Presumptuous Sins Sun AM 9-1-96

Romans chapter 4.

Romans 4 · chapter mention

And uh I want to I want to show you a few scriptures here.

Would you also pick up Romans 4 and James chapter 2?

James 2 · chapter mention

Let's go to work this morning, and let me show you something about our father that uh maybe about the first three or four or five scriptures you'll know already, but I want you to see them anyways.

Romans chapter 4 and James chapter 2.

Romans 4 · chapter mention James 2 · chapter mention

And let me say something to you who've come to our church many, many years.

It ought to be getting to the place now where not only do we know it, but we can teach it to someone else.

Amen.

Say amen now.

Come on, talk to me.

I'm gonna I'm gonna I wanna I don't wanna be up here all by myself.

I mean, it's labor day, but it's not time to sleep yet.

Amen.

Romans chapter 4 and James 2.

Romans 4 · chapter mention

We ought to be able to teach it to someone else.

That means we need to know enough about it, and we need to know the scriptures well enough to where we can turn to it and say, Let me show you some things.

So let me show you something about our father this morning.

We'll get around to it in just a moment.

Look at Romans chapter 4.

Romans 4 · chapter mention

And look if you would at verse 8.

Talk to me just a little bit this morning.

Uh verse 8.

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not what?

Impute sin.

Impute means to charge us with something.

And the Bible says that, hey, if you're a man and here a woman, you've received Christ as Savior.

One of the blessed thoughts is there's no sin being charged to you as far as salvation.

It's all taken care of.

It's all on the cross.

Look if you would at Romans chapter 5.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 5.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

And look if you would at verse 13.

Verse 13.

For until the law, sin was in the world.

But sin is not what?

Imputed.

It's not charged to us when there is no what?

Law.

Now remember the the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.

But if you remember, once it brought us to Christ and faith came, when faith came, the schoolmaster was no longer needed.

Is that right?

Yes or no?

The idea is the law was purposed to bring us to Christ.

Once we realized we were sinners and we received Christ as Savior, then that law was nailed to the cross.

It was taken out of the way.

The schoolmaster was traded off by faith now.

And somebody says, now wait a minute.

Does that mean that we as Christians are without law?

No, it just means that we're without law as far as sin and death.

And sin and death, the law of sin and death is no longer imputed to us.

Look at Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

And by the way, this clears up a lot of doctrinal heresy, amen?

A lot of controversy that goes on.

Look at Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

So as a Christian, there's no more sin imputed to me as far as salvation goes, because I'm no longer under that law that was to condemn me.

That law was not to make me righteous, it was to show me that I couldn't be righteous.

Amen.

So look if you would at Romans chapter 8, and notice the two laws here in verse 2.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the what?

The law of sin and death.

That second law of sin and death is the one that, if you would, would have condemned me, but it is also the one now where it has been taken out of the way by Christ.

Because I've received Christ as my personal Savior, because you've received Christ as your personal savior, that sin is no longer imputed to you.

It would be like this.

Simple.

If there's no speed limit, you can't get a speeding ticket.

Come on, yes or no?

I mean, if there's no speed limit and a policeman pulls up and says, Listen, you were going 75, you go, so there's no speed limit.

So there can be no, if you would, condemnation if there's no law imputed.

Are you with me?

You say, I don't know if I agree with that.

Well, look at the Bible and study that a little bit.

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute what?

Sin.

Why?

Because the law was taken away, it was nailed to the cross, it was the schoolmaster when faith came, now the schoolmaster is done away.

But wait a minute, we are not lawless.

We are not without rules.

You say, what rules do we have now as Christians?

Verse 2.

The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

It is a set of rules, brethren, that is made by the Holy Spirit of God, bearing witness to our spirit.

Is that right?

Yes or no?

There is a set of rules.

There is a set of practical morality.

There is some rules that deal with holiness.

Look at Romans 9 and also pick up James chapter 2.

James 2 · chapter mention

You don't mind me going fast, do you?

Romans chapter 9 and James chapter 2.

Romans 9 · chapter mention James 2 · chapter mention

And by the way, you say, boy, this is foreign to me.

Let's study our Bibles together to where it becomes familiar to you so you know who your father is.

James chapter 2.

James 2 · chapter mention

Notice if you would, verse 12.

Verse 12.

So speak ye.

And so what?

Do.

James chapter 2, verse 12.

James 2:12

Everybody there?

James chapter 2.

James 2 · chapter mention

So speak ye and so what?

Do.

As they that shall be judged by the what?

Law of what?

Now listen up here, brethren.

There's a difference between a law of liberty and a law of sin and death.

Amen?

There's a huge difference between a law that condemns and was to bring us to Christ that we could never live, and a law of liberty.

The law of liberty is now what we're under as Christians, and the Holy Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ sets the rules, sets the guidelines.

But, brethren, you know what's the wonderful thing about a Christian?

We do have liberty.

We do have liberty.

Look at Galatians 5.

Galatians 5.

You're still holding your place in Romans chapter 9.

Romans 9 · chapter mention

Look at Galatians chapter 5, real quick.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

Isn't it great to have a Bible to teach us all this so we don't have to trust somebody on the radio that has changed the Bible so many times that he or she doesn't even know what they're talking about anymore?

Galatians chapter 5.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

Look what he says in verse number 1.

Stand fast, therefore, in the what?

In the liberty.

Remember that law of liberty that we're going to be judged by?

Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty, wherewith Christ has made us what?

Free.

And be not again entangled with the what?

Yoke of bondage.

That's that law of sin and death.

That's the law that was supposed to bring us to Christ.

And then it's done away in Christ.

It's nailed to the cross as we receive Christ individually as Savior.

And now we have the opportunity to stand in the liberty, and we have the freedom, if you would, to live above sin.

Now you say, wait a minute.

You talk about sinless perfection?

Well, I'm talking about the fact that we don't have to be under bondage.

I'm not under bondage to alcohol like I used to be.

I wasn't an alcoholic, per se.

And you say, well, then you didn't have a problem.

Oh, yeah, I did.

Social drinking was bad enough.

Amen.

Amen.

I haven't had the, I haven't had the desire to smoke pot in uh in uh two months.

I'm just kidding.

I'm just kidding, all right.

I'm just kidding.

You said, boy, you shouldn't jest about that.

All right.

I uh uh forgive me, Lord.

You'll see why that's important in a minute.

The idea, though, is this I'm supposed to stand fast, I'm supposed to stay put in the liberty wherein Christ has made me free and made you free and not be again entangled with that yoke of bondage.

So there is a set of rules.

It's the Holy Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

There is a set of morals, there is a set of principles.

Now, look if you would at Romans chapter 9.

Romans 9 · chapter mention

Stay with me.

Romans 9.

And would you also pick up 1 John chapter 1?

1 John 1 · chapter mention

You're doing well?

Romans chapter 9 and 1 John chapter 1.

Romans 9 · chapter mention 1 John 1 · chapter mention

Because I want to explain something to you about the Father.

Romans chapter 9 and 1 John.

Romans 9 · chapter mention

Now, if you're in the Gospel of John, you're in the wrong place.

1 John chapter 1.

1 John 1 · chapter mention

And notice something in Romans chapter 9, if you would.

Romans 9 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 9 says this.

Romans 9 · chapter mention

Verse 1.

I say the truth in Christ, I lie not.

My what?

Conscience.

Also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost.

Brother, the way this works is the Holy Spirit bears witness with our Spirit.

And our spirit is attached to something called the conscience.

Now, I need to explain to you what the conscience does.

Look at Romans chapter 2.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 2.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

All the answers are in here, amen.

Romans chapter 2.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

We don't have to sit there and dream in our imaginations.

It's all right in here.

Look at what the conscience does now.

Romans chapter 2.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

Look at verse 15.

Verse 15.

Which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their what?

Conscience also bearing witness.

And here's what the conscience does.

And their thoughts, the meanwhile, what?

Accusing or else what?

Excusing one another.

The conscience either accuses or excuses.

Let me give it to you in simple terms, brother.

When you're driving in your car, in the older cars, they used to have what we call idiot lights.

That's so the idiot in the car would know if something was wrong with the engine.

It's kind of like this.

You'd be driving along, and there'd be a little gauge that said oil.

And every once in a while the little red light came on to tell the idiot driving that he needed to add oil.

Is that right?

Yes or no?

The idea was the idiot light on that dashboard was like the conscience of the engine, saying, hey, if you don't take care of this situation here and put some oil in here, you're going to burn this engine up.

The idiot light either accuses us or what?

Excuses us.

Amen?

Well, that's what the conscience does inside of us.

And God put it in there to say, hey, idiot, you're doing something wrong.

Come on, amen.

I mean, the conscience is in there to say you're doing something wrong or you're doing something right.

It accuses us or excuses us.

So here's the way it works.

I'm not under the law of sin and death as a Christian, nor are you.

Sin is not imputed to me for our uh charge to us for salvation.

In fact, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us as Christians.

Amen?

When God sees us, he sees Christ.

So the idea, though, is after salvation, we are still under a set of law, under a set of rules to the Holy Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

It is a law of liberty.

We have liberty.

All things are lawful, but all things are not expedient.

And the idea is if we're not careful, we pass out of the fact that all things are lawful and we begin doing some things that the Holy Spirit says, I don't want you to do this.

This is grieving me.

This is quenching me, so I'm going to turn on the idiot light.

Stop it, idiot.

Now you say he wouldn't say that, all right?

He would say, My child.

If you're a man, he might say, knock it off.

If you're a woman, he might say, I'm not a woman, so I don't know what he said.

Got out of that one, amen.

But the idea, brother, is the Holy Spirit bears witness to our spirit, and our spirit, it passes through our conscience, and the conscience either says, You're doing right or you're doing wrong.

Now, stay with me.

If we're not careful, we live our lives like we drive our cars.

What do you mean?

Driving along, there's the idiot light.

Ah, no big deal.

I got I got time.

No big deal.

I mean, it's still it until it comes on all the time, and if it's just flashing at me, it's no big deal.

Come on, amen.

Now, some of you, you got it down, and I don't care.

Every 3,000 miles you faithfully change that oil, and that light never talks to you.

And that's that's a good driver, amen.

But if you're like the rest of some of us, we forget it.

And we see it come on, we go, that's no big deal.

Until I turn the car on and it's right there on and it stays on, that's when I got to do something about this thing, amen.

Come on, do you know what I'm talking about, some of y'all?

All right.

So the idea is some of us live our lives that way too.

I mean, a conscience bears witness to us and says, flick, flick, flick, you're doing wrong.

We go, oh well, we'll just presume upon God and everything will be fine.

We presume upon God's grace.

Look up here.

We presume upon God's grace sometimes, don't we?

We presume upon God's forgiveness sometimes.

And we just go on and say, I have liberty.

Ah, he's not gonna kill me.

I'm his child.

Look at 1 John chapter 1, stay with me.

1 John 1 · chapter mention

Look at 1 John chapter 1.

1 John 1 · chapter mention

And to a certain respect, brethren, that's true, but I want to show you something about the Father in just a moment.

1 John chapter 1, you're doing well this morning.

1 John 1 · chapter mention

Everybody in 1 John chapter 1?

1 John 1 · chapter mention

Everybody in 1 John chapter 1?

1 John 1 · chapter mention

Are you sitting here thinking, you know what, I better change the oil today in my car?

You're gonna burn out.

1 John chapter 1.

1 John 1 · chapter mention

Look if you would, brethren, at verse 3.

Here's the purpose of 1 John chapter 1, that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you.

1 John 1 · chapter mention

They say, we want you to know something.

That ye also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father.

He says, Listen, we want you to be in fellowship with us, and we're fellowshiping with the Father.

So ultimately, what they want is fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

And these things write we unto you that your joy may be what?

Hey, the reason we want to stay in fellowship with the Father and with the Son is because there's joy unspeakable and full of glory.

We walk in peace.

It's great.

There's nothing like driving your car and the engine's running right and everything's just good.

And when you need the power, you step on it and you go.

Now, if the idiot's light's on, and that red light's been on a while, and that oil's been draining down, you might step on the power and it might go.

And I mean rattle, shake, and you're stopped.

The point of what he's saying here is listen, we our fellowship with the Father, we want you to have fellowship with the Father, because if you do, your joy will be full.

That's why we're telling you something, verse 9.

If we do what?

Confess our sins.

You said, wait a minute.

I thought sin wasn't imputed when there is no law.

Wait a minute, I told you something.

I told you that we do have a law of the Holy Spirit of Christ, uh, life in Christ Jesus.

There is still the possibility that we can break fellowship with God.

There is a possibility, for example, if I went out and got drunk last night, I would have broken fellowship with God.

Amen?

And I'll guarantee you, the first sip, the idiot light would have come on.

The conscience would have said to me, You're doing wrong, Fisher.

The Holy Spirit would have borne witness to my spirit and said, You're not supposed to do that.

You're under a set of rules.

Don't do it.

Don't presume upon his grace, don't presume upon his love.

Stay in fellowship with him.

You're going to need his power.

If we confess our sins, he is what?

Faithful.

And just to do what?

Forgive us of all our sins to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And you know what we do sometimes?

Well, okay, if I do it, I'll just ask forgiveness and he'll forgive me.

Because the Bible says if I confess my sins to him, faithful, just forgive us our sins, he's got to cleanse me from all right and righteousness, and everything will be fine.

Now, let me show you something about our Father that I think we really need to know.

Look at Luke 17 and 2 Samuel 12.

Luke 17 and 2 Samuel 12.

I said all that to get where we're at right now.

If you say, I know all that, could you teach it to someone?

If some of that stuff is a little bit foreign to you, you ought to really study it out because it'll clarify in your mind these doctrinal heresies that are floating around.

Look at Luke 17 and 2 Samuel 12.

If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So what we have a tendency to do is when the light comes on, we just keep driving.

Luke 17.

Luke 17, 2 Samuel 12.

Now, God writes something here for our purpose because it shows you something about God.

Look at Luke 17, and you're holding your place in 2 Samuel 12.

Everybody okay this morning?

I mean all this in heaven too, amen?

Look at verse 3 of Luke 17.

Take what?

Take heed to yourselves.

If thy brother trespassed against thee, rebuke him.

And if repent, if he repent, do what?

Forgive him.

And if he trespassed against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day, turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt what?

Forgive.

Now you know another scripture says, if it's seventy times seven.

The idea is forgiveness is always there.

And here's what we think about.

If God tells me that if if Brother Howie Johnson does something against me, I'm to rebuke him.

And if he repents, I'm supposed to forgive him.

And as often as he asks forgiveness, I'm supposed to forgive him.

Amen?

And we think, well, if God asked us to do that, then God does that.

And God does every time.

I mean, if I ask him to forgive me, he forgives me.

But look at 2 Samuel 12.

Let me show you something about our Father.

2 Samuel 12.

David presumes upon God and has an affair with Bathsheba.

Do you know the story?

And then David, in order to try and cover up, has Uriah the Hittite, the wife of Bathsheba.

David sends a letter to Joab.

They set the husband in the hottest part of the battle.

And Uriah the Hittite dies.

And in God's mind, David was responsible for Uriah's death.

As well as the affair with his wife.

Now look at 2 Samuel 12, brethren, and watch this very carefully.

Look at verse 7.

And Nathan, here comes the prophet, here comes the conscience.

To tell David, red light, something's wrong here.

And Nathan said to David, Thou art the what?

The man.

What's going on here is Nathan has just told David a little bit of a parable about someone taking a you lamb, and Nathan, being the conscience here to David, says to David, Red light, you idiot, you're the man.

You say, now it doesn't say idiot.

I know, I'm just trying to keep you in mind of that little illustration.

Thus saith the Lord God of Israel.

Look what he says to David.

I anointed thee king over Israel.

I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul.

Hey, David, I gave thee thy master's house.

David, thy master's wives, into thine bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah.

Hey, David.

And if that had been too little, I would have more have overgiven thee such and such things.

Brethren, was God willing to give David everything?

Yes, sir.

Nathan pronounces judgment upon David, and look at verse 13.

And David said unto Nathan, I have what?

Sin.

You know what he does?

He acknowledges the conscience here.

He acknowledges the prophet and he said, I'm sinning.

Against the Lord.

And Nathan said unto David, look at this next little statement.

The Lord has also put away thy what?

Sin.

You ought to mark it down.

It's talking about forgiveness.

But the Lord hath put away thy sin.

Thou shalt not die.

Verse 14, the next word.

How be it?

Because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.

Now let me ask you a question.

Did God forgive David?

Yes or no?

Was there punishment after forgiveness?

Was there correction and chastisement after forgiveness?

Let me illustrate.

How many of you parents heard something that your child did maybe at school or men?

You knew that one of your boys had back talked the mother.

And you knew you had to spank the boy or spank the child.

But before you walked in to spank him, you'd already forgiven the child.

You weren't angry at him or her.

You weren't mad at him.

But you still said to the child, son, you need to learn to bend over.

And even though you had already forgiven the child and you weren't really angry at the child, you just didn't want the child to do that again.

This was not so much for you, it was for the child.

Come on.

Let me say it again.

You weren't spanking the child out of anger to say, this is gonna serve you right.

Don't ever do that to me again.

You were saying, I need to correct the child.

This is for the child's own well-being so they don't hurt themselves later.

And even though the child is already forgiven, you spank the child.

And then the child looks up and says, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.

Like, don't hit me again.

Out they go.

And within two hours, they do the same thing again.

Come on.

Is my child the only children the only one that does that?

You're you're looking at me like, well, you have terrible children, Pastor.

We bring them in again.

I'm not mad at the child, but I'm gonna correct the child.

The child gets down again.

I'm not doing this because me.

I you know what?

I got other things to do.

You know what I mean?

I'm tired of this.

I'd rather hug the child love, but the child.

Needs to be corrected.

Now, before we even start to spanking, the child says, Oh, forgive me, forgive me, forgive me, forgive me, forgive me.

And they really mean it.

And I say, You're forgiven.

Now bend over.

Come on, amen.

Look up here, please.

That's what God does to us.

Even though David was already received as being forgiven, there was punishment.

There was correction.

There was discipline.

Even though David already knew what he had done is wrong, God said, I know, but I'm going to teach you not to do it again.

You see, David, you're in leadership, and you've given my enemies a great occasion to blaspheme.

You've drugged my name through the mud.

You've hindered our work, and you're going to be corrected.

You say, You think God was mad at David?

I think God already forgave David.

But he spanked him anyways.

You say, well, how far did it go?

Look at verse 9.

Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight?

Hey, David, here's what you did.

And by the way, are we supposed to tell the child what they did wrong?

Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with a sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Anima.

David, that's what you did wrong.

Hey, brethren, please.

When you spank a child, you don't say, now, I'm going to let you guess what you did wrong.

When you correct a child, you don't say, Daddy, what's this for?

Guess.

Just guess.

Just guess.

Here, let me help you to refresh your memory.

Now, guess.

What was it, this?

No, that's not right.

Here, guess again.

God doesn't do it that way.

He doesn't do it that way.

He said to David, You killed Uriah, you took his wife.

And you've given our enemies an occasion to blaspheme.

Verse 10.

The punishment goes on for a while.

Now for, therefore, the sword shall never depart from thine house.

Because thou hast despised me and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.

What do you mean?

I'm telling you there's short-term punishment, and depending on the extent of the sin, there's long-term punishment.

You say you're just making all that up.

It's in the book.

There's short-term correction, but depending on the extent of the sin and the knowledge, there's more long-term also.

You say, what do you mean the sword shall never depart from his house?

Did God hold him to that?

Amnon.

Absalom.

Adonijah.

Study his life.

See, here's the thing.

Sometimes we as Christians think, oh, it's just affecting me.

Nobody else is going to be hurt.

Okay, so it's a presumptuous sin.

It's a secret fault.

I do it.

God knows I do it.

No big deal.

It is a big deal.

Yes, sir.

It's a bigger deal than what.

Well, but God forgives me, but that doesn't mean he doesn't chastise us, anyways.

See, if we're not careful, brother, the illustration here is we presume upon God like David did, knowing that God has grace and forgiveness, which he does.

But Brother Nathan showed up and said, You did wrong.

David said, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that.

And David said, All right, God, put away your sin.

You're not going to die.

But there's going to be short-term punishment.

And there's going to be some long-term repercussions.

Driving along, brethren, the oil light flickers on.

No big deal.

I'll just keep doing what I'm doing.

It comes on and it's glowing now.

That's no big deal.

I'll just keep doing what I'm doing.

Brethren, if we keep driving long enough, we burn out the engine.

And the car, something has to happen, a major overhaul, or the engine has to be changed.

And there's no power, and we just sit there dead in the water.

A Christian that the idiot light comes on, the conscient bears witness and said, You're doing wrong, you're doing wrong.

Stop presuming upon God.

Yes, he's going to forgive you, but listen, pull over, get this taken care of, change the oil, put some oil in, ask forgiveness, and let's get this thing right.

Otherwise, the repercussion is there's no power.

The Holy Spirit's grieved.

He's quenched.

We ask God for direction, and God says, Yeah, well, I've forgiven you.

Well, then why won't you deal with me?

Well, I've forgiven you, but you're gonna have to learn something.

Why won't you talk to me?

I've forgiven you.

But uh, you're gonna learn that I'm not playing games with you anymore.

You've been a Christian too long for that stuff to happen.

Amen?

You say, now wait a minute, how should we respond to that?

Just like David did.

Verse 20?

Verse 19.

But when David saw his servants whisper, look at it, please.

David perceived the child was dead, therefore David said to his servants, Is the child dead?

And they said, He's dead.

Well, what'd David do?

Then David arose from the earth, washed and anointed himself, changed his apparel, came into the house of the Lord, and did what?

Worship.

You know what happened?

David says, I'm not gonna motherly grub around this thing I did wrong, there was punishment, I'm going back, I'm getting changed up, I'm going back into God's house, and I'm gonna worship him again because God's right.

I mean, there comes a place, a point in time, brethren, if we presume upon God, He forgives us but punishes us anyways, that we have to get back up and say, God was right, I was wrong, it was for my own correction, I'm gonna get back at this thing, get going again, and do something for God and worship him again.

Not all Christians do that.

Some Christians get mad, get bitter, blame this, blame that.

I want to show you two more scriptures.

Look at 1 Timothy 4, last two scriptures.

1 Timothy 4 and 1 Peter chapter 2.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

1 Timothy 4, thank you for turning there in 1 Peter 2.

Now, brethren, we've all been guilty to a certain extent of this concept of presume upon God's grace.

So if you're sitting in here saying, Man, I feel terrible, well, may I say to you that all of us children are in the same boat as far as that goes.

We've all presumed upon his grace before and did things knowing that the Holy Spirit didn't want us to do it.

Amen?

Now wait a minute, I must say that again because you're you're you're deep in thought here.

1 Timothy chapter 4 and uh 1 Peter chapter 2.

1 Timothy 4 · chapter mention 1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

1 Timothy 4 and 1 Peter 2.

Now when you finish, we have all presumed upon God's grace and God's mercy and God's forgiveness, and we have all, as Christians, knowing that the Holy Spirit was up and even convicted our conscience about it, we have all been guilty of doing it anyways.

And God forgave us, and we've all, knowingly or unknowingly, even after He forgave us, been corrected by God.

Every one of us.

And if you're sitting there and said, That's never happened to me, you need to study your Bible and get to know the Father better.

Either that or you need to check your conscience out.

Hey, brethren, somebody says, I know how I'm gonna take care of that.

That oil light, that idiot light with that thing, I'm tired of that thing talking to me and and and convicting me and bothering me.

I'll take care of that.

And you pull the plug.

Now that gauge can't work.

There, I took care of that.

Brethren, let me uh let me let me just reason with you a minute.

If you pull the wires off the idiot light and that idiot light doesn't work, that still doesn't help the engine.

It's still gonna burn out.

Still gonna lose power.

You say, now what is that all about?

Look at 1 Timothy chapter 4.

1 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

Verse 1.

Now the spirit, capital S, speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith.

Giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, watch this, having their what?

Their idiot like seared with a hot iron.

What does that mean?

It means that we have the capability of shutting our conscience down.

No, better yet, let me say it this way: we have the ability to stop listening to our conscience.

The conscience still works.

We just stop listening to it.

Does anybody know what I'm talking about?

How many of you in an area, and be honest with you, I'll lift my hand.

How many of you, let's just be honest, you say, Oh, I don't want to lift my hand.

Somebody will know that I oh they'll know you're human.

They'll know that you're struggling sometimes like the rest of us.

How many of you, the Holy Spirit of God, you knew through your conscience, spoke to you, and you knew you weren't supposed to do something, but you got to the place where you almost got hardened to it.

And you seared it just a little bit in that one area because you still wanted to do it.

And I mean you know it's there and you know you're not supposed to, but every once in a while you still do it, you get hardened to it.

And just after you do it, you feel a little guilty and you say, God, forgive me.

But, you know, honestly, God, I'm saying forgive me, but there's a good possibility I'm gonna do it again.

Do you know what I'm talking about?

I need to tell you something about our daddy, our father.

Even though he forgives us, he's gonna spank us.

He's gonna correct us.

And depending on the extent of the sin and how much he wants to correct us, now you may say, what do you mean the extent of the sin?

Sin is sin.

Hey, brethren, now, now as a parent, there are certain sins my children do that is just a gentle reminder not to do it again.

And there are certain sins that they do that is a heavy pounds per square inch reminder not to do it again.

Come on.

I mean, if, which it hasn't happened, if my 15-year-old son got into my wife's wallet and took money out of there, that would be heavy pounds per square inch.

Amen?

Absolutely.

Now, if if uh if he told me he was going to do something and didn't do it, and I felt like he needed to be corrected, that might have just been, I forgot.

I might gently remind him, but it's not like stealing that from your mom.

Does that make sense?

I mean, you do have a different punishment for a different offense, don't you?

Well, same with God.

He looks at me now as a pastor and says, uh, Pastor Fisher, you don't get away with all the stuff you used to get away with when you were one year old in the Lord.

And you know there's certain things you don't do.

Or me and you going to the woodshed.

Oh, I forgave you, Pastor.

But you're still getting spanked.

And brethren, I know this already.

Hey, uh, if I went out and committed adultery and was removed from being pastor here, which is appropriate.

By the way, I'm clean, I'm clean, I'm real clean.

Not only would it impact this church, but it would impact my family.

And my children potentially long term.

Well, I just presumed upon God that He's gonna forgive me, anyways.

Ooh.

Careful.

Dangerous way of thinking.

Short-term punishment, but maybe long term too.

Still going to heaven, but not with the power, not with the blessings, not with the direction, maybe not with what God wanted me to do, because if I'm not careful, I get mad at God.

Well, it wasn't fair, other people have done it.

Yeah, but you were in a position of passion, but but other people did it, but you were in the position of passion, but other people did it, and if I'm not careful, I'll sear my conscience and cut it off to where I'm hardened to it and don't want to deal with it.

Now, brother, I have seen Christians do this.

I have seen them do it.

Uh let me tell you one other thing that they do that I've watched.

1 Peter.

Last scripture.

1 Peter, you're doing well this morning.

Why don't you turn to the last scripture?

We'll give you a t-shirt afterwards that says I turn to all the scriptures.

Amen.

1 Peter 2.

Watch this carefully because here's the next stage of this thing, and this is what if we're not careful, what we'll have a tendency to do.

1 Peter 2.

Verse 15.

For so is the will of God, that with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free.

That's us.

And not using your what?

Liberty for a what?

A cloak of maliciousness.

But as the servants of God, what do you mean a cloak?

Well, that's like saying and justifying in our mind and saying, well, I have liberty, I can do that if I want.

And we use the liberty that God has given us as a cloak to try and cover and justify.

Well, I'm not under the law of sin and death.

You know, I can do this and still not go to hell.

By the way, brethren, may I say that's true?

Once you're a Christian, once you're saved, if you've got your theology right and understand the book right, that the law was nailed to the cross, that that schoolmaster is done away by faith, that it's been taken out of the way, that sin's not imputed anymore, as far as salvation.

You're on your way to heaven.

But there is judgment in the law of liberty.

We will be judged for the things that we do in our body, whether it be good or bad, and we will be judged according to James chapter 2, according to the law of liberty.

James 2 · chapter mention

And what we did with it and how we used it.

And what the Bible says is stand fast, Christians, stand fast, stand fast in the liberty.

Stay within the rules, stay within the boundaries, stay within the barriers, stay in fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

Don't grieve him, don't quench him.

When the conscience gets on and the red light's flashing, put oil in it, respond, ask forgiveness, and stop doing it.

Because if we're not careful, we'll burn the engine out, mess up our lives, and justify it.

Sear our conscience and go out and live our rest of our life miserably.

I believe the most miserable people on the face of this earth are not those that are lost.

They will be miserable one day.

My personal opinion is just my opinion.

The most miserable people on the face of this earth are Christians who used to walk with God and fellowship with God and have God's power and have God's blessing and have God's direction and watched that idiot and watched it and watched it and watched it and didn't respond to it and didn't respond to it and just said, I'll forget about my conscience and and cut themselves off from that conscience and went out and did what they wanted to do now and living their own life away from God and now they may say to you that now everything's fine.

It's no big deal.

Everything's fine.

I'm fine, I'm fine.

But in practicality, in reality, they miss God's voice, they miss his presence in their life, they miss his fellowship, they miss giving God praise and worship.

They long for him to give them direction again.

As long as they use their freedom and liberty as a cloak, God will continue to chasten.

But I do have to tell you this: God's more interested in the hugs than in the spanking.

To present God any other way would be wrong.

God's more interested in the end of the thing to where the child says, Lord, I'm sorry, I'm back, I'll not do it again.

Come here, son.

Let's get going again.

To present God as a God that spanks and walk away and says, I'm finished with you, is not what I see.

As I read my Bible, I see him trying to correct us for our own good.

I see him trying to bring us back into fellowship again.

I see him loving us, and I see what he wants us to be when we've done wrong and he's forgiven us and he corrects us.

It's time to get up, clean up, and go back to him and worship him.

Just like David did.

And get back with it again.

Get going again.

Now I make a statement to you and I finish.

You wouldn't be here this morning if your conscience was seared.

Oh, I I think my conscience seared.

No, you wouldn't be here if your conscience was seared.

Let me say it again.

No, no, no.

I think I'm close to having my conscience seared.

You wouldn't be here if your conscience was seared.

And you wouldn't be feeling so bad right now if your conscience wasn't working.

I just I came to church and I walked away and I feel terrible.

Good.

What a blessing.

What a blessing to have an idiot light that works.

What a blessing to have an oil light that comes on.

You say, what's the solution?

Change the oil.

Add oil.

Get right again.

You say, what if I wait?

You might burn out a piston.

Engine could be fine, but the piston needs to be replaced.

Well, what if I wait and wait and wait and wait?

Whole engine burns up.

What happens?

The car stops.

Then what?

You get out and walk.

Then what?

You get miserable.

Dumb car.

Dumb old car?

Better to say dumb old driver.

Brethren, it's not so much the body, it's the owner of the body.

Oh, I know in this body there's flesh and sin and all that.

But brethren, we have a conscience and we have a spirit inside that can overcome it.

I believe that with all my heart.

We are to be free.

That's where God wants us to live in liberty.

Most of you haven't, most of us haven't gone so far to where, I mean, uh, we're so far out there that, you know, we've gone through this great turmoil and God and all.

Most of us haven't done that.

But what we need to do is this we need to look at this message and say, I need to stop presuming upon God's grace.

And rather than just say, I'm gonna do it anyways, what I need to say is, God, I don't want to do it.

Make me sick of it.

Stop me.

Withhold me from doing it, take the desire away so I can stay in fellowship with you.

I truly do want to let it go and be done with it.

If you've already gone into a situation where it presumed and did it anyways, then please do this.

Accept the punishment, accept the chastisement.

It's not because he hates you, it's because he loves you.

And then when it's all finished, wash ourselves, clean ourselves up, change our arrangement, get back into church, get back into ministry, get back into fellowship, get back into prayer, and worship God.

And don't go around saying, well, I can never do this or I can never do that because of this, because of that.

God's grace is way above that.

God's mercy is way above all that.

And I make this statement, I should close.

Brethren, you may know somebody.

And if you're gonna pray for them, that's one thing.

But if you're gonna condemn them, Then that's not our job.

If you know somebody to say, boom, I know somebody like that, and I think their conscience is seared, and and and then and even if they hurt you, if you're gonna pray for them, pray for them despite for if you're gonna pray for them, then that's okay.

But if you're gonna say that deserves that person right, then you need to get that person out of your mind.

Can I say that one more time?

Are you listening?

Now, talk to me.

Are you listening?

I'm gonna walk up here just for a moment because it's important.

Are y'all listening?

Y'all listening up there?

If you're condemning someone in your mind for what they did to you and hoping for their destruction, then you need to get that person out of your mind because that's not your job.

Leave that to God.

But if someone's done something to you or you know somebody and you say, boy, I just want to see them get restored, then pray for them.

Hey, uh Doug, come here.

I want to tell you something about our dad that you don't know.

I'm gonna tell you something about him, and I want you to always remember this.

And I'm four years older than you, and I know dad a little bit better, so let me let me tell you something about him.

And I'll still never forget a few times that my brother came to me and said, Let me tell you something about dad.

And it taught me something about him.

Brother, and I hope this morning that you learned something about the father.

And you say, Well, I don't know if I agree with that.

Well, study it out.

Because I think you'll see that the father left the book to say, I want you to know who I am.

I want you to know how I work, I want you to know how I work, how I serve, how I how I deal with my children.

I want you to know.

I don't want you to be in the dark on it.

I don't want you to be surprised.

I want you to know.

Why?

Because I want you to have fellowship.

I want to bless you.

I want to make your engine run smooth.

I want to be there with power.

I want you to abide.

I want to bless you.

I want to give you direction.

I want to help you.

But there are rules.

Okay, so the law of sin and death is take it out of the way, but I'm going to give you a law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, the law of liberty.

Don't use it as a cloak, use it the right way.

It's to keep you walking the right way so you don't destroy yourself and hinder the work.

Are you mad at me or are you thinking?

How many of y'all mad at me?

How many y'all thinking?

How many y'all shut your mind off about a half an hour ago?

Brethren, we've got a gracious, gracious Heavenly Father.

Let's not take advantage of his grace because he will not be taken advantage of.

Tooken?

Taken.

Took and taken?

He's not going to have it.

Grace?

Sure.

Mercy?

Absolutely.

Forgiveness?

Yes.

Chastisement.

Why?

Because he enjoys it?

Because he knows we need it.

After it's done?

Get back up.

Worship God.

Learn.

Go walk.

Let's all stand.

You've been sitting for a while.

I've been standing.

Look right up here.

You're doing well this day.

Well, if we're going to get chastened, then why ask forgiveness?

Because it's important for him to know that we know what we did wrong.

Well, if he's supposed to forgive, why does he just?

I mean, forgiveness is you forgive it, and that's it.

I mean, you're forgiven, so there's the punishment.

Wait a minute.

If you forgive me, then you're not going to punish me.

And that's the way a lot of Christians think.

I'll just ask God forgiveness, and then he won't punish me.

You need to get to know the Father better.

He's a righteous God that knows what his children need.

Maybe today you don't even know our Father is your Father.

Maybe you don't know if Jesus Christ is your personal Savior.

Or maybe today God has been working with you in an area.

And maybe you just want us to talk to him a little bit and have some time of fellowship.

Maybe there's some things we've been presuming upon him that he says, all right, now.

There it is.

It's spelled out.

Now please stop it.

Or maybe we presumed and we went into it too far and it's to the place where even though we've asked forgiveness, he's got to correct us.

Or maybe we've already been corrected and now it's time to get back up and get going again.

Wherever you're at, wouldn't hurt this morning.

To say something like this, Father, thank you for caring enough about me as an individual to deal with me personally, to make me what I should be.