DISCERNING GOOD AND EVIL

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DISCERNING GOOD AND EVIL

• Hebrews 512-14

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Hebrews 512-14

• For though by this time you ought to be teachers,
  you need someone to teach you again the first
  principles of the oracles of God and you have
  come to need milk and not solid food. For
  everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled
  in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
  But solid food belongs to those who are of full
  age, that is, those who by reason of use have
  their senses exercised to discern both good and
  evil.

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DISCERNING GOOD AND EVIL

1. IS IT CONDEMNED IN GOD'S WORD?
2. WILL IT HARM ME SPIRITUALLY?
3. WILL IT HARM ME PHYSICALLY?
4. WILL IT LEAD OTHERS INTO SIN?

4
DISCERNING GOOD AND EVIL

1. WILL IT VIOLATE MY CONSCIENCE?

5
Romans 1422-23

• Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before
  God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in
  what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned
  if he eats, because he does not eat from faith
  for whatever is not from faith is sin.

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DISCERNING GOOD AND EVIL

1. WILL IT VIOLATE MY CONSCIENCE?
2. IS IT A WASTE OF TIME and/or MONEY?

7
Ephesians 514-16

• Therefore He says "Awake, you who sleep, Arise
  from the dead, And Christ will give you light."
• See then that you walk circumspectly, not as
  fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because
  the days are evil.

Failure to Walk Circumspectly is a Waste of Time!
8
Luke 1216-19

• Then He spoke a parable to them, saying "The
  ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.
  And he thought within himself, saying, 'What
  shall I do, since I have no room to store my
  crops?' So he said, 'I will do this I will pull
  down my barns and build greater, and there I will
  store all my crops and my goods. And I will say
  to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up
  for many years take your ease eat, drink, and
  be merry."'

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Luke 1220-21

• "But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul
  will be required of you then whose will those
  things be which you have provided?'
• "So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and
  is not rich toward God."

Laying Up Treasure for Yourself is a Waste of
Money!
10
1 Timothy 617-19

• Command those who are rich in this present age
  not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain
  riches but in the living God, who gives us richly
  all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they
  be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to
  share, storing up for themselves a good
  foundation for the time to come, that they may
  lay hold on eternal life.

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DISCERNING GOOD AND EVIL

• WILL IT VIOLATE MY CONSCIENCE?
• IS IT A WASTE OF TIME and/or MONEY?
• WILL IT HURT MY INFLUENCE?

12
Matthew 513

• "You are the salt of the earth but if the salt
  loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is
  then good for nothing but to be thrown out and
  trampled underfoot by men."

13
Matthew 514-16

• "You are the light of the world. A city that is
  set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light
  a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a
  lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in
  the house. Let your light so shine before men,
  that they may see your good works and glorify
  your Father in heaven."

14
1 Timothy 412

• Let no one despise your youth, but be an example
  to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in
  spirit, in faith, in purity.

15
DISCERNING GOOD AND EVIL

• WILL IT VIOLATE MY CONSCIENCE?
• IS IT A WASTE OF TIME and/or MONEY?
• WILL IT HURT MY INFLUENCE?
• WILL IT PUT ME IN BAD COMPANY?

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1 Corinthians 1533

• Do not be deceived "Evil company corrupts good
  habits."

17
DISCERNING GOOD AND EVIL

• WILL IT VIOLATE MY CONSCIENCE?
• IS IT A WASTE OF TIME and/or MONEY?
• WILL IT HURT MY INFLUENCE?
• WILL IT PUT ME IN BAD COMPANY?
• WOULD I BE ASHAMED OF DOING IT?

18
John 319-20

• "And this is the condemnation, that the light has
  come into the world, and men loved darkness
  rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
  For everyone practicing evil hates the light and
  does not come to the light, lest his deeds should
  be exposed."

19
Hebrews 413

• And there is no creature hidden from His sight,
  but all things are naked and open to the eyes of
  Him to whom we must give account.

20
DISCERNING GOOD AND EVIL

• WILL IT VIOLATE MY CONSCIENCE?
• IS IT A WASTE OF TIME and/or MONEY?
• WILL IT HURT MY INFLUENCE?
• WILL IT PUT ME IN BAD COMPANY?
• WOULD I BE ASHAMED OF DOING IT?
• WILL I BE SEEKING FIRST GODS KINGDOM?

21
Matthew 631-33

• "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we
  eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we
  wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles
  seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you
  need all these things. But seek first the kingdom
  of God and His righteousness, and all these
  things shall be added to you."

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SEEKING FIRST GODS KINGDOM

• Putting God first will enable you to avoid living
  a dull life.
• Look again at Matthew 625.
• "Is not life more than food, and the body than
  clothing?" (625)
• Placing all the emphasis on the physical betrays
  a false view of human beings, as if they were
  only bodies needing to be fed, watered, clothed,
  and housed, and of human life, as if life were
  merely some sort of physical existence.

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SEEKING FIRST GODS KINGDOM

• An exclusive preoccupation with food, drink, and
  clothing could be justified if physical survival
  were the be-all and end-all of existence. We just
  live to live.
• The preoccupation with the material side of life
  downgrades human beings, but dont most people in
  our society think that physical well being is the
  goal?
• Putting God first, frees a person to seek far
  more noble and worthy goals than working so they
  can retire.

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SEEKING FIRST GODS KINGDOM

• It is sad that so many people miss a lifetime of
  wonderful opportunities because their eyes are
  fixed on this earth.
• The Christian has been freed, by putting God
  first, to go out and pursue things that will last
  into eternity, to accomplish things that will
  really matter in the end, to accomplish something
  that will have eternal value, and to develop a
  character that can withstand the setbacks of life
  and will be honored in eternity.

25
1 Peter 16-7

• In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a
  little while, if need be, you have been grieved
  by various trials, that the genuineness of your
  faith, being much more precious than gold that
  perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be
  found to praise, honor, and glory at the
  revelation of Jesus Christ.

26
2 Peter 15-7

• But also for this very reason, giving all
  diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue
  knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to
  self-control perseverance, to perseverance
  godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and
  to brotherly kindness love.

27
2 Peter 18-9

• For if these things are yours and abound, you
  will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the
  knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who
  lacks these things is shortsighted, even to
  blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed
  from his old sins.

28
2 Peter 110-11

• Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to
  make your call and election sure, for if you do
  these things you will never stumble for so an
  entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into
  the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior
  Jesus Christ.

29
SEEKING FIRST GODS KINGDOM

• It may very well be that most Christians do not
  believe that, if they put God first in their
  lives, He will provide to them all of His
  promises....

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DISCERNING GOOD AND EVIL

• WILL IT VIOLATE MY CONSCIENCE?
• IS IT A WASTE OF TIME and/or MONEY?
• WILL IT HURT MY INFLUENCE?
• WILL IT PUT ME IN BAD COMPANY?
• WOULD I BE ASHAMED OF DOING IT?
• WILL I BE SEEKING FIRST GODS KINGDOM?
• WILL IT PROMOTE RIGHT THINKING?

31
Philippians 48

• Finally, brethren, whatever things are true,
  whatever things are noble, whatever things are
  just, whatever things are pure, whatever things
  are lovely, whatever things are of good report,
  if there is any virtue and if there is anything
  praiseworthy--meditate on these things.

32
Matthew 1519

• "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,
  murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false
  witness, blasphemies."

33
Psalm 11-2

• Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel
  of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of
  sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful
  But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in
  His law he meditates day and night.

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DISCERNING GOOD AND EVIL

• WILL IT VIOLATE MY CONSCIENCE?
• IS IT A WASTE OF TIME and/or MONEY?
• WILL IT HURT MY INFLUENCE?
• WILL IT PUT ME IN BAD COMPANY?
• WOULD I BE ASHAMED OF DOING IT?
• WILL I BE SEEKING FIRST GODS KINGDOM?
• WILL IT PROMOTE RIGHT THINKING?
• WILL I BE FOLLOWING CHRIST'S EXAMPLE?

35
1 Peter 218-20

• Servants, be submissive to your masters with all
  fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also
  to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because
  of conscience toward God one endures grief,
  suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if,
  when you are beaten for your faults, you take it
  patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if
  you take it patiently, this is commendable before
  God.

36
1 Peter 221-23

• For to this you were called, because Christ also
  suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you
  should follow His steps "Who committed no sin,
  Nor was deceit found in His mouth" who, when He
  was reviled, did not revile in return when He
  suffered, He did not threaten, but committed
  Himself to Him who judges righteously

37
1 Peter 224

• who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the
  tree, that we, having died to sins, might live
  for righteousness--by whose stripes you were
  healed.

38
2 Corinthians 48-11

• We are hard pressed on every side, yet not
  crushed we are perplexed, but not in despair
  persecuted, but not forsaken struck down, but
  not destroyed-- always carrying about in the body
  the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of
  Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we
  who live are always delivered to death for Jesus'
  sake, that the life of Jesus also may be
  manifested in our mortal flesh.

39
Galatians 617

• From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in
  my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

40
DISCERNING GOOD AND EVIL

1. IS IT CONDEMNED IN GOD'S WORD?
2. WILL IT HARM ME SPIRITUALLY?
3. WILL IT HARM ME PHYSICALLY?
4. WILL IT LEAD OTHERS INTO SIN?
5. WILL IT VIOLATE MY CONSCIENCE?
6. IS IT A WASTE OF TIME and/or MONEY?

41
DISCERNING GOOD AND EVIL

1. WILL IT HURT MY INFLUENCE?
2. WILL IT PUT ME IN BAD COMPANY?
3. WOULD I BE ASHAMED OF DOING IT?
4. WILL I BE SEEKING FIRST GODS KINGDOM?
5. WILL IT PROMOTE RIGHT THINKING?
6. WILL I BE FOLLOWING CHRIST'S EXAMPLE?