we talked about perfectionism. Today, extremism. It is indeed a grace killer. Now look, if you will, in Titus chapter 2 and verse 14, if you will, the Bible says there that Jesus gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works, ZEALOUS OF GOOD WORKS. BUT NOW I WANT YOU TO LOOK IN CHAPTER THREE, VERSES EIGHT AND NINE, THIS IS A FAITHFUL SAYING, AND THESE THINGS I WILL THAT THOU AFFIRM CONSTANTLY, THAT THEY WHICH HAVE BELIEVED IN GOD MIGHT BE CAREFUL TO MAINTAIN GOOD WORKS. THESE THINGS ARE GOOD AND PROFITABLE UNTO MEN, BUT AVOID FOOLISH QUESTIONS AND GENEALOGIES and contentions and strivings about the law,

2:10 for they are unprofitable and vain. A man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject. And then finally verse 15, All them that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen. THREE THINGS WE LOOK AT THIS MORNING. FIRST OF ALL, WHAT DOES GRACE AFFIRM? I WANT YOU TO SEE WHAT GRACE AFFIRMS. GRACE AFFIRMS THAT WHEN WE'RE SAVED BY GRACE, WE OUGHT TO BE ZEALOUS OF GOOD WORKS. THAT OUGHT, THERE OUGHT TO BE A BURNING, BLAZING, EMOTIONAL, PASSIONATE LOVE FOR THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. And Paul told Timothy to affirm these things. In, in verse 14 he says, he gave himself that we might be zealous of good works.

3:09 And then in verse 15, chapter 2, verse 15, these things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee. Timothy, affirm these things, that God's people ought to be zealous. Don't you be a middle-of-the-roader when it comes to zeal. The middle of the road is a poor place to walk, a poor place to drive. It is certainly a poor place to live. Those of us who are saved ought not to be lukewarm. We ought to be out and out for the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought to be zealous for God's Word and for the truth. You say, sometimes that divides people. It's better to be divided by truth than to be united in error. Amen? We ought to be zealous. Jesus didn't try to get along with everybody on everything.

4:04 He said in Matthew chapter 10, verse 14, Think not that I came to send peace on the earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. Truth divides. It was Martin Luther who was zealous for the word of God. Martin Luther said, I do not want to know anything of peace and concord when the word of God is thereby lost. And when they took him to that tribunal and they said, Martin, recant of what you've said and what you believe. He said, God help me, here I stand. I can do no other. Now, you can't just be moderate if somebody's house is on fire and they're perishing on the inside. You don't give a moderate or a quiet alarm. If your wife is being attacked WITH SOME MAN WHO WANTS TO DO HER HARM, YOU'RE NOT MODERATE IN YOUR DEFENSE. FRIEND, YOU, YOU DON'T JUST BE LUKEWARM ABOUT YOUR LOVE FOR THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. WE'RE TO LOVE HIM WITH A PASSIONATE LOVE. IF, UH, JOYCE WERE TO ASK ME, HOW DO YOU LOVE ME? AND I SAID, I LOVE YOU MODERATELY, I'D BE IN TROUBLE. AND FRIEND, WE'RE IN TROUBLE IF WE LOVE THE LORD Jesus in a lukewarm way. And so the first point here, I don't have time to linger on it, and you'll see why. I just simply want to say there is something to affirm, and that is we're to be zealous of good works. Because if you're not careful, you're going to think that what I'm saying today is against zeal when I talk against extremism. I'm not against zeal, good zeal, right zeal, proper zeal.

5:53 Jesus said, the zeal of my Father's house has consumed me. We're to be zealous of good works. There is grace affirms something. We see what grace affirms, chapter 2, verses 14 and 15. But now I want you to see what grace avoids, chapter 3 and verse 9. BUT AVOID FOOLISH QUESTIONS AND GENEALOGIES AND CONTENTIONS AND STRIVINGS ABOUT THE LAW, FOR THEY ARE UNPROFITABLE AND VAIN. A MAN THAT IS AN HERETIC AFTER THE FIRST AND SECOND ADMONITION REJECT. THERE'S A ZEAL AMONG BIBLE-BELIEVING CHRISTIANS SOMETIMES AND ALSO NON-BIBLE BELIEVERS THAT IS DIVISIVE AND DESTRUCTIVE AND SOMETIMES DEADLY. It can divide homes.

6:47 It can divide, uh, churches. It can divide communities. Now, the child of God is to learn to live by principles. But principles are tools. A principle is like a hammer. You can build a house with it, but you can take that same hammer and beat somebody to death with it. And you can do the same thing with principles. Uh, anything that is good, that is done to the extreme, can become bad. I was walking down the street of a major city one day when I was absolutely, literally assaulted by noise. And there were people who were getting ready for a concert, and they had built a huge concert stage, and they had some mega speakers out there. And, uh, this happened to be in Madrid, Spain, but the people who were tuning those speakers had such an incredible volume coming out of those speakers that I'm certain that the people in Antarctica were putting their fingers in their ears. And, uh, there's nothing wrong with a loudspeaker, but you take the loudspeaker, the stereo in your home, your automobile or anyplace else, and turn it up too high, and what is meant to be beautiful becomes a distortion.

8:09 Now, it is a part of our fallen human nature to want to go to extremes, to want to exaggerate and, uh, and, uh, become overly zealous and become harsh and unloving. Look, if you will, in chapter, uh, three and verse one. Uh, Paul is, is talking about, uh, the saints. He says that they're to be zealous in verse 14, chapter 2, but now look in chapter 3, verse 1. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready for every good work. That is, look, when you Christians go out in public life, do it with a spirit of sweet submission, to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men. for we ourselves also were sometime foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lust and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.

9:10 How are the people of Bellevue going to make the biggest impact on this city? Are we going to get bellicose? Are we going to be shouting? Are we going to be with blood in our eye and a crusade about this thing and that thing and everything we do not agree with? Do you know how we'll make the biggest impact on this city? By love, by service, by wisdom, by letting people see the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ in us. You say, well, they're a bunch of ungodly sinners. They may be, but Paul told Titus we were just like them before we got saved, amen? We were just like them. He said, look, we ourselves, verse three, were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived.

10:00 Zeal can be a very ugly thing. And I look at some of the crusades that some of we modern Christians get on and I don't think we do much good. I think we do more harm. James and John were with the Lord Jesus and the Samaritans would not receive the Lord Jesus. So James and John said this to Jesus, and put this in your margin, Luke chapter 9, verses 54 and following. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned and rebuked them and said, You know not what manner of spirit ye are of. FOR THE SON OF MAN CAME NOT TO DESTROY MEN'S LIVES, BUT TO SAVE THEM, AND THEY WENT TO ANOTHER VILLAGE. HA, HA. JAMES AND JOHN SAW THE SAMARITANS, AND BOY, WERE THEY FILLED WITH ZEAL. THEY DIDN'T LIKE THE WAY THE SAMARITANS WERE DOING, AND THEY SAID, LORD, LET'S NUKE THEM.

11:03 HOW ABOUT A LITTLE HEAVENLY NAPALM, LORD? LORD, THESE PEOPLE ARE AGAINST YOU. THEY NEED TO FRI. JESUS SAID, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT SPIRIT YOU'RE OF. I DIDN'T COME TO KILL. I CAME TO HEAL. I CAME TO RESTORE. I CAME TO MAKE WHOLE. JESUS WAS THERE IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMONE, PRAYING. AND, UH, JUDAS LED THE HIGH PRIEST AND THE, UH, AND THE, UH, THE AUTHORITIES INTO THE GARDEN TO ARREST JESUS. LET ME GIVE YOU A PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE HERE. PUT THIS ONE IN YOUR MARGIN. JOHN 18, BEGINNING IN VERSE 10, THEN SIMON PETER, HAVING A SWORD, DREW IT AND SMOTE THE HIGH PRIEST servant and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.

12:00 Then said Jesus unto Peter, put up thy sword into the sheath. The cup which my father hath given me, shall I not drink it? Now here's old Simon Peter. They come to take Jesus and he, he pulls out his sword to defend Jesus. You talk about misguided zeal. The first place he was a fisherman. What a fisherman know about sword fighting. And he was such a poor swordsman, he cut off that man's ear. Now he didn't mean to cut off his ear. He meant to cut off his head, but he just missed. And he cut off his ear and he messed everything up. Let me tell you about three or four things he did wrong there. In the first place, he had the wrong enemy. Malchus was not the enemy. Malchus was a slave. And he likes so many people who are slaves of certain, uh, of Satan. We wrestle not against flesh and blood.

12:55 Those folks out there that we're trying to nuke and those folks that we're trying to whack, those folks that we're trying to hurt, they are slaves of Satan. It was the wrong enemy. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. He used the wrong, uh, he had the wrong enemy. He had the wrong weapon. HE TOOK A SWORD IN HIS HAND. THE BIBLE SAYS THAT THE WEAPONS OF OUR WARFARE ARE NOT CARNAL. THAT MEANS THEY'RE NOT FLESHLY. WHETHER IT'S A PHYSICAL SWORD, A POLITICAL SWORD, OR A FINANCIAL SWORD, FRIEND, WE'VE GOT A BETTER SWORD, AND IT'S THE WORD OF GOD. WHEN PETER, THAT POOR MISGUIDED FISHERMAN, WHEN HE USED THAT SWORD, HE MESSED EVERYTHING UP, BUT WHEN HE TOOK THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST, rather than killing one man, 3,000 came to life when he preached the Word of God in the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

13:55 And not only did he have the wrong enemy, not only did he use the wrong weapon, he was working in the wrong energy. How did he do this? He did it in the strength of his flesh. Remember just before this, Simon Peter was asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane. And Jesus said, Peter, watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. But rather than praying, he was sleeping. And then when a crisis arose with misguided zeal in the energy of the flesh, he messed everything up. He was defending Jesus when Jesus really wanted to defend him. We have a lot of zealots in the world today who are not spending a lot of time in prayer getting leadership from the Holy Spirit.

14:49 They're sleeping when they ought to be praying and fighting when they ought to be submitting. And he had the wrong attitude. He was angry. The Bible says the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God. What kind of a testimony do you think that Simon Peter was with this misguided zeal? Now here's old Malchus, had not Jesus healed him. Here's a man with one ear. Somebody says, what happened to your ear? He says, a Christian cut it off. Well, that's, that's, that's a great testimony. A Christian, a hot-headed Christian cut off my ear. I'm telling you folks that we have in the world today a lot of misguided people and, and they get us in trouble. Now Peter was arguing when he should have been listening. Jesus said, Peter, I'm going to the cross.

15:42 And Peter argued with Jesus. He was sleeping when he should have been praying. He became a misguided religious fanatic. Do you know what a fanatic is? A fanatic is somebody who's lost sight of his goal and therefore redoubles his speed. You know any people like that? Now, we need to be aware of this misguided zeal. Look, if you will, in chapter 3 and verse 9. Look at it. BUT AVOID FOOLISH QUESTIONS AND GENEALOGIES AND CONTENTIONS AND STRIVINGS ABOUT THE LAW, FOR THEY ARE UNPROFITABLE AND VAIN. A MAN THAT IS A HERETIC AFTER THE FIRST AND SECOND ADMONITION REJECT. HE SAYS FOUR THINGS THERE ABOUT EXTREMISM. FOUR THINGS THERE ABOUT MISGUIDED ZEAL. FIRST OF ALL, IT IS FOOLISH. HE SAYS AVOID FOOLISH QUESTIONS. AND THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE TODAY WHO GET US ALL OFF IN THINGS THAT ARE FOOLISH, SILLY. THE BOTTOM LINE IS NOT THE RIGHT BOTTOM LINE.

16:41 THE FORMER PASTOR OF THIS CHURCH, ONE OF OUR FORMER PASTORS WAS DR. ROBERT G. LEE. HE TOLD ME A STORY ONE TIME THAT I'VE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO FORGET. HE SAID, WE WERE IN A SERVICE AT BELLEVUE BAPTIST CHURCH AND HEAVENLY FIRE CAME DOWN. GOD WAS BLESSING. SOULS WERE BEING SAVED. IT WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST INGATHERINGS OF SOULS I HAD EVER SEEN AT BELLEVUE CHURCH. HE SAID, PEOPLE WERE COMING FORWARD TO GIVE THEIR HEARTS TO CHRIST. I WAS STANDING DOWN THERE AT THE FRONT AND A WOMAN CAME DOWN THERE AND TOOK ME BY THE HAND. I THOUGHT, HE SAID, THAT SHE WAS COMING TO GIVE HER HEART TO CHRIST. SHE SAID, DR. LEE, I WANT TO ASK YOU A QUESTION. HE SAID, WHAT IS IT, MADAM? SHE SAID, DR. LEE, DID YOU KNOW THAT THERE WERE PEOPLE LIVING ON THE EARTH BEFORE ADAM AND EVE? NOW THIS IS DURING THE INVITATION. SOULS ARE BEING SAVED. HE'S PLEADING AND PRAYING FOR SOULS TO COME TO CHRIST. DR. LEE, DID YOU KNOW THAT THERE WERE PEOPLE WHO LIVED ON THE EARTH BEFORE ADAM AND EVE? HE SAID, NO, MA'AM, I DIDN'T KNOW IT AND YOU DON'T KNOW IT AND NOBODY KNOWS IT AND GOD IN HEAVEN DOESN'T KNOW IT AND GO BACK TO YOUR SEAT.

17:45 I CAN JUST HEAR HIM SAYING THAT. THERE ARE PEOPLE, THESE KIND OF QUESTIONS, UH, HE, HE CALLS THEM FOOLISH, AND THEY'RE ALSO PROFITLESS. THEY NEVER RESULT IN SPIRITUAL GROWTH. IN MY MINISTRY, I HAVE MET PEOPLE WHO ARE SO ZEALOUS AND SO ARGUMENTATIVE ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TWEEDLE-DEE-DEE AND TWEEDLE-DEE-DUMB, They can take a theological hair and split it in nine equal sections, but they never become more like the Lord Jesus Christ. It is foolish. It is profitless. It is fruitless. This is what he says here. Look, if you will, in verse 9 again of this same chapter. He says it is, it is unprofitable. It is vain.

18:37 It, it doesn't, uh, it doesn't bring anybody to Christ. Jesus talked about the Pharisees in Matthew chapter 23. He said, you traverse land and sea to make one convert. And when you do, he's twice-folded child of hell. It's, it's profitless. The Pharisees were like these people. They majored on minors. Jesus said they paid tithe of men, anise, and cumment, and yet they omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, justice, mercy, and faith. How profitless this is. Jesus said of these Pharisees, you gag at gnats and swallow camels.

19:25 A zeal is a gnat gagger. I mean, a person with misguided zeal, A Pharisee is a person who gags at gnats. But not only does our Lord say that it is profitless or fruitless, He says it's divisive. Look, if you will, in verse 9, or verse 10. A man that is a heretic after the first and second admonition reject. Do you know what the, the word heretic means? It means to divide. It means to divide. Extremists in the church cause divisions. They cause bickering. They cause judging. They cause criticizing. And so if, if, if you, if you, uh, rebuke one of them, he'll think that you are unholy or you're unspiritual. But Paul says, just don't let them mess up the church. Now, we have an American flag over here.

20:23 We have a Christian flag over here. Maybe I ought not to even bring this up. I'm going to bring it up. IN A CHURCH, NOT THIS CHURCH, BUT IN A CHURCH. THERE WAS A MAN WHO SAID, WE OUGHT NOT TO HAVE THE AMERICAN FLAG IN THE CHURCH. AND THEY SAID, WELL, WHY SHOULDN'T WE HAVE THE AMERICAN FLAG IN THE CHURCH? WELL, HE SAID, IF YOU HAVE THE AMERICAN FLAG IN THE CHURCH, THAT SENDS OUT A MESSAGE THAT WE THINK THAT GOD IS AN AMERICAN AND THAT CHRISTIANITY IS AN AMERICAN RELIGION. WELL, SOMEBODY SAID, ALL RIGHT, IN A BUSINESS MEETING, HE SAID, I MOVE THAT WE TAKE THE FLAG OUT OF THE CHURCH. THEY DISCUSSED IT FOR A WHILE, AND THEN SOMEBODY ELSE SAID, BUT IF WE TAKE THE FLAG OUT OF THE CHURCH, WOULDN'T THAT SEND A MESSAGE? WOULDN'T THAT SEND A MESSAGE THAT WE DON'T LOVE OUR COUNTRY, THAT WE'RE NOT GRATEFUL FOR OUR COUNTRY, THAT, THAT, UH, WOULDN'T IT, WOULDN'T IT, UH, SEND A MESSAGE OF A LACK OF PATRIOTISM? THEN SOMEBODY ELSE SAID, WELL, I HAVE AN IDEA. LET'S PUT A CHRISTIAN FLAG IN THE CHURCH.

21:27 Everybody said, well, now we've, we've, we've settled it. We've got an American flag and we've got a Christian flag. But somebody else said, no. If you put an American flag and a Christian flag in the church, that means we think that the American flag and the Christian flag are co-equal. That, that, that Jesus and, and America on the same plane. Well, they said in another business meeting, we have an idea. let's make the American, the Christian flag higher than the American flag. That went for a while. They debated that for a while. And then somebody else came up and said, it is illegal to fly any other flag higher than the American flag. And then in a succeeding business meeting, they said, well, let's fly them both at the same height, but just put a piece of paper under the Christian flag.

22:24 NOW DO YOU SEE WHAT I'M GETTING AT? FOOLISH DEBATES! YOU KNOW WHAT'LL HAPPEN? AS SURELY AS I SAY THIS, SOMEBODY'LL COME TO ME AND WANT TO DEBATE ABOUT WHAT I JUST SAID. I'LL GUARANTEE YOU. I'LL GUARANTEE YOU WE COULD BE HAVING THE GREATEST MEETING IN THE WORLD, BUT THERE WILL BE SOME EXTREMISTS WITH SOME PECCADELLO WHO GETS SOME IDEA AND WANT TO TAKE THAT THING AND RUN IT RIGHT INTO THE GROUND. AND THOSE KIND OF PEOPLE ARE IN THE WORLD TODAY. NOW LET, LET ME JUST GIVE YOU SOME EXAMPLES OF HOW PEOPLE, GOD'S PEOPLE, ARE PUT UNDER BONDAGE ABOUT THESE THINGS. FOR EXAMPLE, THIS MATTER OF HAVING A QUIET TIME. WELL, WE OUGHT TO HAVE A QUIET TIME, BUT DID YOU KNOW THE IDEA OF A QUIET TIME CAN BE A BURDEN RATHER THAN A BLESSING? I HAVE SEEN PEOPLE PUT UNDER SUCH PRESSURE ABOUT HAVING A QUIET TIME, A CERTAIN TIME THAT THEY HAVE TO GET UP IN THE MORNING AND SO FORTH TO DO THIS. NOW, I'M NOT AGAINST A QUIET TIME. I BELIEVE YOU OUGHT TO HAVE A QUIET TIME.

23:29 BUT YOU KNOW THAT SOMETIMES YOU NEED TO SLEEP MORE THAN HAVE A QUIET TIME. DID YOU KNOW THAT? SOMETIMES YOU NEED A NAP. SOMETIMES THE MOST SPIRITUAL THING YOU CAN DO IS TO TAKE A NAP. IT'S NOT WRONG TO SLEEP. ONE GREAT CHRISTIAN SAID, I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO, I SIMPLY MUST GO TO BED. JESUS SAID TO HIS DISCIPLES, COME APART AND REST A WHILE.

24:00 DID YOU KNOW THAT WHEN I WAS A YOUNGER CHRISTIAN, A YOUNGER PREACHER, I USED TO BE ASHAMED OF THE FACT THAT I HAD TO SLEEP? SOMEBODY WOULD CALL ME AT TWO IN THE MORNING, AND I'D PICK UP THE PHONE, I'D SAY, HELLO? LIKE I'D BEEN UP ALL NIGHT READING LAMENTATIONS, YOU KNOW?

24:24 Sometimes in our Bible study, I mean, we, we, we get extremists. You ought to read the Bible, but you don't read it legalistically. A chapter a day keeps the devil away. I mean, we're under a burden about this thing. You ought to read the Bible, but you ought not to read the Bible to exclusion of other things. When Paul was in prison, he said, bring me the parchments and bring me the books. I, we, we need a, a holy balance in these things. Did you know that, that even good, it's a, it's a crime, it's a sin to be reading the Bible if you ought to be doing something else. In separation, should we live a separated life? Of course we should, just like we ought to read the Bible? And just like we ought to have a quiet time. Should we, uh, live lives of godly separation? Yes, we ought to be separated from apostasy and from heresy and from sin.

25:32 But do you know what we have in the world today and among some Bible-believing Christians? We have a thing called double separation or tertiary separation. Now let's suppose that old Bob over here is a liberal. He looks like one, doesn't he? All right, now let's suppose that Bob is a LIBERAL. LET'S SUPPOSE THAT, THAT THIS, HA, BOB GALENA, THIS BOB GALENA, GOT A COUPLE OF BOBS OVER HERE. LET'S SUPPOSE THAT HE'S JUST A, A REAL BIBLE BELIEVING CHRISTIAN. NOW LET'S SUPPOSE THAT I LOVE BOB GALENA AND HE AND I ARE HAVING FELLOWSHIP IN THE LORD, BUT ALL OF A SUDDEN I LEARNED THAT BOB GALENA'S HAVING FELLOWSHIP WITH BOB SORELL. NOW ACCORDING TO SOME IN THE WORLD TODAY, I CAN'T HAVE FELLOWSHIP ANY LONGER WITH BOB, UH, UH, GALENA BECAUSE BOB GALENA'S HAVING FELLOWSHIP WITH Bob Sorrell. You see, I'm getting contaminated now. You get the idea? And then they say, well, maybe Bob, this Bob and that Bob are both conservatives, but that Bob has fellowship with Jim, who is an arch liberal. Just look at him. You can tell. All right, now look over here. All right, now I can't have fellowship with him or him because of him. It's a bottomless pit. And to the opposite, Jesus was called a friend of sinners. You, I'm not saying that we lower our standards. I'm saying, friend, that we have to be careful about extremism.

26:51 After a while, you're going to be the only one left standing. There were two Quakers. They'd separate themselves from everybody, and they were having their little fellowship together. And one of them said, the other one said, I think that everyone in the world is a little strange but me and thee. I said, I'm not too sure about thee. We just find ourselves THAT WAY. OH, FRIEND, HOW CAREFUL WE NEED TO BE ABOUT EXTREMISM. IT WAS THE EXTREMISTS THAT CRUCIFIED JESUS. YOU KNOW WHY THEY CRUCIFIED JESUS? THEY CRUCIFIED JESUS FOR KEEPING COMPANY WITH SINNERS. MATTHEW CHAPTER NINE AND, UH, VERSE TEN, AND IT CAME TO PASS AS JESUS SAID IT MEET IN THE HOUSE, BEHOLD MANY PUBLICANS AND SINNERS CAME AND SAT DOWN WITH HIM AND HIS DISCIPLES. AND WHEN THE PHARISEES SAW IT, THEY SAID UNTO HIS DISCIPLES, why eateth your master with publicans and sinners?

27:47 And when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, they that behold need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice, for I'm not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Matthew was a hated tax collector. Jesus went to his house to eat. It'd be like if you were to walk down the street today and saw Jesus in a pizza parlor having pizza with pimps and drug pushers. What's he doing in there with that crowd? I'll tell you what he's doing in there with that crowd. They're the sick ones and he's the physician. That's what he was doing with them. I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. This matter of submission. Should women submit to their husbands? Yes. Should children be submissive to their parents?

28:41 Yes. But submission is not subservience. I've seen men take a principle and use it to beat their wives to death with it. Rather than building a house, it's a hammer that becomes a murder weapon spiritually. Did you know that Jesus is the head of the church? But all the time that I've ever been saved, he's never forced me to do one thing. He's loved me. but he has never, ever forced me to do one thing. There are parents who are overly correcting their children, overly controlling their children. They're pushing this idea of submission to an extreme. It has become a distortion, and I'm guaranteeing you they're building rebels because it will backfire on them. They know nothing of raising children with grace. And, and why?

29:33 FAMILY PLANNING. OH BOY. YOU KNOW, THE PEOPLE TELL US NOW WE OUGHT TO HAVE CHILDREN, AND WE OUGHT TO HAVE CHILDREN. CHILDREN ARE THE HERITAGE OF THE LORD. AND GOD TOLD NOAH TO REPLANISH THE EARTH, BUT HE DIDN'T TELL HIM TO DO IT ALL BY HIMSELF. I MEAN, DOES GOD ALLOW US? TO ARRANGE THE SIZE OF OUR FAMILY OR JUST TO HAVE AS MANY CHILDREN AS WE BIOLOGICALLY CAN. THERE'S SOME WHO PUT PEOPLE UNDER SUCH BURDENS ABOUT THESE THINGS. THEY, THEY, THEY TAKE A PRINCIPLE AND THEY PUSH IT TO A DISTORTION. THIS MATTER OF CHURCH MUSIC, BROTHER JIM, OH MY. FRIEND, CHURCH MUSIC, YOU OUGHT TO BE A PASTOR AND HEAR HOW FOLKS FEEL ABOUT CHURCH MUSIC. I DON'T CARE WHAT WE DO, WE CAN GET SOME LETTERS. SOUTHERN GOSPEL, BROTHER, IF WE DO SOUTHERN GOSPEL, THERE WILL BE PEOPLE WHO COME OUT OF THE WOODS TO HEAR SOUTHERN GOSPEL. I MEAN, THEY WILL COME TO HEAR SOUTHERN GOSPEL, BUT, AND THEY'LL BE, THEY'LL BE HAVING A BIG TIME.

30:44 BUT I'LL GUARANTEE YOU THERE'LL BE SOME PEOPLE WHO SAY, I THINK THINK THAT MUSIC IS UNFIT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION. AND THEN IF, IF, IF, IF THE CHOIR DOES SOME ANTHEMS, BEAUTIFUL, GLORIOUS ANTHEMS, SOMEBODY SAYS, OH, I'M SO SICK OF THAT HIGHBROW MUSIC. WHY DON'T THEY GET DOWN THERE WHERE PEOPLE LIVE AND LOVE THE LORD JESUS? THERE IS A WELL-KNOWN CHRISTIAN TEACHER IN THE WORLD TODAY WHO HAS SAID, IF MUSIC HAS A BEAT TO IT, IT'S OF THE DEVIL. AND, AND, AND HE'S TAKEN ALMOST ALL CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC AND SAID, THAT IS OUT OF THE PIT. THAT'S SENSUAL.

31:30 AND SOMEBODY SAYS, WELL, THEN WE, WE CAN, WE HAD A MAN HERE TO COME TO THIS CHURCH AND PLAY A HARP, A HARP. AND HE PLAYED THAT HARP ONE THING WITH RHYTHM. I DON'T KNOW HOW HE GOT THAT MUCH RHYTHM IN THAT HARP. BUT WE HAD A FAMILY TO LEAVE THIS CHURCH OVER A MAN PLAYING A HARP IN THIS CHURCH. NOW, I MADE UP MY MIND, YOU'RE NOT GOING TO PLEASE EVERYBODY. I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE. I MEAN, IN WORSHIP, IN WORSHIP, IF WE DO SOMETHING WONDERFUL AND SOMEBODY CLAPS THEIR HANDS, THERE'D BE SOME PEOPLE WHO SAY, AIN'T THAT WONDERFUL? THE BIBLE SAYS, CLAP YOUR HANDS, ALL YOU PEOPLE. SOMEBODY ELSE WILL SAY, HEY, JUST LIKE HOLLYWOOD, JUST LIKE THE, AH, THAT'S, THAT'S ALL ENTERTAINMENT, CLAPPING HANDS IN THE HOUSE OF GOD. WHOEVER HEARD OF SUCH A THING? SOMETIMES IF YOU, IF YOU LIFT YOUR HANDS AND SAY, THANK YOU, LORD, SOMEBODY SAYS, OH, IT'S GETTING OUT A HAND. LIFT ONE HAND. YOU KNOW, AH, LISTEN, FOLKS, THERE ARE extremists everywhere you go. And what they are is they are grace killers. They're grace busters. A matter of service, serving the Lord. You ought to serve the Lord. But did you know that you can run yourself into the ground serving the Lord? Remember, there's enough time to do gracefully everything God wants you to do. Jesus said to his disciples, come apart and rest a while. There are people who, who believe in self-denial, and I believe in self-denial. But being a Christian doesn't mean that you can't have a good time. There are people who resent anybody having a good time. But Jesus was not a sanctimonious killjoy.

33:29 Jesus went to weddings. Jesus went to banquets. Jesus went to parties. Little children loved THE BIBLE SAYS GOD GIVES US RICHLY ALL THINGS TO ENJOY. WHAT DOES GRACE AFFIRM? WE ARE TO BE ZEALOUS OF GOOD WORKS. What does grace avoid? Extremism. Look at it again here. But avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and strivings about the law, for they're unprofitable and vain. What does grace achieve? Look in verse 15, and all that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. That's what I want. That's what I want.

34:21 We're not all ever going to be alike till we get to heaven, and even there we'll have our individuality, but we'll see things together as we are. Be a congregation of grace. FRIEND, THE MOST AMAZING THING IN THE WORLD IS THE GRACE OF GOD, THE GRACE OF GOD. WE'RE SAVED BY GRACE. WE'RE TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER. WE'RE TO ENCOURA, I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT GIVING UP CONVICTIONS. WE CAN'T DO THAT FOR ANYTHING IN THE WORLD. I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT WATERING DOWN THE TRUTH. PLEASE DON'T MISUNDERSTAND. THERE ARE SOME HILLS BIG ENOUGH TO DIE ON, BUT WE'RE TO BE A

35:07 CHURCH THAT MAGNIFIZES THE GRACE OF GOD. AND GOD'S PEOPLE SAID, FATHER, SEAL THE MESSAGE TO OUR HEARTS, AND I PRAY GOD THAT YOU'LL HELP US TO BE A CONGREGATION THAT LIVES AND LOVES lives and loves by grace because you so loved us. In your holy name.