Participants: Dwayne Lemon, Lance Wilbur
Series Code: TKS
Program Code: TKS000037A
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00:29 Hello, I'm Lance. And I'm Dwayne.
00:30 And welcome to another episode of TKS, 00:33 a True Knowledge of Self 00:35 where we get to know ourselves from a biblical perspective. 00:39 We have been going over several points 00:41 as it relates to the cornerstones, 00:43 the pillars of hip-hop culture 00:46 and then doing a comparison 00:48 of how it looks towards the Christian culture 00:51 or the Christian pillars of the faith. 00:53 And what we've been seeing is a contrast 00:56 rather than a union. 00:57 And one of the things we've been looking at 00:59 over the past few episodes or a few of the things 01:01 was the various corners as mentioned 01:04 by the very thought leaders of hip-hop culture 01:06 which are love, peace, and unity. 01:10 These are the things that we have been reviewing. 01:11 And in our last episode, we talked a lot about unity, 01:15 false forms of unity 01:17 but then, of course, the true forms, 01:18 the biblical forms. 01:20 And as we looked at it, we studied Acts 2 and Acts 4 01:23 and we saw the blessed fruit 01:25 that comes from those who have received 01:27 God's Spirit of truth 01:29 and are enabled to have true unity 01:32 one with another 01:33 and therefore give a true demonstration 01:35 of what it is to be a follower of Jesus Christ. 01:37 Well, we are now at the point where today, 01:39 we're going to be talking about that fourth pillar 01:42 or the fourth cornerstone 01:44 that was mentioned in hip-hop culture 01:46 which was none other than safely having fun. 01:50 So, Lance, we're gonna be talking about 01:51 this safely having fun 01:53 because, you know, we know the word fun 01:54 is not something mentioned in the Bible, 01:56 yet, there's lots of words 01:58 that are not mentioned in the Bible 01:59 but the principles are there. 02:01 And when somebody thinks of safely having fun, 02:03 would you say that's a good term 02:04 or a bad term? 02:06 It's a good term. Yeah, it's a good term. 02:07 You know, there's nothing wrong with safely having fun 02:11 and growing up, both of us, in hip-hop culture 02:14 and participating whether it be an Mcing like yourself 02:16 or dancing like myself, 02:18 there were different ways that we would, 02:20 you know, demonstrate 02:21 how we understood safely having fun. 02:23 And I did look it up and I know you did as well. 02:25 We were trying to, you know, I believe that it's important 02:28 for our viewers 02:30 that they understand 02:31 what's coming from the horse's mouth if you will. 02:35 So we looked online, 02:36 we checked and looked at all sorts of resources to say, 02:39 "How do they define safely having fun, " 02:41 because that's a very, very broad term, 02:44 it can easily be privately interpreted. 02:47 And we didn't want to do that 02:48 but we couldn't really find anything 02:50 but when we refer back to our own experiences, 02:52 you know, growing up in hip-hop culture, 02:54 there were some things that we did understand 02:56 as far as safely having fun. 02:57 So what would you say in your understanding 03:00 from the perspective of hip-hop culture 03:03 constitutes safely having fun? 03:05 I mean, I'm gonna just only use my experience pretty much. 03:08 I think a lot of these things what we've been finding 03:11 is that the statements are very veiled. 03:14 Meaning, they're good statements on the surface 03:16 but if you really do some investigation 03:18 and, you know, probe a little bit, 03:19 you'll find out that it's kind of loose, you know, 03:23 you know, do whatever you want, 03:25 you know, do what you like as long as everybody's okay. 03:28 And so for me, I mean, when you talk about having fun, 03:32 you're talking about partying, you're talking about, 03:36 you know, concerts, performances, 03:39 you know, I was doing MC things. 03:41 So doing a show, the after parties, 03:44 you know, all these kind of things, 03:45 that was the idea of having fun. 03:47 You know, get-togethers in the house 03:49 and it's obviously drinking, smoking, 03:52 you know, girls, all kinds of stuff going on, music. 03:55 So, you know, that's the kind of, 03:58 you know, "innocent form of having fun," 04:02 but you know what goes down at those things, 04:04 you know, what happens and what transpires. 04:06 And then there's the more, you know, devious elements. 04:10 I mean, I used to do a lot of stuff for fun 04:12 that was straight criminal behavior. 04:14 Yes. 04:15 I mean, you know, I used to beat people up for fun 04:17 and steal stuff for fun, 04:18 and do things that were completely, 04:20 you know, ignorant, violent, 04:23 filled with anger, and wrath, and destruction. 04:26 And sometimes, 04:27 I did it for no other reason than just to have fun. 04:29 Yeah. 04:31 And that was kind of, 04:32 you know, I don't know if I could say 04:34 it was applauded but it was recognized. 04:37 You had value points, 04:38 you know, if you're gonna be out in the streets 04:40 and have a reputation in the streets, 04:43 if you do that kind of stuff for fun, 04:45 it gives you, you know, credibility, 04:47 it gives you status, it gives you, you know, this, 04:51 you know, reputation if you will 04:53 that you want to have, 04:55 if you're going to be doing certain things 04:56 and operating at a higher level in that culture. 04:59 Well, I'll put it to you this way. 05:00 When I think about some of the things 05:03 that many of the, 05:05 well, not even thought leaders but even some of just, 05:07 maybe they weren't a thought leader 05:09 but nevertheless they were an influential participant 05:11 in hip-hop culture, 05:13 you know, some of the rappers and whatnot, 05:14 they did put forth an effort 05:17 to kind of help us understand 05:19 a little bit better safely having fun 05:20 as I think about it. 05:22 An example, KRS-One, stop the violence. 05:25 You know, he was right there in the front, 05:27 brought a whole bunch of rappers together 05:30 when they talked about self-destruction. 05:32 And everybody was coming together, 05:34 talking about the importance of nonviolence. 05:37 So I would definitely think that 05:38 when they think of safely having fun, 05:40 it's in these gatherings like you said, 05:42 concerts, house parties or whatever it may be 05:45 and coming together without violence. 05:48 You know, so that would probably 05:49 be a safe interpretation 05:50 of what it means to safely have fun. 05:53 Coming together and enjoying yourself 05:56 but without violence, 05:57 so that may be one aspect of safely having fun. 06:00 Another one, there were times when, you know, teen pregnancy, 06:04 sexually transmitted diseases were at in incredible rise 06:07 and they're still on the rise. 06:08 But I remember, there were some hip-hop artists 06:11 that would come out and say, 06:12 "Hey, listen, you got to practice safe sex." 06:15 Or then they would promote, 06:17 you know, the usage of condoms or some other type of thing 06:20 that could be used to make sure 06:21 that someone does not catch a disease 06:24 or, of course, impregnate someone at, 06:27 you know, at a young age or what have you. 06:28 So again, safely having fun might be, 06:32 not that you stop fornication, 06:34 but more so that you just practice it 06:37 without suffering the disease. 06:40 And I see the smirk in your face 06:41 and I got the same smirk 06:43 because we know that, you know, that concept is quite worldly. 06:46 But nevertheless 06:47 this is how people think it's okay. 06:49 And even certain individuals 06:51 that we're gonna show later on practice Christianity, 06:54 but yet they still are hip-hop artists. 06:56 And yet, they will call themselves Christians 06:58 but they will definitely practice fornication 07:00 amongst other things. 07:02 That has to be addressed but we will, 07:03 I know in some future episodes. 07:05 Also drinking. Yeah. 07:07 We know that in every party like you said, 07:09 there's going to be a lot of drinking, alcohol, 07:11 and things of that nature. 07:13 When you can't go to a club, 07:14 you cannot go even to a house party 07:16 nine times out of ten 07:18 where there, alcohol is not present. 07:20 And if it's not present, there's somebody 07:21 who had definitely has it in their pocket 07:23 and will walk up to that fruit punch and spike it. 07:25 So, you know, alcohol is something there 07:27 so you had a hip-hop artist that would come out and say, 07:30 you know, you got to don't drink and drive 07:32 or, you know, just have a little moderation 07:35 but don't take too much. 07:36 So I would think 07:38 that this is what is considered 07:41 in the mind of the thought leaders 07:43 when they develop these cornerstones 07:45 of safely having fun. 07:47 You can still go ahead and do a lot of these things 07:49 but you got to do it in moderation 07:50 or do it with some type of protective measures, et cetera 07:55 or like we said, you know, don't fight, 07:58 don't get caught up 07:59 because I remember going to parties 08:00 and I do remember, one night, I remember, 08:03 I was talking to Mom and Dad, and I told them, 08:05 I said, "I'm gonna go to a party tonight." 08:07 I'm gonna go to, you know, the Knights of Columbus 08:09 or whatever place I was going to go to. 08:11 And when I wanted to go there, 08:13 Mom and Dad said, "Sure, you can go." 08:16 And then my friends came to pick me up 08:17 and all of a sudden, they changed their minds. 08:19 They were just like, "Oh, you can't go." 08:20 And I was like, "What! You said..." 08:23 And they were like, "You can't go." 08:25 And I remember calling my friends and say, 08:26 "Listen, my mother and father said I can't go 08:28 so I can't go." 08:29 But then I called them back and said, 08:30 "Listen, they go to bed at about 11 o'clock. 08:33 Pull the car up in front of the house at 12, 08:34 I will be outside. 08:36 And I was ready to do some dirty work 08:37 and I was ready to literally sneak out the house. 08:39 And for some reason, 08:40 Mom and Dad stayed up late that night 08:42 all the way till 1, 2 o'clock in the morning. 08:44 And I had to call my friends and say, 08:45 "Listen, just forget it, I'm not going." 08:47 Yeah. So they went to the party. 08:48 Following day comes along and when I went to see them, 08:51 I was like, "Man, how was the party?" 08:53 They were like, "Terrible!" 08:54 And I was like, "What! What happened?" 08:56 And they said, "A fight broke out, 08:59 guy pulled out a gun, started shooting, 09:00 you know, one guy got literally shot 09:02 from four different angles, 09:04 you know, and was killed, 09:05 and it was just a horrible bloody night." 09:08 And I'm looking back at that now 09:10 and I'm saying, "Well, thank God 09:11 that He was protecting me. 09:13 He, you know, He allowed circumstances to take place 09:15 to spare my life 09:17 because the Lord knew that even though I was living 09:19 absolutely rebellious lifestyle, 09:21 one day this hardheaded boy is going to be my servant. 09:23 And I praise God for that. I'm thankful. 09:25 And that reminds me of a similar story. 09:27 I got a couple actually, 09:29 but one in particular of those instances. 09:31 After I started, you know, researching 09:34 and studying religion and things, 09:35 but I was still out on the street 09:36 and still heavily in hip-hop, there was a party. 09:40 And you know, it was really, 09:42 you know, like one of my friends 09:44 invited us to the party, 09:46 wasn't too sure about it but we came anyway. 09:48 And when we got there, 09:49 you know, the party was real, you know, dead. 09:52 It was kind of, you know, we were just like, 09:53 "Well, we can go sit at home. 09:55 This is not really a party." 09:56 So we want to go have some fun, 09:58 this is not fun, we want to leave. 10:00 And I'm telling my friend. 10:01 I'm like, "Hey," you know, come on, man, let's go, 10:03 there's nothing happening here." 10:04 And he's like, "Nah, nah, I want to stay. 10:06 I want to stay." 10:07 And so after a while at back and forth 10:09 and nothing's happening. 10:10 He's like, "Come on, give it, like you know, some time. 10:11 You know, he's going to pick up." 10:13 Nothing ever happened 10:14 so eventually me and one of my friends left. 10:15 And we left my other friend and he wanted to stay there. 10:18 And as soon as we left, literally maybe, 10:21 you know, within an hour after we left the party, 10:25 another you know, associate from, 10:29 you know, the area came to the party 10:33 and confronted my friend. 10:35 And they got in a little argument 10:37 and he brought his brother, 10:39 the guy that came to confront my friend, 10:41 he brought his brother. 10:42 And the brother pulled a gun, 10:44 you know, right on him in the middle of the party. 10:47 And the owner or somebody that was close, 10:51 you know, it was a house party 10:52 and so somebody stepped in 10:53 and say, "Hey, what's going on?" 10:55 And he just started firing. 10:56 And you know, guy got shot. 10:59 People got, you know, some straight bullets and all that. 11:01 But if I was still there, 11:04 and somebody is coming in and confronting my friend, 11:08 that's going to be me, 11:09 that's gonna be me stepping in, you know, got shot in the face. 11:12 So you know, those kind of things where God, 11:16 you know, kind of ruined my night, 11:18 you know, going to a party, no, it's not, 11:20 you know, and the whole motivation, 11:22 we're just having fun. 11:23 Again that we talked about that selfishness 11:24 and self-indulgence. 11:26 And so I'm going to talk about 11:27 because we're going to get into some of the, 11:28 more of the contradictions later on. 11:30 And so there's another story I want to reserve to later 11:33 because when I started going through that transition, 11:36 when I started to understand that the lifestyle I was living 11:39 was destructive, 11:41 I didn't quite understand Christian culture. 11:43 I wasn't a Christian 11:45 but I was going in that direction. 11:46 And finally, when I accepted the gospel, 11:49 I still kind of held on to the street 11:52 because I met people in the church 11:54 that would live in the whole hip-hop street life. 11:56 So I still kind of that, you know, dabbled with it. 11:59 And so I want to tell that story a little later on, 12:02 but, you know, when we talk about safely having fun 12:06 and we're really talking about, 12:08 you know, another word that we use is recreation. 12:11 There are principles that are there 12:14 that guidelines that the Bible gives. 12:16 While it doesn't mention the word fun, 12:18 there are principles that it gives for recreation, 12:20 for things that, you know, leisure activity if you will. 12:23 So what are some of the principles 12:26 that the Bible outlines, 12:28 you know, what do you think is important for us to know 12:30 when we're discussing to safely having fun? 12:32 And this is a good question 12:33 because I can remember even when I started to embrace, 12:37 like we talked about the violence 12:39 and stuff that happened at parties. 12:40 But I remember going to a lot of parties 12:42 where there was a very heavy emphasis, 12:45 no drinking, 12:47 you know, guys, 12:48 we just want to have a good time tonight and whatever... 12:50 Yeah, and pat downs. 12:52 I used to do, yeah, I used to do pat downs, 12:54 you know, I was only you know, 15, 16 12:57 but I would always be. 12:58 So I would always get, you know, "Hey, you want to, 13:01 you know, be the bouncer it was a house party 13:03 and you get, you know, free drinks, free entrance. 13:05 So sometimes I would do it. 13:08 Whether it's a house party 13:09 or you know a professional venue, 13:11 people are getting patted down. 13:12 So there is the idea 13:14 that we don't want this to happen 13:16 but you're kind of setting the stage anyway. 13:18 Well, that's the point 13:19 because I can still remember going to those parties 13:21 where there was deliberate effort to say, 13:24 "We just want to have a good fun night tonight." 13:26 And those nights still turned out 13:28 into nights of violence, 13:29 nights of lewdness, 13:31 nights of, you know, foul practices, 13:33 nights of day's practices, you know. 13:35 So the very things that were trying to, 13:38 they were trying to hold that day, 13:40 it was not successful. 13:41 And we still see this happening today 13:43 because there are still lots of parties and concerts 13:45 and things happening all over the world 13:47 where unfortunately 13:48 safety is still an issue, you know. 13:51 So because of that again, 13:52 we have to go to scripture to say, 13:54 well, what's God's concept of safely having fun?" 14:00 What's God's concept?" 14:01 A word synonymous to fun would be enjoyment. 14:03 And God has no problem with His people enjoying, 14:07 you know, these are terms 14:08 that you can even find in scripture 14:10 of enjoying the fruit of your labor 14:12 or enjoying certain things 14:14 that God has given us the privilege to enjoy, 14:16 you know, so God is not against enjoyment 14:18 but the question is how. 14:20 So now we're going to look at recreation 14:21 from a Christian standpoint 14:23 which is the biblical standpoint. 14:25 And we're gonna again see 14:26 that there are some differences. 14:28 An example, Romans 14. 14:30 All right. 14:31 If we go to Romans 14:22 and 23, here's a principle. 14:36 And this is what we're doing, we're looking at principles 14:38 because, you know, the Bible is filled 14:40 with accounts of stories of things 14:42 that happened for real in people's lives. 14:44 But in those stories, we can also pull principles 14:47 that we can make applicable to our day. 14:49 It's kind of like somebody saying, 14:52 "Is God for smoking weed, or is He against it?" 14:54 Well, if you search the Bible just for what it says, 14:57 you're not going to find weed in the Bible, 14:59 you're not going to find that 15:00 but you can find principles that says 15:04 1 Corinthians 3:15-17 where the Bible says, 15:06 "Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost 15:08 and whosoever destroys God's temple, 15:12 God Himself will destroy it." Right. 15:14 So God makes it clear, 15:15 He expects us to take care of our bodies. 15:17 And when I test marijuana, when I test weed, 15:19 I don't care how much they boast 15:21 that it's a natural plant, 15:22 the problem is when you light a fire to it, 15:24 it becomes a toxin. 15:25 And then it goes in our system and it produces toxicity 15:28 within our system which can manifest itself 15:30 in several ways even all the way up to cancer. 15:33 So I can take that principle now 15:35 and I can look at the smoking indulgence of weed 15:38 and say, "No, I am not going to let this 15:40 be part of my recreation." 15:42 Well, we're going to look at a principle 15:44 from the Book of Romans 14. 15:46 Paul was dealing with individuals 15:47 who were consuming foods 15:49 and judging others over these issues 15:51 and what have you, 15:52 but then he closes on something in verses 22 and 23 like this. 15:56 He says, "Has thou faith? 15:58 Have it to thyself before God. 16:01 Happy is he that condemneth not himself 16:04 in that thing which he allows. 16:07 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, 16:10 because he eateth not of faith, 16:11 for whatsoever is not of faith is sin." 16:15 The principle that Paul is bringing out here 16:17 is that if you are doing something 16:20 that you know is violating your conscience, 16:23 then Paul is saying then you ought not do it 16:26 because you are sinning against yourself, 16:27 and you are sinning against God who stimulated your conscience. 16:31 And if you could, I just didn't wanna interject. 16:33 Sure. 16:34 It reminds me of a story that you've told me before, 16:36 if you could do without mentioning names 16:38 where a particular artist was witnessing something 16:42 that was violating their conscience 16:43 and they were in tears because of it. 16:44 Oh, yes. 16:46 I was in London 16:47 and this is when I was dancing 16:49 and there was a particular artist 16:51 that, you know, she was absolutely exploding 16:55 in the entertainment industry, specially the R&B industry. 16:59 And she was a very sweet young lady 17:01 and I was one of her dancers and choreographers. 17:03 And when we were in London, 17:05 she was working with another artist 17:07 that was also very famous. 17:09 And I remember that the really famous artist was on stage, 17:15 singing one of his songs that was like, 17:16 they call it a love song but it really was a lust song. 17:19 And as he was singing this, 17:21 he acted out the words of the song 17:24 on one of the female dancers. 17:26 So when the artist that I was working for, 17:30 when she saw that, 17:32 she was running back to the room 17:34 where we all were 17:35 and she was just crying and crying and crying. 17:39 And we were like, "What's wrong? 17:40 What's wrong?" 17:41 And she said, "I can't believe 17:43 that a woman would degrade herself like that 17:47 and allow some man to rub on her 17:50 and do all these things to her and all these things." 17:52 And you know, and she was a Christian. 17:53 She actually professed that very clearly, 17:56 her mother was a manager 17:57 and her mother was professing Christianity. 17:59 And, you know, she was insulted 18:03 by what she saw. 18:04 The sad thing though is that as she got more famous 18:09 and began to really "blow up" in the entertainment industry, 18:13 the very things 18:15 that she's found to be so degrading at one stage, 18:17 it is apparent that her own conscience 18:19 had become violated 18:20 because now she was doing those very same things 18:22 in her other music videos. 18:24 So people violate their conscience all the time. 18:27 There are things that you know in your mind, "This is wrong. 18:30 God says this is wrong." 18:32 But you know what, everybody else is doing it 18:35 and this is something that "is for enjoyment or fun", 18:38 so let me go ahead and violate my conscience and do it anyhow. 18:41 Yeah, you get desensitized. 18:43 That's right, and you can get desensitized. 18:45 That's real. 18:46 So because of that, the Bible says 18:48 if you know that it is wrong 18:51 and your conscience is convinced that 18:53 this is something that is not right, 18:55 then you should not participate in it. 18:57 So this is one application that we can look at now 18:59 when it comes to the idea of safely having fun. 19:02 Whatever you're going to call fun, 19:04 whatever you want to call entertainment or enjoyment, 19:07 the question is, is this something 19:10 that you know is wrong 19:12 but you're going to go ahead and do it anyhow? 19:13 And I have a question here. 19:16 Where does that information come from? 19:18 In other words, where does the idea 19:21 that this is wrong or that, 19:23 you know, how do I even get the impulse 19:25 that thought in the mind that, "Man, this is wrong," 19:28 and the thing that we call conscience, 19:30 where does that conviction come from? 19:31 Perfect. 19:33 That is going to come 19:34 from an understanding of God and His word 19:36 if you're going to do it right. 19:37 And the reason why that's important 19:39 is because the Bible makes something clear in Matthew 7. 19:41 It was a very interesting statement Jesus said. 19:43 Jesus says, "A day is going to come 19:44 that many are going to say, 'Lord, Lord unto Him.' 19:47 And they're going to act like they know Him 19:48 but Jesus in the end is going to say, 19:50 'Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. 19:52 I know you not."' 19:53 Well, what was the reason why? 19:54 In Matthew 7:21, it tells us very clearly. 19:58 In fact, I think I should go ahead and read it. 19:59 All right. It says in Matthew 7:21. 20:02 These are the words of Christ and this is an important point. 20:05 It says not everyone that saith unto me, 20:08 Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, 20:10 but he that doeth the will of My Father 20:14 which is in heaven." 20:15 So notice that, what Christ wants 20:18 is for individuals to understand the Father's will. 20:21 And then once we understand the Father's will 20:23 and comply with the Father's will, 20:25 those are the ones who actually make it to heaven, 20:27 when there's going to be a lot of professors that don't. 20:29 Well, what is God's will? 20:32 1 Thessalonians 4:3. 20:34 The Bible says, "This is the will of God, 20:38 even your sanctification." 20:40 So God wants us to be sanctified 20:44 which is to be holy, 20:45 to be holy people as He is holy. 20:47 Well, how am I sanctified? 20:50 John 17:17, "Sanctify them through thy truth, 20:55 thy word is truth." 20:58 So if I want to live a life 21:00 where I don't violate my conscience 21:03 based on the principles of life that God has given to me, 21:06 I can only find that out through the study of His word 21:08 and through the application of His word. 21:10 So this is how that information can come to us 21:13 that we can know, truly right from wrong, 21:15 and then be able to follow what's right. 21:17 And I think, there's another layer to that as well 21:20 because we remember times in our lives 21:22 where we had no knowledge of the Word of God 21:25 and yet we knew that this was wrong. 21:29 Without anybody... 21:30 In my upbringing, there was no church, 21:32 there's no prayer, there's no, 21:34 you know, moral guidelines per se. 21:36 But yet, there were things that I did, 21:38 you know, I quit drinking alcohol 21:40 before I ever studied the Bible 21:42 because I knew there was something about it 21:44 that I knew I had to stop. 21:45 You know, I quit smoking weed before I started, 21:47 I quit smoking cigarettes 21:48 before I ever knew 21:50 that my body was a temple of the Holy Spirit. 21:51 So you know, some of these things that come, 21:54 you know, how does that work? 21:56 Because there's clearly some moral, 21:59 you know, guidelines that are almost downloaded to humanity 22:04 without cultural, you know, input. 22:07 And so, you know, talk about that a little bit? 22:09 So when you're saying... 22:10 I want to make sure I understand the question. 22:12 So when you're saying, 22:13 like from an impulsive standpoint, like... 22:15 Just the idea that this is wrong 22:17 even though I have no knowledge of God's Word. 22:20 Something in my brain says, "Don't do this or refrain, 22:23 this is wrong." 22:25 Well, there are ways that that can happen. 22:26 There is an account in the Bible in Romans 2 22:28 where the Apostle Paul 22:30 was doing a little bit of comparative 22:32 between his Jewish brothers and the gentiles. 22:34 And the Jewish brothers were actually judging the gentiles. 22:37 They were actually putting them down and saying, 22:38 "Oh, they are heathens," and all these other things. 22:41 And then Paul, kind of, reasons with them on that. 22:43 In fact, Paul you know, I would pretty much say 22:45 Paul was giving them a spanking. 22:46 I mean, Paul was literally rebuking his own brothers 22:49 and saying, "How could you have this attitude 22:50 towards the gentile believers?" 22:52 And he's now imparting education, 22:54 he's making them think which is always wonderful. 22:57 Yeah. And here's some things he says. 22:59 Paul says, "For not the hearers of the law," 23:02 this is Romans 2:13 by the way, 23:04 "For not the hearers of the law are just before God 23:07 but the doers of the law shall be justified. 23:09 For when the gentiles which have not the law, 23:13 do by nature the things contained in the law, 23:18 these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves 23:22 which show the work of the law written in their hearts, 23:26 their conscience also bearing witness, 23:29 and their thoughts the mean while accusing 23:32 or else excusing one another." 23:34 So the Bible is actually showing that 23:36 God has ways of impressing upon the heart, 23:40 right from wrong, even to individuals 23:42 that may not have been exposed to scripture yet. 23:44 They may not have been exposed to the word yet. 23:47 And that's why... And I remember this. 23:48 You mentioned a really powerful point. 23:51 You said desensitizing. 23:52 That's a good point because I can remember 23:55 the first time I saw someone get shot. 23:58 And when I saw somebody get shot, 24:00 I couldn't sleep for a period of nights. 24:02 I mean, it messed with my head 24:04 because there was something in me, 24:06 even though I grew up in a fairly irreligious home. 24:08 My mother, you know, 24:09 she was the daughter of a Methodist pastor 24:11 but she didn't really bring a lot of religion in the home. 24:14 She just tried to bring good virtues. 24:16 Dad was definitely not religious at all. 24:18 But in either case, I didn't grow up in a church, 24:21 really understanding the commandments 24:22 or any of these things. 24:24 We didn't study the Bible, we didn't have worship, 24:25 we didn't go to church. 24:27 But yet, when I saw that person get shot 24:31 and you see him laying dead stiff 24:34 with a bullet hole in his eye, 24:35 when I saw that, that messed with my head. 24:37 I mean, I was hurt by what I saw. 24:40 There was something in my mind that said, "This is wrong. 24:43 This is wrong, killing people is wrong." 24:46 And this is before I understood "Thou shalt not kill." 24:49 But if I keep watching the bloodshed, 24:51 if I keep seeing more and more people get shot, 24:53 after a while, that's exactly what happened. 24:55 I go to a party, somebody gets gunned down 24:57 and I look at it and say, "Oh, man, that's messed up. 25:00 Guys, let's go get something to eat..." 25:01 And you're ready to just keep it moving or going on. 25:03 And that is the desensitization process. 25:06 But here it is that Romans 2 is telling us, 25:08 God has a way of impressing the principles of His law 25:11 and reaching our hearts and helping us see 25:15 that even though 25:16 I wasn't necessarily taught that it was wrong, 25:18 God is teaching me through this experience. 25:22 And that reminds me of a verse 25:24 if you can read it for us in John 16. 25:26 Yes. 25:27 Because God is informing humanity 25:30 even if they don't fully understand His Word. 25:32 In other words, He's drawing men to Himself, 25:34 He's drawing men to His Word. 25:36 But it talks about the role 25:38 that the Holy Ghost plays 25:40 in giving this conviction, this conscience, 25:43 this idea of morality. 25:44 That's right, it is found in John 16. 25:46 And we're gonna look at verses 7 and onward. 25:49 It says, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. 25:52 It is expedient for you that I go away. 25:54 For if I go not away, 25:56 the Comforter will not come unto you. 25:58 But if I depart, I will send Him unto you. 26:01 And when He is come, 26:03 He will reprove the world of sin 26:06 and of righteousness and of judgment." 26:10 The Spirit of God is working upon the heart 26:13 and impressing upon the heart, 26:15 right from wrong, leading us to Christ. 26:18 And then ultimately 26:19 when we get the revelation of Christ, 26:21 we now can study the Word and go deeper 26:22 and receive what God wants to give. 26:24 These are the things that the Lord wants to teach us. 26:26 Well, I know that we've gotten to a point, my friends, 26:28 where we're studying the Word of God, 26:30 we're looking at what God says. 26:32 We are trying to compare 26:35 the open idea of safely having fun 26:37 was left to our own interpretation 26:39 versus the concept of God's Word 26:42 that literally does not give us open or private interpretation 26:45 but God is expressing His will. 26:47 We just looked at one principle which is simply this. 26:51 If you know, 26:53 if somehow you have been convicted of things 26:55 that you can see are wrong 26:58 and you can clearly say, "I know that this is wrong. 27:00 I know this is not right," 27:02 then you and I have a responsibility 27:05 to not violate our conscience 27:07 and simply go ahead and do that entertaining thing 27:09 whatever it may be. 27:10 God says we need to make sure that we can always consider 27:15 what He has been impressing on our hearts, 27:17 and certainly revealed through His Word 27:19 of what constitutes right and wrong. 27:21 And then when we go out even for "enjoyment", 27:25 we are to make sure 27:26 that whatever enjoyment we get involved in, 27:28 that it must not violate that principle 27:31 that we have been taught. 27:33 Do not violate your conscience. 27:35 This is just one example among several, 27:37 and we just got started on this. 27:39 I can't wait till our next episode 27:40 where we're going to dig even deeper 27:42 into some more principles 27:44 of what God gives of true recreation 27:48 versus wreck the creation. 27:50 So until then, just continue to tell a friend, 27:52 continue to study, 27:53 continue to pray and seek the Lord's will. 27:55 And until that time we see you again, 27:57 and remember the words of Proverbs 2:6 which tells us, 28:01 "It is the Lord that gives us wisdom 28:04 and out of his mouth 28:06 comes knowledge and understanding." 28:08 God bless you. |
Revised 2017-07-14