All right, you take your Bibles and we'll be turning really to Philippians chapter number 2 first. That's not our text. Our text is going to come from Romans and chapter number 12. But again, let me say it is good to have you visitors with us as we observe the ordinance of baptism today, just a little bit later. You know, this has been a great weekend here at Emanuel Baptist Church, and we're thankful for all of those that have taken part. We had a fellowship meeting on Friday night, and then we went to Kings Island yesterday and took the young people. There's all kinds of different people that were doing all kinds of different things this weekend, even to get ready for the baptistry. It's good as a pastor when I don't have to worry about the baptistry. I know it's going to be taken care of. I didn't have to worry about the chicken being ordered for Friday night. I knew that was going to be taken care of. There were some visits made yesterday, I believe, talking to people. There's just all kinds of different things going on, and I didn't have to worry about all of that. That's when you know you have a good, solid church. We had some men that went with us. We found a new briber last night. He drove all the way home. Generally, I get to drive the van home, and Kimberly drives the extra car. We found us a new driver last night, and we got home about 2.30 this morning. You think, boy, that's awful late. Actually, we got home a lot earlier this year than we did last year. Last year, we got home about 5.30 in the morning. Anyway, we had a good time. The young people had a good time. Us old people that think we're young had a good time for the first time ever. I realized I'm not as young as I used to be. I actually set out some rides this year, which is generally not happening for me. Anyway, we had a good time, and we're thankful for all of those who went and took part and did ... Even if you just rode along with us yesterday, you don't know what a tremendous benefit that is to have people that to go along with you and to supervise. I know there's already some new plans coming online, so we're just thankful for all of those that took part and did, even without, you know, I didn't have to beg. It just lets you know what a solid church we have, and we appreciate that. So this morning we're going to continue our study. We have been looking at what a true disciple is. And two weeks ago we looked at the True Disciple and the Word of God. Last week we looked at the True Disciple and the Commission. And in this verse, somehow at church camp the Lord laid this on my heart. About our text from Romans chapter number 12 and verse number 9. But the first thing I want us to think about is, I want us to remember what Philippians 2.18 says. I'm sorry, I've got the wrong verse written down. Anyway, but it says, for it is God, verse 13, sorry, for it is God which worketh in you, look what the willeth do of his good flesh. We want to remember this as a child of God and as a believer. We want to remember that God is working in us. And He's working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. And as a believer, as a child of God, as a follower of Jesus Christ, He's going to make changes in our lives. He's going to conform us to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. He's going to mold us and make us so that we will be more Christ-like. So we want to remember that. We want to remember there's a work going on in our lives. And when we're newly born again, we're not perfectly informed of the image of Christ. God has to work in us. And that's when God begins to set us apart. The theological term is progressive sanctification. That God continues to set you apart for Him. And so we always want to remember that, especially as we're looking at these passages or these messages that talks about the true disciple. You may find out that, maybe you might find out that you don't have a love of the Word of God as Paul did. But maybe the Lord is going to work into you to the place that you do have that love for the Word of God. Maybe you're not fulfilling the commission in your life the way that you ought to. That desire may not even be there. But that's one of those places where God is going to work in you both the will and the due of His good pleasure. So we understand that we're born again, we're washed by the blood of the Lamb. That it is by the blood of Jesus Christ that we are cleansed from all of our sins. And so we know that. And we know that God is conforming us into His image. And let's remember what the word conform means. The word conform means to be pressed into a mold. And so God is pressing us to conform us. And then we always want to remember that God is working in you. Never forget that. God is working in you, both the will and the do of His good pleasure. So we're going to look at today, we're going to look at the Christian or the believer abhors evil and cleaves to that which is good. Now, again, I want you to think about this as we go through this message today. You may find out, we may identify some things that the Bible calls evil and you think, well, I don't really abhor that. Or you may think, I don't really abhor evil. Okay, well, the Lord may need to work in you, both the will and to do of His good pleasure. Well, He will again do that. Maybe you say, well, I don't cling to good the way that I should. Okay, let's remember, God is working in you, both the will and to do of His good pleasure. So let's not forget that. So let's turn now to the book of Romans and chapter number 12. And the passage of Scripture is very simple. I've really already given you the thought and the idea of the passage of Scripture. And it is, let love be without dissimulation, abhor that which is evil, cleave that which is good. Now, that's just one verse taken out of many verses there that tells us things that a believer should do. And it would be good for you to go and read all of those verses that are around it to find out. These are some things that I ought to do as a believer. But I just wanted to focus this morning on these two thoughts about abhorring evil and cleaving to that which is good. So the first thing I wanted you to think about today is that when we are abhorring evil and cleaving to that which is good, that this is a choice that the believer makes. The believer is going to have to determine in their life that they're going to abhor evil. and they're going to cleave to that which is good. It's a choice that they make. Remember, we're faced with choices every day. Whether we're going to do that which is right, whether we're going to live with integrity, whether we're going to do that which is honorable, or whether we're going to choose to live after the flesh, whether we're going to do what we choose to do and what is pleasing to the flesh and to the mind. So it's a choice that we must make because we have a desire to live Christ-like. Remember that. As a believer, it is the choice that you're going to make because of Christ's likeness or the desire for Christ's likeness. Now we also understand that the choice is not just a casual feeling. When we think about the words abhor and cleave, those are not just casual words. Those words are words that have intensity in them. Those are words that tell you that there is an action that is taking place. They are intense words. So what is abhor? Abhor means to regard with extreme repugnance or aversion or to detest, to loathe. to abominate. So you understand that these words are words where you don't look at evil and you just say, wow, that's not a very good thing for somebody to do. No, it's where you look at that and you understand that is evil, that is against God, that is contrary to the Word of God, and it causes you to believe that thing. There are things in our lives sometimes where we say, you know, I really don't like that. And there's other things that say, I'm not going on there. We saw that yesterday when we were at Kings Island. There was some people that said, oh man, I love that roller coaster. And everybody says, I ain't going on that thing again. They flee from it because of, I don't know, they didn't like it or they got sick or whatever. Let's take, maybe it's some food. Haley told me, she said, mom, or she told her mom, she said, I ain't going on that thing again. She said, remember when I got sick after eating cantaloupe? And she said, I forgot. Kimberly still to this day will not eat, you know, the liquid nacho cheese like you get nachos, you know, the chips and the cheese. She ate some of that one time and she got sick on it. She said, I'm not eating it. So I went, come on, let's get some nachos and cheese. No, not me. Well, that's what a pouring evil is. You understand what it is? And you understand how that it is contrary to the Word of God, and you don't just kind of saddle up to it and say, well, you know, this is not too bad. No, you run from it. You loathe it because you understand the wickedness that is involved there. It is because a running away. The danger is that sometimes when we think about evil and we allow things in our lives that are not necessarily really evil, but they're somewhat evil that we can become callous in our lives. And the more that we are around it, the more callous we become. the prevalence of that evil. You know, something that used to be, we probably can all think about things that in our day-to-day are no longer considered evil. But 50 years ago, people would never said that they would do this or do that. We can all think about things like that. But now because we are so accustomed to it being in our environment that we become callous to that and it's no longer sin, it's no longer evil anymore. So we have to be careful about that. Daniel says you can tell a lot about a man by his handshake. You can tell a lot about a man by the look at their hands. He went and bought a car up in Bellefonte just in the last couple of weeks anyway, and the guy that he bought it off of, he said, that guy didn't work. He had dish fan hands. You know, he looks at the hands of a working man. You can tell the hands of a working man, right? He's got calluses, he's got tuts, he's got, you know, you can tell that man is a working man. because of the calluses that are in his hands. Well, calluses means that there's been a lot of friction on that place in the hand and so the skin has gotten tougher and it's gotten hardened and it's not as easy to break through that callus. Same thing's true in our lives. We get close to evil. We allow evil to come into our lives. We allow things that may be bad, may not be for long. It no longer will cause us to run from it. It will cause us maybe to even accept it. So we have to be careful. When we are abhorring evil, it is with an emotion and an intensity that I'm going to flee from it. I'm a loathe that thing. So it is an emotional thing to abhor evil. But then cleave, what is cleave? Cleave is to join facts together. To glue or cement, that word is generally or primarily used when speaking of metals or other materials. It would be like a welder cleaving two pieces of metal together. I'm not much of a welder. I've seen it done a multitude of times, but I couldn't tell you all the technicalities of being a welder. Here's what I know. A welder would take two pieces of metal and fuse them together with a welding rod or some other kind of metal, and you know that those two pieces of metal become one, basically. because of the welding process. That's what cleaving is. That gives you the sense of the word cleave. Cleave to that which is good. So we as believers, we should adhere firmly, closely, or loyally, or unwaveringly to that which is good. In fact, good is not something to say, well, you know what, we ought to be good. But you see that it's something that is desirable, and you go out and you latch onto it. My favorite definition of cleave, though, comes from Wile E. Coyote. And he goes like, what do you mean? Well, you know, Wile E. Coyote is standing on the edge of the cliff and he's looking over for a roadrunner and the roadrunner comes up behind him. And what happens to Wile E. Coyote? And there's always that one little branch, right? And he goes, wham, grabs hold of that little branch and he grabs both arms and both legs and he's holding on for dear life. That is complete. We ought to plead to that which is good. Okay? So it's a choice that we make. It's a choice we make to loathe evil, to despise evil, and to look at that which is good and say, I need that. I want to do that. It's something that I need in my life. So it's a choice that we as believers make. Now, we're going to spend a little bit of time talking about affording evil for just a moment. Evil is that which is morally wrong. Evil is that which is morally wrong or wicked. And we must also remember this, that God determines what is good and what is evil. In our society today, we want to take it upon ourselves to say, well, I don't see anything wrong with that. Well, I don't think that's too bad. And we are redefining in our society today what God calls evil. And God talks about things that will become a crime when they're called good evil and evil good. But we've got to understand that it doesn't matter what our government says is good and evil. If God says it's evil, it's evil. If God says it's good, it's good. Irregardless of what society might say, irregardless of what our government might say, we need to make sure that we do not allow our definition of evil to be determined by the world, that we let God's Word determine what is good and what is evil. And let's understand that evil is anything that God says is morally wrong. And it should become repulsive to the disciple. What the Word of God says is evil should become repulsive to the disciple, which means he will flee from that. He won't just kind of cuddle up to it and make it his buddy, but he will run from that thing. Why does evil become repulsive to the believer? Well, first of all, it becomes repulsive because it is contrary to the holiness of God. God is holy and He says, be ye holy for I am holy and since it is contrary to the holiness of God and my desire is to be like Christ, it's repulsive to me because it's repulsive to Him. It would become repulsive to me because the Spirit reveals to me that it is a work of the flesh. When you read in the scriptures, it tells you these things are the works of the flesh. And as you read, and you can go to Galatians chapter 5 and read those things if you would like to, but in Galatians chapter 5 it says these things are the works of the flesh, and I'm going to believe those things. Another reason that evil becomes repulsive to me is because we remember the lure of evil. And we remember the plague that it brought into our lives. I can remember what it was like to be lost. I can remember what it was like to be without Christ. I can remember there were some things I did when I was younger that I wouldn't do now because I understood the heartache it brought into my life and the pain it brought into my life. So I believe those things, still yet today. Because I understand the plague that sin has brought into my life. And you need to believe also, as a believer, that the song that's sung, sin will take you farther than you want to go, leave you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. There's a book out there written by John R. Rice that says, all Satan's apples have worms. You ever been to an apple and only found half a worm? My mom tells the story of when she was a little girl, and this is not a very good thing for her family to have done, but anyway. They had an apple tree, and one of the neighbors always used to come and permanently borrow their apples. So one of her uncles, and I don't know how he did it, but he got some of those apples and he took them and he poured them out and he hollowed out the inside and he went to the chicken coop and filled those apples up. And then put them back out underneath the tree. Needless to say, when that neighbor took a big bite, that wasn't a very pleasant taste. But you know what, that's the way Satan's apples are. You look at it, boy, that just looks delicious. And then, oh, there's nothing wrong with this. It's not too evil. It's not too bad. I can still do this and get by with it. Maybe take a big bite of it. Did he find out that that wasn't awful cracked up, did he? Well, that's the way evil is. That's the way sin is. Here's what Satan does. Satan causes sin to look enticing. Satan doesn't want you to see the wickedness that is involved in evil. He doesn't want you to see the wickedness. You know what's one of our greatest dangers in our society today is that person who is living morally good. I treat good people, right? I don't do anything really wrong. I go to work every day, I pay all my bills, and I treat my family good, and I treat my kids good, and you know, I do everything. I'm a good guy. I've never committed any crimes, and I'm a good guy. And Satan wants you to think, well, that's why I'm a Republican. Nothing wrong with that. Surely, if that person goes to heaven, I am, right? If that person's a candidate for heaven, I'm going to be that candidate for heaven. And that's what Satan wants to tell people. He wants you to look good and then walk at the end of that line. See, the Bible says for all have sinned and controlled the glory of God and the wages of sin is death. And because that you have been born in sin, and in sin that your brother conceived you, because you were born in sin, you are a sinner and you need a Savior. And Satan wants you to think that it's okay to live an unsaved life. The Bible teaches us in John chapter number 3 that he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. So because you have not believed in Jesus, the condemnation of God is residing upon you. And Satan wants to make it look like it's not too bad. Listen, I remember what it was like and the sin and the evil and the wickedness that's in the world. I remember the plague that it brought into my life. And so I want to flee evil because I understand the plague that it has brought into my life. So now we understand that evil is something that we as believers should want to abhor and it's something that we should desire to abhor. It's something that we should run from. But I want you to think about the type of sin that Jesus abhorred. We know that Jesus, as he went out upon the multitudes, had compassion upon the multitudes. He saw them as sheep having no shepherd. We know that. We also know that he was angry with the Pharisees, and the Sadducees, and the lawyers. He was angry with those who were self-righteous, those who misapplied the Scriptures. He was angry with those who claimed that they lived according to the Word of God, but lived contrary to the Word of God. Someone who lives contrary to the commands that he gave. Basically, he was angry with those who had forgotten the weightier matters of the law. Let's turn to Matthew 23, 23. Matthew 23, 23. And from this, we hope to find the type of evil that we should afford. Matthew 23, 23, it says, Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you paid tithes of Nenth and Annas and Puman, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought you to have done and not to leave the other undone. See, the Pharisees, and I don't want to spend a whole lot of time on this, but the Pharisees tried to make sure they did everything right religiously. But when it came to matters of the heart, the judgment and mercy, having mercy, they forgot to be merciful people. They forgot that they needed to have faith and to walk by faith. And so they tried to get all of the legal stuff down, but when it really got to who you are... See, who Christ was angry with was those who tried to be religious, but in their hearts you could tell they weren't merciful, they weren't forgiving, they weren't ones that looked upon the needs of those that were without. Their spirit is what was so bad. And they wouldn't address what was going on in their heart. That's the ones that Christ was angry with. And that's the things that we need to pay attention to today. We need to pay attention to evil in the heart. Because evil does reside in the heart. Remember this, the scripture says that murder, adultery, and theft, those things are in the heart and they come out of the heart. And we know that those things are evil. But what about telling a lie to gain good? What about boasting? That's evil in the eyes of God. The Bible says we should boast of nothing other than our being saved by the graces of God. We have nothing to boast of. Let's look at a few other scriptures real quickly. What about Romans chapter 4, verse number 7, and I'll turn here quickly. Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Verse 6 says, but he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud. So God resists the proud. What is the pride you have? I don't need God to save me. I don't need to be saved. I don't need to go to church. That's pride. That's evil that resides in the heart. And you need to look for it. It's that evil. Matthew 15, 19. I'll turn there very quickly and read this to you. And there's many, many things that we can talk about, but for the sake of time, we can't really get into it too deeply. Matthew 15, 19 says, for out of the heart proceeded evil thoughts, murders, adultery, fornication, thefts, false witnesses, last in these, in the heart where these things reside. Romans 129 says this, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despicable, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful. What are some of these things? Envy. You know envy is wicked and envy is evil? That's when you look at someone else And it's not that you're jealous only. Jealousy is part of envy. So if you're jealous, that's evil in God's eyes. Now I get a lot of people on the plate, well, I'm a murderer, and I don't commit adultery, and I don't commit fornication, I don't go to court, I don't read all that kind of stuff. But are you envious? That's evil in the eyes of God. You should abhor envy. What about being a person that is not merciful? What is mercy when you don't give someone what they deserve? I hope they get what's coming to them. That's evil in the eyes of God. Okay? That's being unmerciful. The desire of ill will towards another. That's maliciousness. That's evil in the eyes of God. You hope someone doesn't succeed. That's evil in the eyes of God. debate is being contentious. And I say this over and over and over again. But you know how many Christians are proud of their hard-headedness and their contentiousness? And they take pride in that? It's evil in the eyes of God! Now let me tell you something. My mom's mom was a Dowdy. And they were proud of their stubbornness. I said, Mom, that's not something to be proud of. That's evil in the eyes of God. God calls that sin. She didn't take it that too kindly. But then she said, you know what? You're right. But how many people do you know that are proud of being stubborn and contentious? And the Bible says that evil in the eyes of God See, we're getting down now to where you live. We should have formed these things. Now, I mean, what I said earlier, I said earlier that you may, we might identify some things that we would say are evil, and you might say, well, I'm not doing very good in that area. Remember, God's going to work in you, both the will and the will of His good pleasure. Today might be the day that He opens your eyes to see that, hey, that's evil, and I need to learn how to stay away from that. But in a believer's life, that's something that they will do because they work in the flesh. A true believer flings these things. Let's look very quickly at a couple other scriptures and then we'll move on to that which is good. Psalm 45. Just listen to what the Word has to say about these things. Psalm 45. It says, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness and hateth wickedness. Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Understand this, God hates wickedness. Psalm 97 verse number 10 says this, Ye that love the Lord, listen, Ye that love the Lord hate evil. What's this? And then one more, Proverbs 8, 13. My point is, I want you to see that the scripture says that we as believers should hate that which is evil and cleave to that which is good, but we ought to hate evil. We can't get by with sloughing it off. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Pride and arrogancy and the evil way and the forward mouth do I hate. So the Bible teaches us that as believers that we need to hate evil. You can't truly love anything without hating that which is harmful to that which you love. So you're going to hate anything that is harmful to what you love. And let's remember this, good character is not possible without hating evil. His character is not possible without the evil. A believer will abhor that which is evil. And a believer will cleave to that which is good. Acts 10 38 tells us that Jesus went about everywhere doing good. I want you to understand that Christian purity is not just the mere avoidance of evil, but it is the pursuit of good. That's a quote by John Piper. Christian purity is not the mere avoidance of evil, but the pursuit of good. So Christ went about doing good. He did that which was good according to the will of God. Doing that which was pleasing in God's sight. Doing things that were for the benefit of others. And I know we've been reading this often, Philippians 4a, when we began to think about those things that might make us happy as believers. But the Bible tells us in Philippians chapter number 4, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are a good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things. So a believer should begin to focus on those things that are truthful, those things that are honest. those things that are just, which means they're upright according to God's law. You've got to begin thinking about those things which are pure. Now, we're talking about believing that which is good. Pure means this. Pure means free from carnality or free from being a work of the flesh. It means chaste, modest, It means that as a believer you're going to pay attention to your life and you're going to live a chaste lifestyle. That's what being good is. It means you're going to pay attention and be modest in the way that you dress. Your chaste is going to be modest. Your speech is going to be seasoned with salt, full of grace. See, it's going to be pure. Pure. That's what good is, pure. Loveliness, which means acceptable, pleasing in God's sight. Doing those things which are of good report. Doing things which others can speak highly of. Here's what you're going to do. You're going to cling to that which is good. You're going to focus on doing things that someone else can speak highly of. Which also means that you're going to stay away from those things that others might speak negatively of. But as a believer, you're going to focus on doing things that others can speak highly of. You're going to think about virtuous things, things that cause virtuous thoughts. And I'm not spending enough time on pleading to that which is good, but we are to plead to that which is good. We are to be joined fast together, doing good as believers. In other words, we need to have in the forefront of our minds that good and doing good and living good and practicing good is something that should be in the forefront of our minds as believers. And we begin to practice that, not only in our church, but as we go out into our everyday lives. We go out and practice good. That means we help others. That means that we look for a way to lift others up. not care others now, and think about this. You go out in your life, and you go around the people that you work with every day, and how many people are there out there who are wanting to tear you down? And how many people speak negatively? And how many people always want to complain? And how many people are always speaking negative about things? About their jobs, about anything? Listen, speak positively. Speak good words. Speak uplifting words. Doing good. Focusing on doing good for someone else. If you see someone in need, help them. Cleaning is that which is good. Seek out ways to do good. So this is where we get to the meat of being a disciple. We are not just a disciple in word, but we are a disciple in deed and truth. And this is where the world truly begins to see Christ in us. That's not just, hey, there's a church on Sunday. No, there's something different about your life. They can tell by the way you present yourself. They can tell by the words that you say. They can tell by your actions. They can tell by your attitudes. There's something about that person that's different. It's where you become a real disciple. So poor evil, cleave that which is good, and you will begin to become conformed to the image of his Son. Let's remember this always, because it is God who works within you, both the will and the will of his good pleasure. He has saved you, he has watched you, now he is in you, working his will in your life. The believer world, poor evil. I'm pleased that was just good by staying together for a work group.