Romans 12:9c

Coram Deo Reformed Baptist Church iconCoram Deo Reformed Baptist Church

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So Romans chapter 12. We are continuing in verse 9.
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It's a very short verse, but there's a lot packed in there as far as application and what this all means.
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And most assuredly, Paul gets into it here in a little bit. We'll do as we normally do, and we'll start in verse 1.
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Paul says, By the grace given to me,
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I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
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For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
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Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them, prophecy in proportion to our faith, if service and our serving, the one who teaches in his teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation, the one who contributes in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness.
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Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good.
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Week before last, we talked about Paul admonishing us to love sincerely, what love actually is, what biblical love is, being an action that's taken, rather than words that are said, but those actions need to be sincere if we're going to live as living sacrifices.
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With every action that we take toward one another, that intent, that truthfulness should be there.
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Last week, we talked about hating that which is opposed to God, hating that which is evil, moving away from those things, those actions and those thoughts that God says are evil.
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We should separate from them, cast them off. This week, we're talking about the opposite of that, holding fast to what is good.
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Paul says at the end of verse 9, he says, hold fast to what is good or cling to what is good or cleave to what is good and what is objectively good according to God's standard.
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The Greek word here that's translated as cleave or hold fast or cling to or adhere to is kaleo, which means to join or to cleave, unite, to adhere, the practice of gluing two things together.
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That's the idea that this word carries, to adhere two things together that they cannot be separated.
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Agathos is the word for good, meaning something that is good by its very nature, something that is objectively good from the beginning, something that is perfect.
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You may have heard some of these words before. Cleave is the most popular translation of that first word for cling to.
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We hear it in Genesis 2, verse 24. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined or cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
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These two words, one in Hebrew and one in Greek, they are different and they're written most certainly thousands of years apart, but they mean exactly the same thing.
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If it helps to conceptualize, just for a moment, the idea of this, think of a carpenter when he wants to bring two pieces of wood together for a project in a permanent bond that cannot be broken.
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There are many ways that you could do this. You could do some kind of elaborate joinery and have it slide together and run a peg through.
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The problem with that idea is that you can remove the peg and therefore the pieces. Really, the only real way to join two pieces of wood together is to glue them.
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That's the most popular way to do it, to adhere them together along with other aspects of joinery, biscuits or pegs to make the joint stronger.
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But you bond them together that they cannot be separated. Going back, if we look back at what
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Paul says in the first part of the chapter, he says, I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
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Do not be conformed to this world. We talked about that last week. But be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
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In the context of this passage in verse 9, this very end of verse 9, what we should be doing is cleaning to those thoughts and those actions that are good as far as our sanctification and good, especially in respect to the brethren.
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What benefits the brethren in their walk?
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Let those actions be genuine. Moving away from those things that are evil, that tend to linger even in our sanctification, like vanity or pride or jealousy.
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Understand that, rather, remember the wretch that you are and be humbled rather than have pride.
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Understand that all that you have, all that any of us have, we have been given.
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So instead of being jealous of a brother, have admiration for them.
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Be glad and glorify God that God has put them where He has, because He has done it according to His will, rather than be vain in our work.
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Be modest. In 1
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John 3, 17 and 18, it says this, But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?
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Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and truth.
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This is right in step with what Paul is saying here. It's not a matter of words, as we talked about the week before last, but rather one of actions taken, and that's what we need to keep our mind on as we finish off verse 9 here.
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Love the brethren and cling to those actions, those things that benefit them in their walk and in yours, as Christ gave
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Himself up for us. Let us give our lives to Him and His bride.
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Now this doesn't mean moving to a convent, as was the normal practice several hundred years ago, and even nowadays in some places, but rather serve the church, serve your local body.
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Hopefully at some point, to give you a little bit better idea, hopefully at some point you've heard the comparison between church and marriage.
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Marriage is an image of the church. This is why
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Christ is repeatedly referred to as the bridegroom and the church as the bride, as His bride.
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That the husband is the head of the household, as Christ is the head of the church, and the husband should love his wife in the same way that Christ loved the church, even to death on a cross.
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That the wife should love her husband the same way that the church loves Christ, in submission to His godly leadership.
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That word is key there, by the way, godly leadership. But one thing that you find out in marriage, hopefully that you find out in marriage, is that it's not about you.
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Most people don't come to this until they have children, and then even still some don't.
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That your life is not about you anymore. I'm not sure if you know this, but overall in the
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United States, about 50 % of marriages end in divorce, whereas 15 -25 % of regular church attendees get divorced.
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That's relatively net good that Christians get divorced less than the rest of the world does.
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But I share that to share this. Many of the same reasons are the cause for divorces, people leaving the church.
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Abandonment or abuse. Financial disagreement.
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Lack of commitment, either from the parishioner to the church, or from the church to the parishioner.
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Lack of communication between the church and the parishioner. There are surely many other reasons that play into these.
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These are not the only ones, and certainly in any given circumstance, there isn't just one reason.
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But the reason that I bring this up is that marriage is a much better gauge of fruit in an individual's life than the church as a whole is.
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Certainly we can look at the church and see what everyone is doing as a whole, but individually what you want to do is you want to look at marriage.
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This is why Scripture points to leadership and its qualifications being marriage.
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Does he rule his household well? If he can't do that, he certainly can't do it for the church, can he?
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When you come to a marriage selfishly, really any relationship, but especially marriage taking rather than giving, at the very least it's going to struggle.
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The very least. And at worse, it's going to kill the relationship.
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It's going to end in divorce, separation. But if there's a change, or if you come to the relationship to begin with, with an understanding that this, that how you should be is selfless, your marriage is going to blossom.
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Both of you are going to do far better off than you would separately, or even in a selfish relationship with one another.
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What we read before, how should a husband love his wife? Because Christ loved the church.
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How should a wife love her husband? In submission to his godly leadership.
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Both acting selflessly toward the other. In the same way, when we enter the church, or when a person enters the church wanting to take, how can
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Christ make my life better? How can the church make my life better? I need this.
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I need that. How do you think that that relationship is going to work out?
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I have spoken to so many people. I've seen so many Facebook posts, and a laundry list of things that the person needs from their church, rather than what they should be doing is saying, hey,
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I can do this, this, this, this, and this. Who needs me? That should be your attitude toward the church.
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Even in the reformed camp, people come to the church with requirements.
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And usually, they're unanimous. If they don't have
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A, B, C, and D, we're not doing it. A, B, and D isn't good enough, usually.
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It has to be A, B, C, and D. And there's generally not an attitude of what can
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I do for them. The problem with that is, the problem with the attitude, or I'm sorry, the attitude of the church should be this.
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And by church, I mean all of the people in attendance at the church, in the body.
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That what the bridegroom, Christ, can do for us has already been done and is being done in your sanctification.
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You need nothing more from him. He has given himself to you.
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There is nothing greater to give. What we, as a body of believers, what we are here for is to serve him.
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To be together in fellowship, to help one another, and to serve him. We'll get to that a little bit later on in the chapter.
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But when we help one another, when we feed, or clothe, or teach, or preach, or counsel, yes, we are absolutely helping the brethren.
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But we're serving Christ. That is the attitude you should bring to the work you do in the church.
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That you are serving Christ. We are fulfilling our duty as his bride.
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I'll point you to Matthew 25, verses 35 through 40. It says, For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat.
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I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me in, naked, and you clothed me.
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I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me. And the righteous will answer him,
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Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
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And when did we see you as a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?
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And the king will answer and say to them, Truly, I say to you, to the extent that you did it for the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.
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The way that we submit, the way that we serve, the way that we carry out our spiritual worship is in service to Christ and his people.
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Selfless action is something that is contrary to our nature as human beings.
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What Paul is talking about here will not play with someone who is not saved, because it is not possible for them to do any of this.
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The idea of clinging to what is objectively good and shoving off that which is satisfying to the flesh is something that is only capable in someone with the
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Holy Spirit, because it's not us that does it, it's Him. What our nature is, what our flesh wants, is generally instant gratification.
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Sometimes we'll plan and scheme and wait a little bit longer, but generally it's instant gratification.
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This is very apparent in our world today as it was in Rome and in Greece, with just the idea of the covenant of marriage and physical consummation within those confines.
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What is objectively good is marriage. What is objectively good is a physical relationship between a husband and wife within those confines, within that covenant.
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What is objectively evil is physical pleasure, outside of the confines of marriage.
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That's what our flesh wants, and you can see this in our culture and in ancient culture. It's rampant.
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Instead of proper work that glorifies God, our flesh wants to be lazy, and we want to be given something for nothing.
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I have one more verse, well, two more here, that perhaps will maybe help us recognize all that is good.
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What Paul is saying, what he's talking about here at the beginning of the chapter, is do not be conformed to this world again, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, and what is good and acceptable and perfect.
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How do we discern these things? Number one, by being in the
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Word daily, by having God correct our behavior, because ultimately, while this brother or this sister may be able to talk to you and point out your behavior or your sin,
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God is the only one that can fix it. And the easiest way for us to have that happen is to have
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Him tell us Himself, to be in His Word, the hearing, the reading.
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But those things that are good, those things that benefit, Paul says, cleave to them.
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Make them a permanent part of yourself. Most importantly, and I think this is very, very important, and I think that most of the men in church history would definitely agree with what
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I'm about to say, most importantly, cleave to that thing that we all share in common.
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That though God has given us various gifts to serve with, to serve one another, to serve
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Him, this is objectively good that we are not all skilled in the same way.
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How would it benefit us if we were all feet? Cling to the action that does make us all the same, that makes us brethren in the first place.
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If you cleave to that most of all, rarely will you be able to not discern the other things.
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John describes this wonderfully in 1 John 3 .16. 1 John 3 .16.
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By this we know, love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
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Cling to the gospel most of all. Now, some may have the opinion, and I really don't care, that we've heard it, we're saved, we're in the church, we're good, we don't need to hear it anymore, or perhaps they would rather fill their minds with all manner of other things, theology, doctrine, so it's been some time since they've come back to it.
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This is something that we need to hear all the time.
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The Christians should be reminded of it and yearn to be reminded of it constantly. We should think of it when we wake up, and we should think of it before we go to bed.
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It is the absolute ultimate example of love that we have, that He laid down His life for us while we were still haters of Him.
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That the second person of the
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Trinity, the creator of all things, condescended into human flesh, lived an absolutely perfect life, and all that we could do was hate
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Him for it. Then He died in your place.
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He didn't deserve it. You do. And I mean crucifixion.
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Every single one of us in the church, every single person on the face of this planet, deserves that death.
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And we deserve eternity in hell. And yet,
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Christ, on the cross, took your sin and my sin, all the sin of everyone whose name is written in the book, took it upon Himself, and took the punishment that we deserve.
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And not only that, but gave us His righteousness, that we could be whole in Him one day.
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Cling to the gospel, and pray that if for some reason you ever become too prideful or too vain, that in that moment the
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Holy Spirit will grab you and shake you and make you think of it and cry.
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The way that we know what Paul is talking about, these things that are good, these things that we should cleave to, these things that are evil that we should separate ourselves from, move away from, the way that we find them out is, like I said, being in the
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Word daily, being active in our local church bodies, being in service to the
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Lord. We are told in the Word what is objectively good.
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We are told in the Word what is objectively bad, according to God's standard.
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Search out the wisdom of God and the scriptures that He has provided. And when you come across an action or a thing that you have done that was not beneficial, that was bad, that was evil, separate yourself from it.
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And when you do a thing that is a net good, that is objectively good and selfless, that is acceptable for spiritual worship, cleave those things to yourself.
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If we do these things, what Paul is talking about will most definitely become known.
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As I said before, this is something that the average person cannot do, separate themselves from evil, but to cling to what
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God says is good. Ultimately, what Paul is describing is sanctification, something that is done not even by us, but by the