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Oh Thank you. Bye. Thank you. you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you we're gonna take a couple weeks break, you know, today we're gonna have a sermon on the Lord's Supper, next week the obligatory sermon on the resurrection, you know, so we're gonna take a break from false philosophies, but we'll keep it going then in a couple weeks, information on our group chat, and on the back we do have a place for sermon notes for both sermons here today, I believe that's it for announcements, we'll have Brother Rafi lead us in another song. Take it. You're the old dark valley, Jesus, but you never spoke of soul. You never spoke of soul. You never spoke of soul. You're the old dark valley, Jesus, but you never spoke of soul. You never spoke of soul. You never spoke of soul. You never spoke of soul. You never spoke of soul. You never spoke of soul. You never spoke of soul. You never spoke of soul. You never spoke of soul. You never spoke of soul. You never spoke of soul. You never spoke of soul. You never spoke of soul. You never spoke of soul. You never spoke of soul. You never spoke of soul. Let us open our Bibles to Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13. As is our custom, we are going to read the whole chapter. Romans 13. Please say amen when you're there. Please say amen when you're there. For they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all that use, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. O no man anything but to love one another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, thou shall not commit adultery, thou shall not kill, thou shall not steal, thou shall not be a false witness, thou shall not covet. And if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. And that knowing the time, that now is a tight time to wake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is fast spent, the day is at hand, let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us work honestly, as in the day, not in a rioting and drunkenness, not in shambling and wantonness, not in strife and envy, but put ye on the law of Jesus Christ, and make not through vision for the flesh, to fulfill the last of all. Let us pray. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for this book and for the chapter, Lord. Please bless this church service. Please help everyone to come here. And please help us in this time, and I pray only in your name, Jesus Christ. Amen. Right, we're here in Romans chapter 13, and we're going to finish the chapter here today. And we covered half this chapter, I guess, last week, and I was talking about government and authority structure. And whenever you think of Romans 13, you just immediately think of, you know, the first couple verses, because a lot of people talk about it, there's a lot of debate. But actually, this chapter is very packed with great information, and I thought I would be doing a disservice not to preach on the rest of the chapter. And the name of the sermon is Love in Action. Love in Action. And so point number one is this, love fulfills the law. Love fulfills the law. We're going to start at verse number eight. It says in Romans 13, verse eight, Owe no man anything but to love one another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. So according to the Bible, the only thing we owe our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, the only thing we owe other people is this, just to love other people. Love one another. And if you love, then you have fulfilled the law, the Bible says. So by fulfilling this, by loving, you're going to fulfill all of what's contained in God's law. Now, here's what's interesting. Every religion in the world is going to say the same thing. You just need to love one another, right? It's all about just love, just having love for your fellow man. Everybody would agree with that, but they disagree on what that actually means. Because according to the Bible, if you love one another, you fulfill the law, meaning the commandments that are written in this book. By obeying those commandments, you're fulfilling the law. Because the world likes to say love is just some emotional feeling. It's like, oh, I love this, and I love that, and then there's no actions to back it up. Right? Everybody in this country would say they love God, right? Do they read the Bible? Do they go to church? Do they memorize the Bible? Do they go soul winning? I'm afraid I don't see any actions to back that up. I mean, you say you love something, and then there's no actions. Because here's the thing. In the Bible, love implies action. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. He showed His love by actually sacrificing His Son, and His Son died for us. So love is not just a feeling, but I want you to realize number one is this. Love fulfills the law, and if you have proper love for one another, you will obey the commandments. What's an example? Well, verse 9. For this, thou shalt not commit adultery. So let's say, for example, you're a married person, and you're thinking about cheating on your spouse. Here's the thing. If you have proper love for your spouse, are you going to cheat? No, because you have proper love. So by having proper love, you will fulfill the law. Or if you're a single person, and let's say you're interested in another man's wife, you know, if you have proper love for that man, you're not going to commit adultery with his wife. Because you have proper love. So by having proper love, you're going to actually obey what's written in the Bible. Because here's the thing. All the commandments can be broken into two categories. Love for God, love for man. Love for God, love for man. And look, thou shalt not commit adultery is about your love to other people. And if you love other people, you're not going to commit that wicked sin. Okay? And so it says, thou shalt not commit adultery. Then it says this, thou shalt not kill. So look, obviously, you know, murder's wrong. Here's the thing. I hope you've never had this thought. But if inside of your heart you're saying, man, I really want to kill somebody, if you have proper love for them, are you going to do that? No. It shouldn't just be, well, you know what, I'm afraid of getting punished by the government. That's what's stopping me. No, you should have proper love for one another. And even if you have hatred for your brother Abel, you're not going to do it. Why? Because you care about other people. Think about Cain killing Abel. Cain harmed Abel. Cain also harmed Adam and Eve as well, his parents. And so when you commit sin, you are harming other people whether you realize it or not. And Cain would say, I just hate Abel. I'm just mad at Abel because Abel was accepted by God. Well, you show no love for your parents because you've destroyed their lives as well. So here's the thing. If we have love for one another, we're actually going to obey what's written in the Bible. Thou shalt not kill. Another example, thou shalt not steal. I mean, if you have love for other people, you're not going to steal from them, even if you had that opportunity. Right? I mean, it amazes me in today's world, there's a lot of Internet scams out there to try to take all of your money in your bank accounts. I mean, there's a ton of them. And, you know, they've gotten very dangerous because I've heard they'll send you emails and you don't even have to click just by opening the email they can get your information in order to be able to steal from it. And I just think in my head, how could somebody be that wicked? They're stealing money from somebody they do not know. They don't know what that money is required for. They don't know why they need that money. And they're willing to just steal from somebody else's pocket. And look, I did have money stolen in the U.S. from my bank account. I got the money back. But, you know, it was pretty terrifying. Right? To have your money gone, it's like, I need that money. Okay? And it's like, it's all gone in an instance, and it's just like, how could somebody be that wicked? And yet, stealing's a big problem. There's a reason why God has these commandments because they are issues. But if you have proper love for another person, are you going to steal from them? No, because you love them. Right? Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Look, when you lie, the reason why you lie is to cover up for something for yourself. The reason why you lie is because you care about yourself. That's the only reason why you lie. You don't care about other people when you're lying. You're lying because you're either trying to make yourself look good, or you're going to try to cover up for something that you don't want people to be aware of. Look, you're caring only about yourself. Sin harms other people, but if you had proper love for one another, even if you wanted to lie, even if you didn't want to tell the truth, you would tell the truth because you actually care about other people. Thou shalt not covet. Covet is when you desire something that doesn't belong to you. Okay? And so, coveting is something that's going to lead to bigger sins. So it's wrong to covet something that belongs to somebody else. That could end up leading to big sins. Now, if you notice the ones that are being listed here, you're pretty much looking at the back half of the Ten Commandments. Right? I mean, that's exactly what you're seeing, just not quite in the exact same order. It's like the back half of the Ten Commandments. And when you think of the Ten Commandments, the last five commandments are 100% related to your love toward man. The first four are related toward your love for God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Those four commandments are directly related to God. Number five, honor thy father and thy mother. Well, I mean, obviously your physical father and mother, but also as a believer, your heavenly father. So it's sort of an intermediate commandment. Right? It kind of sets you from God to man. And then number six, thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Right? Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not covet. So here's the thing. The last half of the Ten Commandments are 100% related to your love for your fellow man. If you have love for your fellow man, you're not going to break the commandments. And the Ten Commandments are just a small template of everything that God commands you. But all of those commandments can be summed up in one of two things. Love for God. Love for man. OK? Thou shalt not covet. And if there be any other covet, commandment, if there be any other commandment, all the hundreds of commandments in the Bible, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. OK? So if you love your neighbor as yourself, you're going to obey the law. Do you see how love fulfills the law? Just like the Bible says. Go to Matthew 22. Matthew 22. Matthew 22. You know, the reason why this is important and we're going to look at some verses later on to talk about this in general, people are really concerned about trying to love God, especially as Christians. You want to do what's right to obey God. I need to read the Bible because God tells me to read the Bible. And I love God. I need to go to church. I need to go soul winning because God wants me to do that. But we should also think of things and realize, do you love your fellow man? It's not just about a love for God. It's also a love for man. And even if you just look at it as a love for God, well, God commands you to love your neighbor as yourself. OK? And if we had the proper love for God, man, we would fulfill everything that's written in the Bible. We wouldn't commit sins. We sin because we don't care about other people, but we care about ourselves. Matthew 22, verse 35. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? So you got this lawyer that's coming up to him and he's trying to basically trick Jesus. He's trying to get Jesus to say something that's, you know, wrong and make him look foolish or whatever. And this man's a lawyer. Now, look, I'm assuming this is like a trial lawyer, right? Because there's different types of lawyers. Some lawyers just read documents and just do paperwork. Some lawyers are like trial lawyers. I think this guy's a trial lawyer, right? He's trying to make Jesus look bad. And guess what? Trial lawyers are awesome at debating. That's what they do, right? It's like they're just trying to make the other side look wrong. I mean, they're awesome at debating and arguing and everything. So this lawyer is an expert at basically winning arguments. Because here's the thing. You know, you have a court case. The side that's right doesn't always win. I mean, the most classic example, which, you know, in the U.S., a famous murder trial was the O.J. Simpson murder trial. And, I mean, everybody knew O.J. Simpson murdered his wife and her new husband or new boyfriend or whatever. But he got off as innocent, right? If the glove don't fit, then you must have quit, right? But everybody knew he was guilty of murder. But, you know, his lawyers were just, it was like, I think it was Kim Kardashian's father was like the lawyer or something like that. But he was just really good at debating, just really good at arguing, right? But everybody knew he murdered. But, I mean, he was innocent in the criminal lawsuit, but he was guilty in the civil lawsuit. So he had to pay tens of millions of dollars because he murdered, but he was innocent in the criminal lawsuit. I mean, there's something wrong with our court systems, right? But this guy's obviously an expert at debating, and he's asking Jesus, what is the great commandment? He wants Jesus to say something like, thou shalt not kill is the great commandment. And then he's going to respond, well, then why is that just the sixth commandment? I mean, if it's so great, why is it not number one? Or if he said, you know, thou shalt have no other gods before me, he might say something like, okay, well, then you're not going to have any love for other people. You might commit all these other sins because you're so focused on just, you know, having no gods. And so this is the response of Jesus. Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. So Jesus says the first commandment is about loving God, and the first half of the Ten Commandments are about loving God. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. So he says everything can be summed up in just loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself. The second is like unto it because these things are attached. You can't say you love God when you don't love your neighbor as yourself. These things are attached, the Bible talks about. And on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. What does that mean? It means the entire Old Testament hangs on love God and love your neighbor as yourself. All the law, Exodus through Deuteronomy, but pretty much the first five books of the Bible, Genesis through Deuteronomy, and the prophets, think about the major prophets and the minor prophets. And in sundry times, in times past, God spake through the prophets and in diverse ways. But basically it's saying all of the Bible hinges on the fact love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Okay, turn to John 13, John 13, John chapter 13. Now the problem is people look at love as just a feeling and so they'll walk away and say, well I do love God, I do love my neighbor as myself. But there's actually going to be a litmus test later on in the sermon. The Bible's actually going to tell us, well we're going to find out if you actually love your neighbor as yourself. It's actually going to give us the way. John 13, verse 34. A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. Now you say, brother Stuckey, why does this say a new commandment? Because weren't we supposed to love our neighbor as ourselves all the way back to the book of Leviticus where it's quoted from? Yes. All the way back to Leviticus, the chapter in between the death penalty for the home-olds, right? 18 and chapter 20. Chapter 19, right? Loving your neighbor as yourself. That was from the very beginning we were supposed to love our neighbor as ourselves. But the reason why it's a new commandment is because he says, as I have loved you. See here's the thing, Jesus gave us a perfect example and before Jesus Christ came, before he was born of the Virgin Mary, there was no perfect example. So in like 1 John it talks about the old commandment and the new commandment back to back because this was from the very beginning, love your neighbor as yourself. However, Jesus says, the new part is that you love one another as I have loved you. He's saying, I am giving you the example of perfect love and this is a new commandment because you don't have that example yet, right? Jesus, even before he died on the cross, he laid down his life for other people. He was a servant. He was a minister. His life was not about himself. It was about other people. And he said, you know what? I want you to love other people in the way that I've loved you. Lay down your life for other people. By this shall all men know that you're my disciples if you have loved one to another. Now people would take verses like 35 and say, well see, to be saved you've got to love one another. You've got to live a good life. You've got to obey the commandments. I don't know about you, but I just read this verse. Let me read it again. Maybe I missed it. By this shall all men know that you're saved. Is that what your Bible says? Does your Bible says by this you shall know if people are saved and on their way to heaven? Because my Bible doesn't say that. It says that you're my disciples. You say, well, don't you have to be a disciple to be saved? Where does it say that in the Bible? I mean, not even all the disciples were saved. Judas Iscariot is in hell today, okay? Being a disciple is a follower of Jesus Christ. And Judas followed, but he didn't believe in his heart. And people can believe and not follow. Here's the thing. To be saved, you just believe. To be a disciple, you believe and you show love for one another. That's not salvation, though, okay? He says people shall know you're my disciples if you have love one to another. If you're showing through your actions, people would look at your life and say, that person's a disciple of Christ. That person's a follower of Christ. That person loves God. That has nothing to do with getting to heaven, though. You say you don't have to love God to go to heaven. No, you don't. You don't have to love God to go to heaven. Where does the Bible say you have to love God to go to heaven? All you have to do is believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And, look, the proof of love is your actions. Most people that are saved don't love God. Most people that are saved, they're not serving God. It doesn't mean that they're not saved, though, okay? Go to Galatians, chapter 5. Galatians 5. The second church I went to after I was saved that I was really a member of for a while, I was there for a year, and the pastor turned out to be a Calvinist, Lordship Salvation, Repentance of Sins, the whole nine yards. You guys know where I'm coming from, many of you. You have that same sort of background. And so it's like I assumed for a while at the church, like he said some things in sermons after a while where I was like, yeah, that doesn't quite sound right, but I was like, we believe the same thing, though. We both believe in eternal security. It's a free gift, right? And I just assumed it was a matter of semantics or wording, and probably many of you felt the same way at your old church. It's like it's probably just a matter of like the wording's a little bit different. Like I wouldn't say it like that, but it doesn't mean he's not saving everything. And then all of a sudden when we left the church and he gave like his defense on why you have to repent of your sins, it was like, man, he sounds like he's a Catholic. I mean, he's quoting James 2 and all these chapters that every unsaved church would say. And one of his big points, probably his biggest one was he'd show all these verses, you can't be my disciple unless you obey my commandments. It's like, what does that have to do with salvation? I mean, Judas was a disciple. The Bible does not say believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you're saved, and that's the same thing as a disciple. It doesn't say that, okay? The only thing you need to do to be saved is believe. That's what the Bible teaches. Galatians 5 verse 13, For brethren, you have been called on to liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion in the flesh, but by love serve one another. When we get saved, we enter into the liberty and the freedom that's found in Christ. You are saved and on your way to heaven, and you have your own free will to do whatever you want in life. You'll still go to heaven. However, don't use that liberty for an occasion in the flesh. Don't say, well, you know, I got this get out of jail free card, so I'm going to go out and do whatever I want. Now, you literally do have a get out of jail free card. You literally are on your way to heaven, and nothing can change that if you believe. However, God also commands you, don't use it for an occasion in the flesh, but by love serve one another. Care about other people. Love your neighbors yourself. Don't take advantage of the situation, basically. And here's the thing. If you choose not to love your neighbors yourself, you're just going to destroy your own life. That's reality. If you say, well, Brother Stuckey, I'm saved, so I can do whatever I want. I'm just going to drink. I'm going to party. I'm going to do whatever. You're just going to destroy your life. You think it's all fun and games, but sin pleasures for a season, the Bible says. And then you're going to hate your life. You're going to be miserable, and you're going to be picking up the pieces of a destroyed life, okay? Verse 14, For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. It's the same idea, right? That if you love your neighbor as yourself, then you're going to fulfill the law. You're not going to commit those sins that are going to get you thrown in jail if you have love for other people, if you actually care about people. And, you know, you look at situations. You know, back in 2020 in the U.S., there was all this rioting and looting, and basically these people would just, you know, steal from businesses. And a lot of these businesses were just small little business owners that lost everything, and people were just stealing from them. Here's the thing. If they actually loved and cared about those people, they wouldn't have done it. I mean, you steal from a small business owner and destroy his business? Some of those videos were sad. You'd see this guy that would be screaming, because it was this big thing about, well, you know, the white man's bad, right? We've got to destroy the white man. And there's this video where they burn down a building, and they just assume it's a business owner. It was a black person who owned the business. And he's, like, crying. I mean, this is literally a video, and he's crying on the street and just screaming out saying, I've spent decades building this business, and you have a bunch of selfish people that only care about themselves that destroy it in a matter of minutes. Why? Because they did not love their neighbors theirself. They claim, well, we care about other people. Well, not according to the Bible. When you're stealing from other people, you're destroying what people have, you don't care about anybody but yourself. And it's like, if you cared about other people, why is it you took the opportunity to steal from that business, right? It's like they destroyed the businesses. The cops can't control the situation. Then they go in and start stealing laptops and iPhones and all of this stuff. It's like, yeah, you really have a lot of love for other people. It's amazing how you just got, like, $5,000 worth of electronic gadgets. You really seem like you have a lot of love for other people. They're phonies. They're liars. They're frauds. Go to 1 John 4. 1 John 4. 1 John 4. And, you know, the reality is this. People that are wicked out there that don't care what the Bible says, they don't love God, they hate the God of the Bible, they know deep down that what they're doing is wrong. I mean, unless they become a full-blown reprobate, they still have a conscience. They know it's wrong to steal from other people, but they have no love for their fellow man. They don't care about other people. They just care about themselves. I mean, it's ridiculous, but that's reality. What's funny is they'll say that we don't care about other people. It's like, we're the ones that are the bad people. We don't care about other people. And yet our church is always going out there preaching the gospel to people, trying to get people saved, and it's just like they don't care about anybody but themselves. However, as Bible-believing Christians, we do care about other people, and they're going to say that we're so mean and we're so evil and we're so hateful when we're just trying to help save people's lives and help people get on the right path in life. 1 John 4. Let me turn there myself because I just memorized this and I added to my notes yesterday. 1 John 4, verse 7. 1 John 4 is really all about loving your neighbor as yourself. 1 John 4, verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. So according to verse 7, in order to have proper love, you must actually be saved or really fully comprehend this. Because remember the Bible says that a new commandment I give unto you, and somebody can't understand the new commandment of what Jesus did for them if they're not even saved themselves. So everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. So to understand the proper love and to actually apply that in your life, it's required to actually know God. Now knowing God is not just being saved. Being saved means God knows you. My sheep hear my voice and I know them. But knowing God is when you're not only saved, but that you're actually following God and reading the Bible and serving of God. Paul said that I may know Him, right? Because he was on a process of getting to know God. And so here's the thing. In order to have proper love for one another, it requires you to actually do the work of reading the Bible and serving God. And that will teach you how to properly love other people and not just care about yourself. Verse 8. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. And this was manifested the love of God toward us because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. And so the Bible says that the love of God was given to us because God sent His only begotten Son. Now I want you to realize, when you see the word God in the Bible, it can refer to basically one of four things. It can refer to God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, or just God in totality, okay? Here what it's saying, and this was manifested the love of God toward us because that God sent His only begotten Son, that's referring to God the Father. Because for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. God the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world, the Bible says. So we're seeing the love of God toward us that He sent His Son to die for us. Now I've heard people that are heretics try to say, well, if God the Father loved us so much, why didn't He just die for us Himself? Well, I want you to think about this logically. If you are a single person, because the Bible talks about the love that Jesus has toward us, and it also talks about the love that the Father has toward us. If you are a single person, a single man in this room, the greatest love you could really show for other people is dying for them, right? That you would be willing to lay down your life for other people. Let me explain something to you, though. When you are a parent, you would much rather die yourself than your child die. Is that not true? I mean, if there was a choice, Brother Stuckey, you or your son Zephaniah, you've got to make a choice. I'd choose myself very easily. It's not a hard choice. It'd be much more painful for my son to die. And so God the Father showing His love toward us, that's the greatest way He could show it, because that was more painful than Himself dying. The fact that He's willing to sacrifice His Son. So the greatest love that God the Son could show is dying for us. The greatest love that God the Father could show is having His Son die for us. People try to mock the Bible, and yet, man, it makes sense. And I'll tell you what. I mean, once you have a child born, it's amazing. It's just like there's a change that takes place. Like, man, that's my kid. That's my son. That's my daughter. You know, the love for them is just this unbroken thing. I mean, you can't even fully grasp it. You know, but when you have... I mean, there's no greater love that you're going to have than for your kids. It's built into you. And praise the Lord for that, that God allows us to serve Him and also just have the blessings of having children and just all these great things in life. But the greatest love that God the Father could show for us is the fact that He would be willing to have His Son die on the cross and pay for our sins. Verse 10, here in His love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. People say, well, you know, I love God, but wait a minute. You know, we love God because He first loved us, the Bible says. The only way that you can love God is the fact that God loved you first and died for you, okay? So someone who doesn't even understand what salvation is, they're just not going to get that, right? When you're saved, you get that. The moment you get saved, this major feeling of relief comes over. You're like, man, I'm on my way to heaven. And then you really grasp what Jesus did. But look, I believe Jesus died on the cross my entire life, but I didn't get saved until I was 18 years old. Once you get saved, you're like, oh, man, it makes sense now, right? People can't grasp this if they're not saved. They need to hear the gospel and get saved, and then they can understand the love that God has for them and once they understand that love, they can get saved when we explain the gospel. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. So God showed us the way of having proper love, and because of that, He's saying, you know what? I want you to be like me. I was showing my love for other people. I want you to do the same thing for your fellow man, okay? Now, look at verse number 12. No man hath seen God at any time. You say, Brother Stuckey, this proves that Jesus is not God because no one has ever seen God. This is referring to God the Father in the context, okay? No man has seen God the Father at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us and His love is perfected in us, okay? So to have the perfect love or complete love is when we're actually loving our fellow neighbor as ourself, as the Bible says, okay? The Bible says Jesus is the express image of His person. No one has seen God the Father before, but the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared unto them, the Bible says. And in the same chapter at the beginning, it says in the beginning was the Word. He was here at the beginning, okay? Drop down to verse number 17. 17. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. Now, the Bible says that if you have perfect love, you're not gonna have fear, okay? Now, I think if we're all honest, we get fearful and afraid from time to time when we shouldn't. The Bible says don't fear what man can do to you, but fear God only. But if I'm honest, there's times that I get afraid for various things when it's like me of little faith, right? Whether it be for finances or restrictions that come or whatever, it's like you're afraid, you're worried. We're not really supposed to have that feeling, but the reality is none of us have perfect love. None of us are just like the greatest person in the world. We're still sinners, okay? So here's the thing. When we go to Revelation 21, 8, you don't have to turn there, but we always focus on all liars shall have their part. But really, the fearful applies to all of us as well. Aren't we all fearful from time to time, right? So then it says here in verse 19, we love Him because He first loved us. If a man say I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? See the Bible says, you say you love God, but you don't love your brother in Christ, you're a liar. Because in the love of God, God required you to keep His commandments and part of His commandments is loving your neighbor as yourself. So you can't say that you love God if you're not loving your neighbor as yourself. And this commandment have we from Him that he who loveth God love his brother also. Now go to 1 John 5. 1 John 5. 1 John 5 verse 2. 1 John 5 verse 2. People get really confused with the book of 1 John. And the thing is the book of 1 John is not a book about getting saved. The book of John teaches you to believe. The book of Romans teaches you the gospel and how to get saved and everything. And of course, 1 John will talk about stuff like that, but the main focus is that you can have love toward one another and it says that you can have joy. These things that are written on you that your joy might be full. And here's the thing, if you know these things, happier are you if you do them. So the Bible's saying that by loving your fellow neighbors yourself, it makes you happy. It makes you joyful. The reality is, breaking God's commandments, committing sins, and only caring about yourself, it will make you a miserable person. Actually loving your neighbors yourself and caring about other people, it's going to make you happy, the Bible says. That's what it teaches. 1 John 5, verse 2, By this we know that we love the children of God. How do I know if I love the children of God? How do I know if I love fellow brothers and sisters in Christ when we love God and keep His commandments? You say, Brother Stuckey, I love my neighbor as myself. I love my brothers and sisters in Christ. Are you obeying God's commandments? Because if you're not, the Bible says you're a liar. You're wrong. The way you know if you love your neighbors yourself, it's not this feeling that comes over you. It's are you actually keeping God's commandments? Because when you keep God's commandments, you're not harming other people through your actions, and you're showing that you love other people. Right? That's what the Bible says here. Verse 3, For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous. You know, it says at the end of verse 3, His commandments are not grievous. You say, Brother Stuckey, you know, God's commandments are so tough. Right? You know, you go back to the Garden of Eden, and God's like, You can eat of any tree that you want to. Any tree except one. God's so restrictive. His commandments are so grievous. How dare Him say I can't eat of that one tree. Right? It's like God gives us great liberty in our lives to do what we want to do. I mean, if you brought lunch here today, if you're getting lunch after the service, you're allowed to get whatever you want. Get whatever food you want. God's commandments are... I mean, He's not restrictive. You think of the laws of countries. Countries are restrictive. God's laws aren't restrictive. And if there's ever a law where God's commanding you not to do something, it's for your own good. It's a good law. And then people want to... And it's amazing, because you've got people that, you know, become like, you know, homos and reprobates and wicked people and everything. It's all because they just hate the God of the Bible. And it's like His commandments aren't grievous. God's not asking that much from you, but they just don't like the rules and they're just not willing to listen. His commandments are not grievous, the Bible says. And they're really not. Okay? Turn in your Bible to Romans 13. Romans 13. The thing is people just don't like having an authority structure. They don't want to listen. Right? They just want to do what they want to do. And it's like, well, I don't want to obey what God says. It's not that God's commandments are too tough. It's not that they're too strict. I mean, it's not like God commands you, you know what, I want you to basically go a month without eating to the point of death. And then at the last... I mean, God's commandments are not grievous. He tells us to go to church. He tells us to read the Bible. He tells us not to kill. Oh, God's commandments are so tough. You're not to commit adultery. God's commandments are so tough. You're not to steal. These are just built into you as it is anyway. His commandments are not that difficult. And, you know, our lives would be better if we just went along with God's program and realized that God is guiding our steps. But the thing is we have our free will. Do we want to go along with the way God wants to go or not? Okay? Romans 13, verse 10. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And if you have proper love, it doesn't harm your neighbor because you're not committing sins against your neighbor. So it's all boiling down to loving your neighbor as yourself is what the Bible's saying here in Romans 13. So point number one is just, you know, basically love is the fulfilling of the law. Point number two, cast off the works of darkness. Cast off the works of darkness. Verse 11. And that knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. Okay? You say, what does that mean, brother Stuckey? Our salvation is nearer than when we believe, because I thought salvation took place in a moment. Well, there's a salvation of the body and the soul. These things don't happen at the same time. When you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, what gets saved? Your soul. Because your body's still going to die. We have the Holy Spirit of promise, and he promises our bodies are going to be delivered. They're not delivered when we first get saved though. We have the promise that spiritually we're saved, but physically we're still going to get old. We're still going to sin. We're still going to die. We don't have that promise yet. So what it's saying, our salvation is nearer than when we believed. It's just saying we're getting closer to the rapture. Okay? It's not something where it's like, man, I got rid of this one sin. I'm getting closer to that salvation. It's like, maybe next week I'll achieve that salvation. No, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. It's immediate. He that believeth on the Son hath present tense everlasting life. It happens immediately. However, your body doesn't get saved immediately. Your body's still going to sin. Your body's going to do wrong. So when he's saying, our salvation is nearer than when we believed, he's just saying, you know, you're getting closer to the end times. It's just another way to express that. Okay? It doesn't mean, it does not mean, oh, the salvation's nearer than when we believe. So that means what we're a better person now than we were a couple months ago, because as you're saved, you just automatically get closer to like full salvation. That's not what it's saying. It's just saying you're getting closer to the rapture. Okay? Because our soul is saved immediately, but not our bodies. That's what it's referring to. It says here in verse 12, the night is far spent. The day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. And what Paul's trying to motivate them is saying, basically, you know what? Your time on earth is limited. Teach us to number our days. Cast off the works of darkness. The time is at hand. Put on the armor of light now. Don't wait and say, well, when I'm 40 years old, I'll start serving God. When I'm 50 years old, I'll start serving God. Once I save up this much money, I'll start... No, serve God now is what He's commanding them to do. Why? The time is at hand. Your time is limited. You're going to wake up one day, and half your life is gone. It's like the Bible talks about 70 to 80 years, and obviously depends on the person and the situation, but it's like I'm already halfway to 70, past halfway. It's like I don't know where the time went, but that's just the way it is in life. And, you know, time accelerates at 9.8 meters per second squared as you get older. So it's just like I might have half my life left, but it's really like, you know, this much. It just flies by, right? It's kind of a math joke for those of you that like math. So anyways, Romans 13 verse 13. Romans 13 verse 13. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in rioting and drunkenness. You say, Brother Stuckey, what is rioting and drunkenness? Well, drunkenness is obviously drinking alcohol and getting drunk, and here's the thing, rioting usually takes place when people are drunk. These things go together, okay? Nobody riots while they're sober, and the reason why is they want to get drunk so they don't feel guilty about rioting. And somehow they don't feel guilty about getting drunk even though that leads to the rioting and they're planning to do it ahead of time. Somehow that lessens the blow of their conscience if they can get drunk ahead of time. I didn't even know what I was doing. So I guess it's not wrong. It's like that's utter foolishness, right? Go to 1 Thessalonians 5. 1 Thessalonians 5. Now here's the thing. We talked about casting off the works of darkness in Romans 13, verse 12. And I want you to understand, it's going to highlight a couple, three different examples of sins or things that will take place, and these things take place in the dark usually. When do people get drunk? At nighttime? In the dark? Bars are dark. Clubs are dark. You say, why? People feel less guilty about sinning when it's dark. People riot at nighttime. Nobody riots during the day when everybody can see what's taking place. They do it at nighttime. People commit sins in the dark. It's just reality. That's the way it is. That's why very sinful places will always be dark because people will be more likely to get drunk if it's dark than if it's light. And honestly, even as saved people, we sort of take this mentality because somehow we seem to think if it's dark, it's like, you know, nobody knows. We don't know whether it's light or dark. But somehow we just feel like, well, if it's dark, you don't feel as bad, and then you're more likely to commit sins. And, you know, the Bible gives us this analogy. It says, cast off the works of darkness, and sins are committed in dark places by and large. Rioting and drunking are examples of that. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 5. Ye are all the children of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. Watching and being sober, let us not sleep as others. It's kind of like we just read about it's time to awake because the time is at hand. Wake up in your minds and realize the time is at hand and cast off those works of darkness. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. People get drunk in the dark. They don't get drunk during the day. When people get drunk during the day, they're known as the town drunk, and it's a shame even to the world to get drunk during the day. I mean, isn't that true? I mean, I've lived in small towns before, and everybody knew who the town drunk was, and they would mock them and criticize and say, man, that person wakes up at 7 in the morning, and the first thing they do is drink some whiskey. Most people don't drink alcohol first thing in the morning. They wait till nighttime to get drunk. Most people will do normal things the rest of the day, but then when they get drunk, they do it at nighttime. That's reality, and the Bible says that. They that are drunken are drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation, okay? Now turn back to Romans 13. Romans 13. Romans 13. Romans chapter 13. If you want to love your neighbor as yourself, you need to cast off the works of darkness. You need to cast off your sins. Get rid of your worldliness, okay? Even in Genesis chapter 1, you see the principle as God divided the day from the night, the light from the darkness. I messed that up yesterday too, right? The day from the night and the light from the darkness, there's a division between the light and the darkness. Brother Stuckey, you're a racist, okay? We'll say whatever you want. It's like that's Genesis chapter 1, dark is bad in the Bible, okay? That's not referring to a human being. But there's a division between the day and the night and the light and the darkness. And we see the principle right at the beginning, God makes a division. And us is, say, people that are of the day cast off the works of darkness. You're too good to commit those sins, the Bible's saying. Romans 13, verse 13. Not in chambering and wantonness. Now you say, what is chambering, what is wantonness? Because those are not super familiar words in today's world. Those are both related to sexual sin, okay? So think of fornication, think of adultery. When do people commit adultery? During the day or nighttime? Nighttime. When do people commit fornication? At nighttime. That's when people commit those sins. Sexual sins are gonna be committed by and large at nighttime. Most people try to avoid sins during the day, right? This is the way it is, okay? Then it says not in strife and envying. Now, strife and envying, this is pretty related to alcohol because people get drunk at night and then they get in fights. I mean, you see these athletes that get shot and it blows my mind because, you know, I used to be very attached to sports and, you know, I used to watch all the sports and news stations and everything. It's like a tragedy has taken place. So and so got shot. It's like he was getting drunk at three in the morning, probably cheating on his wife, and then he got shot because he's drunk and fights happen because you're drunk. Even the Bible says in Proverbs 23, you wake up. It's like, I felt it not. You didn't even know you got in a fight. I woke up and my eyes swollen. What happened last night? Oh, man, I got shot. I got stabbed. Maybe quit drinking. It's funny because people have this idea that you can just go about your normal life and anything could happen to you that could. It's just as likely to happen to you as anybody else. You are just as likely to get murdered as a drug dealer who's getting drunk at two in the morning. It's like, that's ridiculous. If you're just going about your normal life, usually bad stuff doesn't happen to you. I understand that there's tragedies. Of course we understand that. But by and large, if you're going about your normal life, most of those bad things don't happen to you. It's like people told me before I moved here to the Philippines, man, it's so dangerous in the Philippines. I mean, you can't, I mean, Duterte's killing all of these drug dealers. It's like, what does that have to do with me? It's like, last I checked, I've never taken drugs before. I've never done drug dealing. So why would that affect me? It's like, yeah, I mean, he's killing all the drug dealers. You better watch out. It's like, okay, I mean, do you think I'm a druggie, right? Look, if you're going about your normal life, you're usually fine. You don't really have to worry to be honest. Go to John 3, John 3, John 3. I would say though that, you know, I'm not saying this is the direct relation because I don't think it is, but I would just advise just on a logical standpoint, try not to be out at nighttime when it's dark outside as, I mean, because there are people that are driving drunk all the time. I mean, people drive on the road, and you know, it used to drive me crazy because, you know, you have office parties like once a year or a couple times per year and everything. And, you know, I'm probably like most people where it's like, even though I didn't think it was a good idea, it's like, you want to kind of get along with people. Well, I'll give it a shot. So basically I went to the first office party at my old job in Maryland and that was the last office party I ever went to, right? Because people are just getting drunk and I just immediately regretted it. It's like, why did I make this decision? I knew, you know, I have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. I knew what the Bible said. And then here I am and everyone's getting drunk and everything. But honestly, I lost a lot of respect for my coworkers because I saw coworkers that are getting drunk and they don't have a designated driver. They're going to be the ones driving home drunk. Not only did I want to get out of there because I don't want to be around the atmosphere, I don't want to be out later when there's a bunch of drunk people on the road because you drive at midnight, you know what, there's probably going to be a lot of drunk people out there. I've seen scary situations when I was driving where I was really praying saying, man, I hope I'm safe because I see somebody swerving all over the road and, you know, when people are drunk, they speed up and then they slow down. Speed up, slow down. Then they're changing lanes like this. It's like, I don't know if I should speed up. I don't know if I should pull over to the side of the road. You know, I don't know what to do. And it's just like you just want to be safe and you're just praying and praying and praying. The worst I saw was a long time ago. It was July 4th, you know, Independence Day in the U.S. And I was driving on the highway. And, you know, in the U.S. there's less traffic. So you drive pretty fast where if you get in a wreck, you could die. It's very possible. And on the other side of the highway, thankfully that it was not, you know, on the side I was going to. I was going and then the traffic goes the other direction on the other side of the highway. But there was somebody on the other side going the same direction as me. So basically he's driving at traffic that's going like 70 miles an hour. And you could see the guy was drunk because he's like, and I'm just like, what in the world? I mean, it's dangerous. And the reality is that is more likely to take place in the middle of the night than at 6 p.m. Now I'm not saying there aren't people that drive drunk at 6 p.m., but, you know, honestly it's like when it's late outside, when it's dark outside, that's when people are driving drunk usually. It's really not the safest thing. It's just like, you know, honestly, especially as someone who's married and has kids, I don't really want to be out, you know, late at night in dangerous situations. I don't want to go down, you know, dark alleys at midnight and say, well, I just have faith in God. It's like, well, I mean, you never know, right? You want to be safe, okay? John 3, verse 19. John 3, verse 19. And this is the condemnation that light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. You say, Brother Stuckey, why is it that so many people I know, I try to teach them the Word of God, and they get mad at me? Is it because I'm rude? Well, I mean, it's possible, but it's probably because they hate the light. They don't want to know what God says. I mean, people will literally get mad at you when you just say what God says. You say, why? Well, because they love the darkness rather than the light. Their deeds are evil according to the Bible. The Bible says because they're doing bad things. I mean, it's just like if I quote, I remember I was preaching the gospel to someone a long time ago, and the person I was preaching to, you know, our personalities, like if I wasn't saved, I feel like we would have been really close friends. You know, sometimes you meet people and you're thinking, man, you know, we have so many things in common in terms of our natural interests. And it's like, you know, someone I enjoy talking to, played sports with them from time to time and everything, and then I invited him to this church function because I knew he wasn't going to come to church. And then he invited like a coworker of ours who was married to another guy. And so I was just like, you know, immediately, well, this is a bad situation, right, because he's like on a date with someone who's going through marriage problems and everything like that. But I remember I preached the gospel to him a little bit after that. I just took him out for lunch and said, hey, I just want to talk to you about the Bible. And I was just going and explaining the Bible and everything. And I mentioned, because he was trying to say he wasn't really guilty and everything, and I wasn't trying to highlight his sin, but I just mentioned in passing, you know, the various Ten Commandments that says thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not commit adultery. This guy says he doesn't believe the Bible, and he's like, oh, don't say that. And it's just like, you know, why do you feel guilty? Well, you feel guilty if you are guilty, right? I mean, you're not going to feel guilty if you're innocent. I mean, if you talk about thou shalt not kill, if somebody preaches a sermon, thou shalt not kill. I mean, are you going to get offended if you're not a murderer? It's like, well, I don't kill anybody, right? People get mad at what you say because they're guilty. When you show people, and look, obviously we should focus on the gospel with unsaved people, but, you know, people know your stance on various positions, and maybe you're against certain sorts of music, and they'll get mad at you and say, you're so self-righteous. The reality is they're just a little E piece that likes the dark. You say, brother, that's harsh preaching. Well, I'm not preaching to them. I'm preaching to you and just telling you the truth. They're a little E piece that when you turn on the lights, it's like, ah, you know, right? I mean, that's reality. That's what the Bible says. They hate the light. And when you shine the light of God's word, look, you know, the words in the Bible are not just random words that are not meant to mean anything. There's a reason why God talks about light in the terminology because he's teaching us something. And he can even see through the animals he's made that, you know what, bugs, the most disgusting creatures in the world, you turn on that light, and they just run away, right? It's like that's reality. Verse 20, for everyone that doeth evil hateth the light. Neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. The reason why you like this church by and large is because of the fact you want to make sure that your actions are right before God. You want to serve God. You want to know that what you're doing is right, so you want to come to the light and hear the preaching of God's word so you can make the changes that are necessary. I mean, why else would you want to go to a church that's preaching the truth unless you want to fix your life and make the changes when necessary, okay? Now, I want you to—well, actually, go to Ephesians 5 real quickly. Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5. Now, this first sermon's probably going to be a little bit long, but the second sermon's going to be probably the shortest sermon I've ever preached here before, so it's going to balance out. But this is reality, and it's just like I don't understand why people don't want to know the truth. I get it that it hurts, right? I mean, when you go to a church that preaches the truth, it's going to step on your toes sometimes. I mean, no matter who you are, we all have sins that we're guilty of. We all have things that maybe people aren't aware of. We're going to feel guilty from time to time. I just don't understand, though, going through life just lying to yourself. It doesn't make sense to me. It's just like, you know what, if I'm a miserable E.P.s, just tell me, right? Just tell me the changes I need to make. It's like if I'm not close to God, I don't want to go through life just pretending I'm close to God and lying to myself. It doesn't make any sense because it doesn't change reality. That is what a four-year-old does when they get in trouble. They put a blanket over their head and think, man, maybe mom or dad won't know that I'm under here. It's just like, no, we know you're under there, right? It's just like they want to hide from the truth. I don't understand that mentality. I don't know if I'm guilty. If I'm wrong, just show me. And, look, I get it hurts because, you know, you hear sermons and sometimes it steps on your toes, but isn't it better just to know the truth? I mean, think about this logically. Let's say, for example, that you're just not doing a good job as a husband or you're not doing a good job as a wife and you could have a much better marriage if you just knew some basic wisdom from the Bible. Wouldn't it be better just to know? Get that it's going to hurt, right? And, look, I've heard sermons like that where I was like, man, you know, I need to work on stuff. You know, I need to be a better husband. But isn't it better just to know? I mean, if you're raising your kids and you're screwing up and you're making mistakes because you don't know what the Bible says, isn't it better just to know what God says so you can make the changes before it's too late? Because you can make those changes when they're one, two, three, four years old. You can't make those changes when they're 21, 22, 23. The Bible says there's a time when there's no longer hope. Isn't it better just to know the truth so you can be successful in life? Of course the Word of God hurts us, but, you know, I sometimes and it's sharper than any two-edged sword. I don't understand the mentality, though, of going through your life and lying to yourself. Ephesians 5, verse 8, for a year is sometimes darkness. We're talking about casting off the works of darkness. But now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. And you're a saved person, but I want you to walk as children of light, okay? Now I want you to think in your head as we're looking through this. Think about this logically. If somebody first gets saved, how close are they to God? Are they really close or do they have a lot of work probably to do? They probably have a lot of work to do, right? They probably aren't regularly reading the Bible and soul winning. I mean, good night. If they're not saved, they're obviously not soul winning. Or we hope they're not soul winning, right, if they're not saved, right? But it's like if they just got saved yesterday, they're probably not that close to God. There's probably a lot of mistakes and problems they have in their life that they've got to fix. So here's the thing. Think about light. Think about going into a room that's completely dark. You can't see anything. You're not going to see any problems. As it starts to get a little bit lighter, you start seeing things. Like, oh, I need to pick up this off the ground. Oh, there's this. As it gets brighter and brighter and brighter, what happens? You start seeing a lot of problems. I mean, if you go home today and your house is dark, it's going to look very clean. Turn on that light, though, and then you see how clean it actually is. And here's the thing. As you get closer to God, you're going to have more stuff revealed to you that are problems. That's a good thing. What it also means, though, is if we get somebody saved yesterday, don't expect them to be just like you overnight. Somebody new will come to church, and then people are thinking, man, we've got to get them to change their music and their movies and the way they're dressed. Like, man, I'm just happy they're at church. It's like, do you not remember how you were a year ago? Right? It's just like, you know, all of us, we've made a lot of changes in our life. We need to give people time because here's the thing. If they're not that close to the light, they're not going to understand it. They're not going to get it. And you're actually doing a disservice because it's overload to them. It's pretty much too harsh to them because they don't even see the problem. And once they get closer to the light, it's like, oh, man, I get it. It makes sense. They're not going to get this change. But if they're not that close to the light, they're not going to get that. Verse 9. For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. That would be the verse where I'd say it's not a good idea to be around people that are drinking or doing wrong, even if you're not doing wrong. You're wrong by actually being there. And like I said, I've been guilty of that before, but it would be a wrong thing to do. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. You're not even supposed to speak of those things because it's a shame, okay? Much less fellowshiping with those things. I knew someone in college, and he was kind of my friend, but he was the brother of a close friend of mine. And this guy would go to parties and bars, and he didn't drink alcohol. And it wasn't because he had really super strong moral convictions. I mean, he knew what the Bible said he was saved, but really it was for health purposes. He just, you know, was very into his health, and he didn't want to drink. But he would go to bars and stuff like that, and he would bring a container, and he would put a non-alcoholic drink that would look alcoholic. And that way he could look like he was drinking because he wanted to hang out with his buddies, and he would be pretending to get drunk with them, and he wasn't actually getting drunk. That's foolish. It's like, what are you doing? It's like have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but reprove them. Not pretend like you agree with it and it's okay, but that's something that's an action that you should be reproving. And it's like you go down that road, there's no stopping it. The same guy, he got married to a woman who was a Muslim, and he pretended to her parents that he had converted to Islam because he wanted to marry her, and the parents required that he become a Muslim. It's like, what in the world? It's just like, you know, it started just with something small, and you just have that attitude. It's just foolishness, right? You know, reprove things that are wrong, the Bible says. Then it says here in verse 13, this is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light, for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. All things that are reproved, all things that are wrong, all things that need to be corrected are made manifest by the light. And what that shows is as a person gets closer to the light, as I talked about, the light will show them I need to make a change. But if they're not close to the light, don't expect them to make that change. You know, sometimes people come to me and they say, man, so-and-so, I hope they make this change. And I'm just thinking in my head, it's probably too early for them. It's like, man, I'm glad they're coming to church. It's like, I'm not going to try to push them. You know, and look, I never, I never go up to people outside the pulpit and just tell them, you need to change this and this and this and this. It's like, I caught you, I caught you listening to rock music the other day. It's like, I don't do that. Now, I preach what the Bible says, but you know what, I just preach what the Bible says. I don't go and try to make people make changes in their lives. That's an individual thing. And the reality is, if people are not close enough to the light, they're not going to notice it. And the other thing is this, as you're serving God, let's say you've been saved for five years and you've been a soul winner for three years. And then all of a sudden, after three years of soul winning and reading the Bible and memorizing the Bible, all of a sudden you develop a personal conviction against something. And you say, this is wrong. If you just develop that after three years of being a soul winner, guess what? Other people, they might not have developed that same conviction, even if you are right. So your personal conviction, you need to keep to yourself because other people could disagree and you could come across as offensive. And look, there's personal convictions I have and stances where I would take a line on certain things. But things that are really just my opinion that are not like black and white, like thus saith the Lord, I don't choose to really express those opinions very often because I don't necessarily have a Bible verse that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is definitely wrong. Like if people have certain hobbies, there are certain hobbies that maybe I would be against and maybe you wouldn't, or maybe certain hobbies that you would be against and I'm not. But that's not necessarily something where it's like thus saith the Lord, this is why I'm right. That's not one of the same commandments. So here's the thing, if it's something that's really a gray area thing, let people come to that conclusion as they draw closer to the light. And if they don't come to the same conclusion, well, that's between them and God. And you know what, if you're right, then, you know, it's fine. You've got that conviction, that's good, but other people might not have that personal conviction, okay? You know, one example, let me just give you an example of this. There are certain, not all, but there are certain gems or places where you work out where I would not feel comfortable being there, where I would feel guilty in my own conscience because of the atmosphere, because of the way people are dressed, because of the music and things like that. But at the same time, I can't stand up here and say, thus saith the Lord, you shall never go to such and such gem. Because of the fact, you know, there are certain gems that I would go to when the music's not really there or something like that or people aren't dressed inappropriately. It's very much a gray area situation, isn't it? So here's the thing, you might have a conviction, I don't go to any gems, but you know what, somebody might not have the same conviction because not all gems are the same. I've seen some gems where, yeah, I did feel guilty and other gems where I didn't. And where people draw the line, it's a gray area situation. Let that be between them and God, okay? All things that are approved are made manifest by the light, meaning as they draw closer to the light, then they're going to see the problems. And of course, I preached the whole Bible, so they're going to hear what the commandments of God are and they're going to see what the Bible says about things. It says in verse 14, wherefore he saith, awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. So once again, it's talking about waking up, the time is at hand, don't sleep as others, but awake and be sober as the Bible keeps on talking about, okay? Now turn your Bible to Romans 13. Romans 13. Romans 13. Romans chapter 13. So point number one is loving your neighbor as yourself. And basically love fulfilling the law, because if you love your neighbor as yourself, then you won't be breaking these commandments that harm other people. Even if you want something that belongs to somebody else, you're not going to steal it because of the fact you actually care about them. It's like, man, I really like their car, but I'm not going to steal it. I really like their, you know, guitar. I'm not going to steal it, right? Because you actually care about that person, okay? So love is fulfilling of the law. Point number two, cast off the works of darkness. If you're going to actually love your neighbors yourself, you need to get rid of the sins in your life because the proof of whether you love your neighbors if you keep the commandments of God, okay? So cast off the works of darkness leading to point three and the final point, do not put yourself in a position to commit sins and do wrong. Romans 13 verse 14, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. What does provision mean? It means you're basically giving yourself an opportunity. You're providing an opportunity to do wrong, okay? And the Bible says don't even give yourself an opportunity to do wrong because that's going to be harming your neighbor, which you're supposed to be loving as yourself according to this chapter, right? And so go to 2 Samuel 11. I'm going to give you a couple examples of this. 2 Samuel 11, 2 Samuel 11. Now this is true beyond a shadow of a doubt, but the other thing is this. If you have certain sins that you struggle with in your life, you should go to great lengths to avoid the opportunity to commit those sins. I mean, if you're somebody who used to drink a lot of alcohol and now, you know, you're completely sober, you've got it out of your life, you should avoid being in situations where there's an opportunity to drink alcohol because, you know what, you're likely to basically fulfill the lust of the flesh and you're making a provision because that's something your flesh struggles with. I mean, if you struggle with something, you need to get rid of the opportunity. If you struggle with pornography, get rid of your computer. Get rid of your cell phone. Oh, I couldn't live without a cell phone. I mean, people live for 6,000 plus years without a cell phone. I understand you might need to make some changes in your life or just get a dumb phone. You don't need a smartphone, okay? It's okay to have a phone that's a little bit bobo. And look, those last longer anyway. I remember those dumb phones in college where, you know, they could just fall on the ground and smash. They could be thrown – they could be underneath the ocean for a day. You just put them in a container of rice and boom, they start working an hour late. Is that not true? It's like just throw them in a container of rice. What did you use rice for in the U.S.? I used it to fix my phones that got wet, okay? So that you can live without a smartphone. You can live without a computer. Or you could – I mean, you could look at areas where you have access to that, but you don't have it around you all the time. Or you could have a certain spot for your computer where it's not in an area where you're likely to send. Just avoid the opportunities to do wrong. And doesn't this just make logical sense? You say, Brother Stuckey, I'm planning to go on a diet. And I'm going to basically just buy a bunch of cookies and chips and have it right in front of my face and just use willpower not to eat those chips and cookies. Good luck on your diet. I mean, I've never heard of that sort of strategy, but go for it. I'm going to quit smoking cigarettes, okay? Well, kind of the first step is throw out all the cigarettes that you already have. I'm going to quit smoking cigarettes, but I don't want to throw out the ones that I have because I already bought them. Well, you're going to start smoking again. I mean, it's just common logical sense. I mean, it kind of goes along with, you know, that false prophet that was a hint – Gandhi, right? Everyone knows Gandhi, right? Gandhi – and this is a fact. You can check it out for yourself. Because he came to the conclusion that it was wrong to be intimate with someone, even if you're married to them, okay? And so Gandhi wanted to test his willpower. So he slept in a bed with a bunch of naked young girls to test his strength. It's like, what kind of a freak and a weirdo would do something like that? Right? Well, Gandhi, that's the answer, okay? I know he's somebody's hero out there. Well, he's a Hindu. He's in hell right now. He's a wicked person, okay? 2 Samuel 11, verse 1. I encourage you to fact check that out. I mean, this is the defense they have. People will say, well, you know, India's just a different place in other parts of the world. It's like, yes, he used to sleep with a bunch of naked 13-year-olds that were his cousins, but India's just a different country, different cultures. You can't say one culture's better than another or one religion's better than another. They're just different. It's like, no, he was a reprobate and a pervert and a weirdo, right? That's the facts. 2 Samuel 11, verse 1. It came to pass after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Reba. But David tarried still at Jerusalem, and it came to pass in an evening tide. Now, in the evening, is it light or dark? It's dark. Do you think David would have committed the sin and the light? No. Part of the reason why he wouldn't have committed the sin is you're more afraid of getting caught. Another thing is you just feel more guilty when it's light than when it's dark. That's just the way it works. That David arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. Now, I want you to realize something. David commits adultery with Bathsheba, ends up killing Uriah to try to cover up the evidence and everything. Let me ask you a question. How much love did David have for Uriah when he was cheating, when he was sleeping with Uriah's wife? Not very much love. Right? He should have cast off the works of darkness and not made provision for the flesh. Don't put yourself in a position to do wrong. And, look, I'm sure... I don't know. I've never walked on a roof before, but apparently he's probably done that before because I don't think you start walking on a roof in the middle of the night unless you've already tested it out that it's safe. Right? Because that could be dangerous. He probably knew I might be able to see certain women bathing or whatever. Right? I mean, it's like, well, even if he didn't expect to see that, he knew it was a possibility. So why is he even on a roof in the middle of the night? Why not just walk in the house? He's making provision of the flesh. He didn't start walking on the roof with the intention of committing adultery, but he did because he made provision for the flesh. He gave himself an opportunity. One last place. Turn to Matthew 5. Matthew 5. Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. I think we as people tend to have too much confidence in our own sinful flesh. We tend to think by willpower, I just won't commit any of these sins. And if you're a real man, you can basically resist anything because you're tough. No, a real man that loves his wife is not going to put himself in a position to commit those sins. You're not even going to give yourself an opportunity. And the reality is that if someone who is a man after God's own heart could do something like that, that would be possible for any of us. Now, of course, as the king, it kind of gives you more opportunities because you know you can get away with stuff, which is actually not necessarily a good thing, right? But honestly, any one of us could end up committing a sin like that if we make provision for the flesh. So don't even go down that road. Don't allow it to enter into your heart. Don't lust after someone in your heart, which means don't allow your eyes to look upon something which will cause you to lust after them. Don't even go down that road and don't make provision for the flesh. Matthew 5, verse 27. This is sort of a parallel passage at the end of Mark 9, and I preached a whole sermon series on it, if you remember. But basically, I don't think he's literally saying you've got to take out your eye. Otherwise, you know you're going to go to hell. Obviously, that's not what he's saying, okay? But I think he's basically just saying that if you're allowing your eye to look upon something, you can basically cast your whole body into darkness and sin and problems in your life. And the principle is this. Don't make provision. Don't allow your eye to look on certain things. Avoid things. And don't just have this attitude, well, you know, I can look. It's okay if I look as long as I don't do anything. You're going to allow it to enter into your heart, and then it could enter into your actual actions. And then you're going to destroy your life. And if you actually care about people, if you actually love people, you're not going to make provision for the flesh. Look, this sermon's not a particularly deep sermon, but love is a fulfilling of the law, according to the Bible. Cast off the works of darkness, and don't give yourself an opportunity to commit sins. And here's the thing. If you actually love other people, this is what you're going to do. You're going to avoid those commandments. And when you screw up by committing sins, you need to make the changes to not give yourself the opportunity to commit those sins. And, you know, the sins that it gave as an example, the latter half of the Ten Commandments, those are all bad sins. I mean, thou shalt not kill is pretty bad. Thou shalt not commit adultery, pretty bad. Thou shalt not steal, pretty bad. I mean, all those commandments are bad sins. And when you're sinning, don't have this attitude, well, I'm not harming anybody else. I know it's wrong, Brother Stuckey, but I'm only harming myself. Well, are you married? Do you have kids? I mean, you're harming other people when you commit those sins. You're harming your neighbor. You're harming your loved ones. You're harming your brothers and sisters in Christ, where you only harm yourself. You are always harming other people. And if you have proper love for man, you're going to obey the commandments, as the Bible says. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to see what Roman chapter 13 is talking about. And help us to have proper love for our brothers and sisters in Christ and also just our fellow man in general, God. And help us to obey your commandments and not sin against other people and harm other people. And help us just have proper love so we can fulfill the law. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you so much. Amen. Amen. Amen.