Okay, so please have a look at verse number 2, Acts 15, verse number 2, which says,
When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them.
The title for the sermon tonight is Dissensions and Disputations.
Dissensions and Disputations. I'm not sure if you're familiar with those terms,
but you can see Paul and Barnabas are basically arguing against another group of people here,
and the word, if you're not familiar with the word dissension, the word dissension basically means a disagreement.
And then you've got the word disputation. Well, what does that mean?
Disputation, think of the word dispute. It's an argument, a debate, right, that's happening,
a dispute between two groups of people.
And the reason I wanted to look at this title today is that you're going to find in your Christian life,
you're going to find times when people, Christians, are arguing one with another, okay?
Maybe having great arguments where people are splitting apart, breaking fellowship,
or maybe just arguments over doctrines.
And you may have found times in your life where you've been debating doctrines,
maybe things are getting a little bit heated, a little bit argumentative, not just an open discussion.
And I hope this sermon helps you today.
But let's start there in verse number one. What could these dissensions and disputations arise from?
We'll look at verse number one. It says,
And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said, what are they teaching?
Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.
Wow. You know, we've got the first century church right here.
And what do you find immediately? The gospel is being corrupt already.
You'll find this in many of the epistles of the churches.
Many times there are false brethren, false prophets teaching a corrupt gospel.
Now what's interesting about this, you know, if someone came to you and said,
look, in order for you to be saved, you have to be circumcised.
I would, and I'm sure many of you would automatically think these people are not saved.
And like I completely agree, I completely understand why you would conclude that, okay?
Because you're adding works to the gospel, okay?
If you add anything to faith alone in Christ, it's going to be works basically, okay?
Now what's surprising about this though, you'll actually find out these people were actually saved, okay?
And this is, I'll prove that to you in a minute, okay?
I'll prove that to you in a minute because it's hard for us to grasp.
But I also, the next thing I want to point out to you, so you have these guys,
these people from Judea come in and say you've got to be circumcised to be saved.
And then you have, what do you have in verse number two?
When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation.
It says no small, meaning it was big. It was a big argument, okay?
Paul and Barnabas saying, what are you talking about?
That's ridiculous. That's a false gospel.
Hey, this is something they started to fight about.
And look, I don't expect to go through my Christian life and to go through life as a pastor of two churches
and never get to a point where I'm not fighting.
Look, if we're going to fight about anything, let it be about the gospel.
Let's not allow somebody to come into our church and start teaching some false gospel.
You know, I'm not just trying to add people to the church.
I don't want to just add people to the church that claim to be Christian,
but then they're teaching a false gospel.
You know, if someone comes teaching in our church anything that is false,
adding anything to faith alone or Jesus Christ alone, I'm not going to have it.
We're not going to have those people in our church.
And you better guarantee there will be no small dissension or disputation, okay?
It'll be a significant issue.
Now look, I'm sure there are many things in our church where we may differ on.
You know, when it comes to secondary or tertiary doctrines,
we may not see eye to eye exactly on certain things.
I'm not going to fight you about that.
We may have a – hopefully it's a profitable conversation about those things.
I'm not so bold and proud to think that I've got everything right 100% of the time.
I'm still learning.
As a pastor, I still learn. I still grow.
You know, we should all have the mindset that we are constantly growing and learning.
And we ought to really consider that, hey, there are times we can be wrong about things.
I'm sure there are things that we believe right now that we're so sure are true,
and we're wrong about that, okay?
But that's just life.
We're growing and growing in knowledge, you know, until we be with the Lord, you know?
We're going to continue growing and learning about His Word and learning doctrines.
But let's keep going there in verse number – well, actually, I'll just drop down to verse number 5.
I just want to show you what happens here.
Because what happens, they end up having a meeting about this topic, okay?
Now, I think this is good.
I think if within a church you start to hear different doctrines on the gospel,
I think it is so vitally important for people to get together, for the leadership of the church together,
and identify what is true and what is false and make sure people believe the right thing.
Because in verse number 5 it says,
But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees – then notice this – which believed.
So there are some Pharisees – we know that the Pharisees were some of the enemies of Jesus Christ when He walked the earth.
But do you notice that a certain sect of the Pharisees believed?
Some of them actually got saved.
I mean, the greatest example of a saved Pharisee, of course, is the Apostle Paul.
He was a Pharisee himself, okay?
Notice these people believe.
But what are they saying?
Which believed, saying that it was needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses.
Say, what in the world?
We have former Pharisees which now believe on Jesus.
Why do we know they're saved?
The Holy Spirit is the narrator.
You know, if someone came to me saying, you have to be circumcised, I would automatically think this man is not saved.
But do you notice that through the enlightening of God, of the Holy Spirit, through His word,
we actually find out that these people are actually believers.
They believed, but then they're – what are they?
They're messed up in the Gospel already.
You know what this tells me?
This tells me that saved people can get messed up in the Gospel.
I know we don't want to admit it.
I know we don't like to think about it, but it is possible.
Why is it possible?
It's possible when someone is new to the faith, a new believer.
They've recently been saved, right?
They haven't gotten themselves grounded in the truth.
It's very easy for simple-minded people to be deceived, yes, even saved people, okay?
This is why many times you might go to a church and the pastor behind the pulpit will say something like,
you've got to repent of your sins to be saved.
Now, of course, we know that that phrase does not exist in the Bible.
We know that truly salvation is not by repenting of any sins.
And if someone was truly asking you to turn from sins to be saved, that would be a false Gospel.
But, you know, I've heard many saved people that are truly saved state that you have to believe –
sorry, you have to repent of your sins to be saved.
But then when you ask them and you start clarifying things,
eventually they start to realize, hold on, what am I saying?
Of course you don't have to turn from your sins.
All I mean is you have to realize you're a sinner and that you need a Savior.
You know, sometimes people can say things and not really understand what they're saying, okay?
Now, look, as far as I'm concerned, if someone came with a corrupt Gospel, wasn't clear,
they thought you had to repent of your sins or they thought you had to be circumcised,
I would treat that person as an unsaved person.
Like, as far as I'm concerned, I would not have the Holy Ghost telling me that these were actually believers that got messed up.
I would just assume he's not saved and try to give that person that Gospel once again.
But do you notice that this is becoming an issue there in the church in Jerusalem?
All right? Now, why is it that somebody who is saved or someone who is a believer may say,
well, yeah, we need to circumcise people as well?
Well, you know, the only thought that I could possibly think about, you know, they obviously got saved.
They obviously at some point understood that it's faith alone and Christ alone that saved them.
But when I relate things to what I observe amongst some Baptist churches in Australia,
is that sometimes there are saved pastors and saved individuals and they'll say something like,
yes, you know, works is not needed for salvation, but I want to see some works to prove that they really did get saved.
Now, do I believe that person that is looking for some level of evidence, do I believe he's not saved?
No. I believe he's saved because he understands salvation is by grace through faith alone,
but his mistake is looking for some evidence after the fact that they believe.
Let me give you some other thoughts around this. It might be like, for example, us, when we go door to the soul,
when we give someone the Gospel, and then what is the, you know, they'll say, yes, I believe that,
but what outward evidence do we want to see that they've actually believed?
Well, that's why we often lead them in a word of prayer.
We want to see them call upon the Lord in faith because there's some type of physical evidence
that we can see with our eyes that they're placed in their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I think, here's what I believe, I can't be 100% sure about this,
but we know that salvation does require circumcision, but it's not the circumcision of the flesh.
You know, the moment you're saved, you're circumcised in the heart.
The Bible tells us in Romans 2 29,
So what did physical circumcision picture? It was the putting away of the flesh, okay?
And salvation is not to trust in your flesh. You put away the flesh, it's not by the works that are done by the flesh,
We're setting that aside. No, I can't make it to heaven on my own.
I'm putting that aside and I'm placing my faith on Jesus Christ alone, okay?
But it seems like if these guys aren't truly believers, which it says there, that they're believers, okay?
Then they must have mixed up the circumcision of the heart, which we all have if we're saved,
and they think that somehow they were looking for that evidence on the outward, okay?
The evidence in the outward that there was a need for circumcision.
Regardless, the point is this, that they're mixing up the gospel, they're messing up the gospel, okay?
And it's so important at this point that they decide we need to have a meeting about this.
The gospel is being corrupted. We need to figure out what is the truth and filter out that which is wrong.
And, you know, if you were to ask me, and I've said this to many people,
How do you determine if someone is unsaved or a false prophet, a false teacher?
Is it that they say you have to repent of your sins? No, that's not enough.
If I just hear that phrase, that's not enough for me, because I know that there are many people that say that
and they don't really mean what they think they mean, what they realize.
They don't realize what they're saying, okay?
And, you know, if someone says, well, you know, I want to see some level of evidence,
I want to see some improvement in someone's life before I claim that they're saved,
would I say that person's not saved? No, not necessarily either, okay?
Because as long as they can tell me that they believe that salvation is by faith alone, on Christ alone,
you know, I'm going to give them that benefit of the doubt,
but I am going to try to come alongside them and try to help them out of their misunderstandings, okay?
Now, should a Christian have good works? Yeah, they should have that.
But if he doesn't have the good works, it doesn't mean that he's not saved.
It just means he doesn't have the works, okay?
Which has nothing to do with salvation because salvation is without works, all right?
So they have this conversation, but if you were to ask me,
how would you identify a false prophet if they say you have to turn from your sins?
Well, there's two things that I observe.
Number one, if once they're quizzed or once they're questioned or if they start to preach
and they start to, like, name certain sins that someone has to turn from,
like, they'll say, for example, a drunkard has to give up his alcohol to be saved.
Hold on. So he's saying if he doesn't give up the alcohol, he's not saved. That's right.
There are people like that. Mark it down, that is a false prophet, okay?
He's not just mixed up on some phraseology or some words.
He's not just looking at an issue after salvation and causing confusion.
He's causing confusion before someone even understands that it's by faith alone on Christ alone, okay?
Someone says, well, that person that's living there with their boyfriend or with their girlfriend committing fornication,
they've got to stop doing that before they're saved.
Once again, they're adding works, okay?
They're trying to say, well, you've got to clean up your life before you can truly believe on Jesus Christ and be saved.
That is a works-based gospel, okay?
No, Christ has done all the work necessary for us to be saved.
What's the other thing that I look for?
Others, if I hear a pastor or any kind of preacher basically mock that salvation is by faith alone,
and I've seen that as well.
I've seen people mock and laugh, well, just believe?
What do you think, just believe that Jesus did everything and now you're saved?
And they mock it? They laugh at it?
Again, mark it down, that person is an unsaved false prophet as well, okay?
Those are the two key things that I look for.
If they just clearly say you have to turn from this sin or that sin or that sin,
they're very clear that you've got to clean up your life to be saved.
They're not saved. They're a false prophet if they mock faith alone.
They laugh, oh, I just believe? Anyone can do that.
They laugh like that, you know, that's an unsaved false prophet as well.
They don't get it. They don't get salvation.
They don't understand the gospel.
But look, even at this first century church, you realize people are mixed up
to the point that they're required to have this meeting.
Look at verse number six. It says,
And the apostles and elders came together for to consider this matter.
You say, hold on, why? Why consider it? It should be obvious.
The church was already corrupt.
This confusion had already developed within the church.
And you know what? If a church has multiple gospels within the church,
it is so important for the church leaders to get together
and root out that which is wrong.
Like, I'm thinking about a church. I'm sure there are other churches.
I'm thinking about one of my former churches,
that you're going to find literature that salvation is by faith alone,
grace alone, Christ alone, plus nothing, minus nothing.
Praise God, that's what I believe.
And yet within the same church, maybe even standing next to that,
you're going to find other literature saying you've got to turn from your sins to be saved.
There are many churches like this where they've got the right stuff
and then they've got a false gospel and you're like,
which one does this church believe? I don't know anymore.
The church that I'm thinking about, they had all the right stuff.
They had the right gospel.
Eventually, someone introduced the Repent of Your Sins tracks and literature to the church.
It's not clear and the pastors don't want to make it clear.
They'll preach the gospel very vaguely, almost to please both parties,
to please those that believe it's by faith alone
and to please those that believe you have to turn from your sins to be saved.
These are very different ways of salvation.
You know, if something like that ever happened in my church,
yeah, you know what, I would get together, I would get the people together,
we'll have a meeting, we'll kick, you know, we'll basically get rid of the false gospel
and reiterate that which is true.
It looks like they dropped the ball here.
They allowed other gospels to creep into the church.
Look at verse number seven.
And when there had been much disputing,
so in this church meeting there's a lot of arguments about the gospel here.
Look what happens.
Peter rose up and said unto them,
Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us
that the Gentiles by my mouth, look at this,
should hear the word of the gospel and believe.
That's how someone gets saved.
They hear the word of the gospel and they believe.
That is salvation.
It's not, hey, you've got to get circumcised as well.
No, it's just believe.
Look at verse number eight.
And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness,
giving them the Holy Ghost even as He did unto us.
So these people that just believed what they heard of the gospel,
they received the Holy Ghost.
This is evidence that this person was saved.
Verse number nine.
Look at this.
And put no difference between us and them, look at this,
purifying their hearts by faith.
So, you know, Peter's saying this in multiple ways,
that these people got saved by simply having their hearts purified by faith.
They believed the gospel.
They placed their faith in the gospel.
And this is what saved them.
So notice that Paul and Barnabas are disputing the right gospel
against these people that are basically trying to bring in circumcision.
Then you've got Peter rising up saying the same thing.
No, it's by faith alone.
It's just by believing.
It's not by circumcision.
And this was so important for them to get together and figure this out.
And, brethren, once again, we need to make sure that as a church,
you know, we are 100% right on the gospel all the time.
All the time.
I'd rather be wrong about other things and just be right about the gospel
than be right about everything in the Bible and wrong with the gospel.
What's the point of being right about everything and then wrong with the gospel?
Then you're down to hell and you're damning everyone else to hell.
So do you notice that it's so important that they actually got together,
had disagreements, and fought about this,
and those Baptist churches that are out there that I know of,
where they've got multiple gospels in the church,
you know, I hope those pastors that are actually saved
get together, have a meeting, you know,
and proclaim salvation by Christ alone, by faith alone,
and get rid of that repent of your sins nonsense
that's not even found in your Bibles.
Why do you put up with that?
You know, why do you put up with that?
It just causes confusion.
You're going to potentially have false converts in your church
simply because you allow other gospels to creep in.
Now, as I said, these people, they were believers already,
but they got mixed up.
And as I said, you know, when someone gets saved, they're a babe in Christ.
You know, they're still learning, they're still growing.
They can be influenced by the wrong kind of people.
You know, yes, I think it's possible for safe people to get mixed up, okay?
And it just requires somebody to come along that person, help them out,
you know, clear out the cobwebs, you know, of their misunderstanding
or false understandings that they've developed after the fact, right?
And again, I can understand why these Jews misrepresented, you know,
the circumcision of the heart, you know, which is meant to be symbolic or spiritual
and thought there was an outward, you know, need to see that as well.
You know, that wasn't necessary.
Circumcision is not required for salvation.
I'm going to quickly read to you from 2 Corinthians 11, 4, which says,
For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached,
or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received,
or another gospel, which ye have not received, ye might well bear with him.
Paul was concerned with the Corinthian church.
They were so weak, they were so watered down.
He was concerned that you're going to have people come in preaching another gospel,
another Jesus, another spirit, and you're just going to bear well with them.
You're just going to put up with them.
Paul says, no, don't bear well with these people.
Don't put up with these people.
If someone tries to come into this church and bring in another gospel,
I'm not going to bear well with them.
I'm not going to put up with them.
They're not permitted in this church.
I'll kick them out of the church.
If they try to come and bring another Jesus, same thing, okay?
You know, what's another Jesus?
You know, for example, the Mormons believe that Jesus is some other lesser God
than the God of the Bible, for example.
That would be another Jesus.
You know, the Jehovah's Witnesses, what do they believe?
They believe Jesus is the Archangel Michael.
Yeah, they believe Jesus is the Archangel Michael.
Look, that would be another Jesus, you know.
This church exists because of oneness theology.
That's another Jesus, you know.
What else?
I mean, there are so many people that believe in other Jesuses.
Look, some of them want to come to our church and preach that nonsense, another Jesus.
Once again, we're not going to well bear with them.
We'll get them out of our church, you know.
What's another spirit?
I think of the Pentecostals.
You know, I think of the Charismatics.
And they're talking their gibberish and they fall down and foam at the mouth
and they, you know, have visions and they start saying, you know,
they start proclaiming apparently, you know, a new revelation of God's Word.
I do believe many of them are actually being influenced by a spirit.
But it's not the Holy Spirit.
It's definitely not the Holy Spirit of God because I've heard a lot of their so-called new revelations
and it's just contradictive to God's Word.
You know, you can mark it down.
If someone comes and says, well, God told me something and it's just contradictive to God's Word,
mark it down.
The spirit they heard that from is not the Holy Spirit.
It's another spirit, okay.
And again, we don't want that in our church, you know.
We only want the Holy Spirit in this church that guides us through the preaching of the Word of God, okay.
Here's our teacher of God's Word.
So look, I'm going to dispute.
We will have no small dissension and disputations if people try to come in
and try to influence our church with those things, okay.
And once again, I understand that sometimes Christians can get mixed up.
Truly saved people can get pretty mixed up on doctrine, okay.
But if I hear them preaching another Jesus, another spirit, another gospel,
I'm just going to take the assumption that they're not saved, you know, and hopefully get them saved.
That's the whole point, right, to be a witness unto these people.
Now if we continue there in Acts 15, look, drop down to verse number 36.
Acts 15 verse number 36.
Now we have a different argument that takes place.
This chapter covers two arguments.
Those that were trying to bring in another gospel, preaching another gospel,
I'm glad there was a big argument.
I'm glad that it got sorted out.
I'm glad Peter stood up and sorted it out, okay.
But now we have a different type of argument.
It's between two friends, two apostles, okay, Paul and Barnabas.
Yes, Barnabas was an apostle as well, okay.
Two apostles, two friends, people that knew each other very well and they have a major argument.
Look at verse number 36.
And some days after, Paul said unto Barnabas,
Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do.
So this is good.
They're going out to a new missionary journey.
They want to go and see the people they've already preached the gospel to.
Verse number 37.
And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark, okay.
So John, John Mark, okay.
Most often we know him just simply as Mark, but it's John Mark, okay.
And Barnabas, yeah, he wants to get someone else to come and help them along their journey.
Verse number 38.
But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia and went not with them to the work.
So Barnabas says, let's get John Mark.
Paul says, no, I don't want him here.
And I say, why didn't Paul want him?
Because in the previous missionary journey, John Mark halfway through quit, okay.
He was like, yeah, I'll be there.
I'll help you guys.
I'll serve you guys.
And when they got to Pamphylia, John Mark said, it's too hard.
I'm out of here.
He got too challenging, right, and he left.
Paul does not like to quit up, okay.
You can see that.
Paul does not want to give this guy another chance.
Barnabas thinks, no, let's give him the benefit of doubt.
Let's take him again, all right.
I'm sure he's going to be valuable for us.
And they disagree on this topic.
Now, this is quite interesting because you see that Barnabas and Paul have very different personalities, okay.
Barnabas wants to give people the benefit of doubt.
He wants to give people a second chance.
Paul is not like that at all.
Paul is very zealous, you know.
His priority is the kingdom of God and if anything's getting in the way,
we just get rid of that thing that's out of the way and we soldier on serving the Lord, okay.
Now, it's just people are different.
People see things in different ways, okay.
And actually the Bible doesn't tell us, when you see what happens,
the Bible doesn't clearly lay out to us who's right and who's wrong here, okay.
But this causes a major problem.
Look at verse number 39.
And the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder one from the other
and so Barnabas took Mark and sailed into Cyprus.
Okay, so great friends divide over Mark.
And Paul chose Silas and departed being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God
and went through Syria and Cilicia confirming the churches.
These guys were good friends.
They've been serving together, okay, for a long time but they can't agree on John Mark, okay.
Barnabas is so confident, he's going to be good for us.
Paul is so confident, he's not going to work out for us, okay.
He's just going to stop us.
Who was right and who was wrong?
Well, here's the thing.
Again, the Bible doesn't tell us, you can have your opinion.
You can think well, you know, most people will think Paul is right
because basically Paul, you know, we follow Paul in his journeys throughout the book of Acts.
Obviously, Paul did the greater works.
He wrote most of the books of the New Testament, of course.
He wrote all the church epistles.
So people would automatically think, you know, Paul was right.
But actually, you soon see that they're both right.
They just didn't agree, okay.
And this happens, we have to understand that it happens where sometimes religious leaders,
good Christian friends, pastors maybe, are just not going to get along.
They're just not going to be compatible.
They're not going to see things eye to eye all the time.
You know, I try my best to get along with people.
But then there are people that just don't want to get along with me, okay.
I try to be friends with pastors and other pastors, they just don't want to be a friend with me, okay.
And it's usually about the doctrine and the rapture or something like that, okay,
that they don't want to get along with, right.
But look, I'm willing to get along with people even if they see things differently to me on certain topics
as long as it's not on the G's and not the spirit and not the gospel, okay.
And I personally, if I look at my personality and I look between Barnabas and Paul,
I'd say I'm much more like Barnabas.
Like, I'm more willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt.
If someone messes up, I'm like, let's just give them another chance.
I'm more likely to do that.
But I understand the Paul as well.
I understand the guy that goes, no, he's already failed us.
Why are we going to give him another chance?
I understand that position as well, okay.
But notice, they just, at this point, they couldn't see eye to eye.
That's why they split.
It was a sharp contention between the two of them, okay.
Who was right?
Maybe both were right.
Maybe both were wrong.
Maybe one was right and one was wrong.
But I'm glad the Bible has these stories for us because you need to understand that
not every Christian is going to get along.
Not every church that's a saved church with a saved pastor are going to be able to work together.
And it can be difficult for those maybe caught in the middle not knowing what side do I side with.
You don't have to side with side sometimes.
Here's the thing.
Both of these guys, what happened?
Barnabas gets John Mark and they continue the work, okay.
They don't get disappointed in God's work.
He just gets John Mark and says, look, we're just going to continue serving the Lord.
We're going to go together.
And John Mark gets a great opportunity for a second chance, okay.
What did Paul do?
He got Silas.
Hey, another young guy, another person gets the opportunity to work alongside Paul.
So instead of there being one team going out and confirming the brethren, guess what now?
There's two teams going out confirming the brethren.
The work has doubled.
Praise God, the work has doubled.
Notice that.
Though it was caused by very sharp contention, a great argument between these two friends.
But it doubled the work.
And so sometimes, yeah, you know, we would hope for people to get along.
But if they don't get along, actually, for the kingdom of Christ's sake, it actually might be better.
A lot more work might actually get done when people don't get along, when people are separated, okay.
Even friends that are saved.
And so the reason I'm saying this, brethren, is I don't know, you might get into an argument one day.
You might get mad at me.
You might get mad at me one day and say, I'm not coming back to Blessed Hope Baptist Church.
Well, you know, I hope that's not the case.
But, you know, if that does happen, I hope you continue serving the Lord.
Like, I hope you still put your head down and say, look, I couldn't, you know, get along with Pastor Kevin.
I couldn't get along with someone in church.
I can't stand being there.
I'm getting out of here.
Well, go.
I hope you find another good church.
You know, a church that believes the gospel.
A church that's serving Christ.
I hope you continue soul winning.
I hope you put your head down.
I hope the whole purpose you were in church was because you love Jesus.
You love his kingdom.
You love his work.
You love his gospel.
And you continue doing that, brethren, okay.
If I ever, you know, if you and I ever have an argument and we have a fight, you know, I hope you don't, you know, desert the Lord.
You know, I hope you don't get so angry at me that then you get angry at God and you're just completely out of the race.
Completely out of the work of God.
No.
You know what?
The right thing to do is just continue serving God even when brethren, even when churches, even when pastors don't get along.
Can you please go to Acts chapter 9.
Go to Acts chapter 9 for me.
Acts chapter 9.
As I said, who was right?
Who was wrong?
And if we were to just, you know, I'm just throwing some ideas out there as I already mentioned.
If we say Paul was right, I can understand why we would say that, okay.
Again, because the Bible follows his story.
We don't learn much more about Barnabas later on.
And he writes several books of the Bible, okay, that we're familiar with.
But notice Acts chapter 9 and verse number 26.
It says,
This is soon after Saul or Paul was saved, okay.
I want you to remember what Barnabas did for Saul, okay.
They didn't like Saul.
Remember, he was a persecutor of the church.
They didn't like him.
What happens in verse number 27?
And declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way and that he had spoken to him
and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.
Hey, who believes in Paul?
Barnabas.
You know, everyone else is like, no, we don't like Saul, okay.
Is he saved?
Is he just pretending?
Is he doing this to infiltrate the churches?
Barnabas sticks up for Paul, okay.
You know what?
He's willing to give Paul the benefit of the doubt, okay.
Even though Paul was not willing to give John Mark the benefit of the doubt, Barnabas gave Paul the benefit of the doubt
and he was willing to give John Mark the benefit of the doubt.
What I'm saying to you Brevin is this.
You know, everyone else was afraid of Saul.
They didn't want to touch him with a ten-foot pole.
Barnabas came along and helped him out.
If it were not for Barnabas, Paul would never have gotten himself into that position
to be brought before the apostles, to get involved in the churches there and to serve God.
Barnabas played a major role in Paul, okay.
Please go to 2 Timothy chapter 4.
Please go to 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse number 9.
2 Timothy chapter 4 verse number 9.
What we're about to read now is toward the end of Paul's ministry.
And in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse number 9, of course Paul is writing to Timothy and he says,
Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me, for Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world,
and is departed unto Thessalonica, Christians to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia, only Luke is with me.
Alright, so Paul is saying look, I need you to come and help me Timothy.
I don't have many helpers right now, alright.
The only person I've got with me right now is Luke.
Then what does it say?
Take Mark and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry.
Who's Mark? John Mark.
The same guy that Paul did not want helping in the ministry.
The same person that he and Barnabas had an argument over.
And Paul's like, no, he's not profitable for us.
Now, much later in Paul's ministry, he says, yeah, take Mark is profitable to me.
How in the world is Mark profitable? You know what happened?
Barnabas gave him the second chance. Barnabas mentored Mark.
Okay, John Mark. Okay, he got him back on track.
He got him back serving the Lord to the point where Paul is able to now look at Mark and say,
yeah, actually, let's bring him along now.
Do you see how Paul now had a change of mind? Okay.
And so who was right and who was wrong?
If Barnabas did not give John Mark the next opportunity,
John Mark might have just been a backslidden Christian, never serving the Lord.
Barnabas went there, got him re-engaged, got him encouraged once again,
got him motivated once again, and now Paul sees the prophet in Mark.
This is the same Mark that wrote the Gospel of Mark.
Okay, so he was used in a mighty way by the Lord Jesus Christ as well.
Thanks to Barnabas.
So who was right and who was wrong? The Bible doesn't tell us.
We can have our opinions. Maybe they were both right.
Maybe it was necessary for the work of God for them to have this argument and this split.
But, again, I just want to show you that because I don't want you to become discouraged
when you see pastors argue, pastors fight, pastors not wanting to get along.
Okay, churches argue, churches fight.
They say, well, Lord, I don't know why this happens. I know this person is saved.
I know that person is saved.
Lord, I hope this is just for the purpose of the furtherance of your kingdom.
And I hope the work gets multiplied.
We hope the situation develops in the same way that we saw here in Acts chapter 15.
Can you please turn to Proverbs 25?
Turn to Proverbs 25, please. Proverbs 25.
For the rest of the sermon, we're going to give our focus to this chapter here in Proverbs 25.
Because I now want to give you some practical tips.
If you find yourself in a conflict, in an argument with the brethren.
And the conflict and argument that I'm going to be thinking about today is just let's talk about doctrinal issues.
Let's talk about things that are, you know, they're not Danville heresies, you know.
They're not personal problems, but actually just disagreements around the Bible,
trying to see things from a different point of view.
You know, there's been times in my life when I've had to be corrected.
I was wrong about something. Someone has come alongside me and corrected me.
There's been times that I've been able to come along to someone and correct them.
All right, so I've got that personal experience of having to change your mind
or having other people change their mind.
And I think Proverbs 25 gives us a lot of great direction of how we ought to think about things
when we're not seen eye to eye with a brother, especially when it comes to the Scriptures.
Because a church like ours that loves doctrine, it's going to happen where we are going to have arguments on doctrine.
You know, there are some churches that never have arguments.
People just always seemingly get along with each other.
But you know what? Those same churches, quite often, they're not focused on doctrine at all.
Like, it's just watered down teaching, everyone's in agreement, it's very easy,
there's no hard preaching, no one's getting offended.
Of course there's not going to be any arguments.
But in a church like ours where we care about doctrine, we care about growing in knowledge,
you know what that means? If we're going to spend more time digging into doctrine,
we're going to find more differences that we have, okay?
We don't want it to get to the point where we're just arguing, though,
over things that are secondary or tertiary issues, you know?
We want to make sure that our unity remains founded on the fundamental doctrines of faith,
the doctrines of our church, the things that are necessary for salvation.
We want to make sure that if our unity, our faith is on these things,
we're not going to have arguments at that level, okay?
But I also have seen, again, Christians argue about doctrines.
So, let's see what we can learn here in Proverbs 25 and verse number 8.
It says,
What is it saying?
Go not forth hastily to strive.
If someone has a different view on a Bible verse, a Bible doctrine than you,
don't just rush into it and cause problems, okay?
Just rush into it and start presenting your point of view, like shutting someone down.
I know a story of a church where one of my friends was attending,
where a guy walked into the church and he was a post-trib believer.
The church was pre-trib, pre-trib rapture. He was post-trib.
He comes to the church, right, and he sort of lets people know,
I'm a post-trib believer.
That was his first service, and then straight out of the service,
he was surrounded by people trying to prove that he's wrong on the rapture,
but the guy never came back, okay?
He never came back.
Now, I'm a post-trib believer, okay?
I believe the rapture is after the tribulation, as it says in Matthew 24, okay?
But I can understand where people might be so passionate and so zealous
to just correct someone, you know, that they forget how to lovingly come along inside that person.
He's come to the church.
He's obviously interested in learning.
He's interested in discussion, okay?
But the worst thing you can do is just hastily rush in, right,
and try to correct them on some doctrine when now you've lost him.
Now he's gone.
You're not finding some other place that he can try to plant himself in a church.
You know, don't rush or be ill-prepared if someone believes differently than you.
Why? Because it says at the end of it,
lest thou know not what to do in the end thereof,
when thy neighbor have put thee to shame.
You know, if you rush into an argument, rush into an issue,
you can be put to shame yourself because you've come ill-prepared.
You've rushed into it, okay?
What you want to do is patience, right,
and bring a reasonable application to the discussion that is being had.
Let's keep going. Verse number nine.
It says debate thy cause with thy neighbor himself
and discover not a secret to another.
You know, if I and, let's say, Brother Ramzan here
are having a bit of a disagreement on doctrine
and we know we're not saying that's I to Y exactly,
you know what, we need to keep that within ourselves, right?
The worst thing to do is for me to bring Brother Les,
Brother Les is on my side, Brother Tim's on my side,
hey, let's take down Ramzan right now on his post-doctorate.
Amen! That'd be the worst thing to do, right?
I mean, if you're having a discussion, you can't see I to Y about a certain issue,
keep it amongst yourselves, right?
There's no need in bringing everyone involved.
It might cause division in the church, conflict in the church.
That's not right.
You know, if there's any kind of dispute between brethren,
always make sure you keep it within yourselves
as much as you possibly can, okay?
You start including other people, you're going to blow it out of proportion.
Verse number 10.
Let's hear that horrific, put thee to shame,
and don't infamy turn not away, okay?
Let's hear that horrific.
So infamy, by the way, here, the word infamy is like the word famous,
but infamy is you're famous for the wrong reasons.
You're famous for something bad that's happened, right?
And if you're there trying to get other people involved,
you know, something that is just a discussion between the two of you,
you publicize it, you know, you go on the public forums,
and you make it, you know, you're on YouTube or Facebook,
and you blow it up, you know, you can be put to shame, okay?
You can be infamous for the wrong reasons.
Let me give you an example of this.
I'm sure many of us have Facebook, okay?
Many of us have Facebook.
And I don't really engage in Facebook like I used to,
but I used to have people on my Facebook page that would post just incorrect things,
just wrong things scripturally.
And there have been times that I've jumped in,
because if you respond, you're not just responding to that one person that posted it.
You're responding not just to that one person,
but all of their network of friends can see what you've posted,
and all of your network of friends can see what you posted.
I think this is done on purpose by Facebook,
to cause a lot of turmoil and trouble.
And I used to get involved and respond, and it's because it's public.
Now, you know, what gets in the way? Ego.
The pride of man gets in the way.
It's like, man, I've just been shut down in front of all my friends,
in front of everybody on Facebook, and like, you know, it's not the right platform.
Like, I've never, I'm telling the truth,
I've never won an argument on a Facebook conversation, okay?
But I have actually been able to convince people through Facebook.
That's where I've seen something posted incorrectly,
and I've messaged them privately.
And I said, hey, brother, I just saw your thing that you posted.
This is quite wrong because X, Y, and Z.
And the response has been, you know what, I've not thought about it like that.
Thank you, brother, for bringing this to me privately.
I'm going to take down that post.
I'm going to take down that thing which I posted.
Praise God, that's the right way to do things, right?
You don't want to blow it out of proportion
because then you get the pride of man in the way.
And I've never seen, I've never seen a Facebook argument,
I've never seen one side relent.
And it's like a public argument, right?
I've never seen one side go, you know what, I was wrong, you're right.
You know?
It's going to take an extremely humble person, right, to, you know,
in the face of everybody that's following that conversation, you know,
to say, you know what, I was wrong and you're right, I'm sorry.
Okay?
So I'm just telling you this, like, I'm just telling you things that I've experienced.
Taking things one-on-one or private messaging that person
is going to be vastly more effective than dealing with it on a public platform.
Okay?
Let's keep going.
Verse number 11, it says,
a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.
So, you know, the words that we speak should be fitly spoken.
What does that mean?
You need to, before you enter an argument
or before you say anything about what someone else believes,
you want to understand where they're coming from.
What are they really saying?
It can be very tempting to over speak,
to not allow people to explain or to ask questions.
There have been times that people have a legitimate question
but people may feel that they're just being rebellious or something
and they shut them down and speak over them.
That would not be a word fitly spoken.
When you think about a word fitly spoken, think about a puzzle piece.
Let's say you're trying to put together a 500 piece puzzle, you know, together.
And, you know, it takes time to find that one right piece
and when you have found it, you put it into the puzzle and it fits perfectly.
It fits perfectly because it was the right piece.
You know, when you're having a verbal discussion or verbal argument,
you want to make sure that the words you speak fit, you know, properly.
You know, you're answering the question.
If someone's asking the question, you want to know where they're coming from
and you want to make sure that you're answering the question.
You're not just shutting someone down because they're wrong.
And it keeps going by saying that that fitly spoken word is like, what did it say there?
Apples of gold in pictures of silver.
I don't fully understand what that means, okay.
But of course this, you know, gold and silver, these are valuable items, okay.
An ornament, as you might think about it, as a precious ornament.
You know, maybe a decoration in an expensive household.
So, the right fitly spoken word is like this very valuable ornament
that's being described here.
I think if you are able to speak clearly, answer questions
and they know that what you're saying, you've actually heard what they have to say,
you're actually answering the questions, they're going to see your response as valuable.
You know, it doesn't take a lot of effort to open your mouth and blow hot air, okay.
You're not sure when you speak it's valuable, okay.
It actually fits the purpose of the discussion.
Let's keep going. Let's go to Proverbs 25, 12 there, verse number 12.
Actually, you know what, I'm going to give you one example of this, in case it wasn't clear.
I'm going to quickly read to you from Philippians 2, 12.
Philippians 2, 12, which says,
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only,
but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
I once had someone come up to me, that I'm sure was 100% saved,
came up to me with this verse and says,
Look, this sounds like you have to have works to be saved.
Is that what it's saying, okay?
Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
And you guys probably know there are many churches that actually preach a false gospel,
that preach a workspace gospel, that will take that verse and say,
Yes, this verse teaches a workspace gospel.
Now, when someone came and asked me that question,
I could have very easily just smashed that person's understanding
and go, What are you talking about? That's ridiculous.
Why would you ask me that question?
You know that salvation is by grace through faith alone and without works.
But what am I doing? Am I helping him?
No, I'm not helping him. I'm not answering his question.
I've seen zealous Christians, you know, basically destroy someone's question,
not understand that they actually just have a legitimate question.
They just want help. They just want an answer.
They want to be able to respond because they've been challenged with this verse.
But the person that's responding, it's almost like they've been insulted.
It's almost like they've been offended.
And they quickly just shut down that person's argument.
Of course it's by grace through faith alone.
What kind of stupid question is that?
And the person walks away and you think, Yeah, I answered the question.
No, it wasn't a fitly spoken word.
You did not address their concern.
You did not address their question.
You don't know what they're asking, you know?
And if you want to be, you know, a help to somebody,
you need to hear what they're saying.
What are they asking?
What does it mean to work out your own salvation?
It means basically once you are saved, work it out.
Once you are saved, do the works.
Do something good.
Serve God, serve the brethren, be in church, read your Bible,
win souls, do something.
It doesn't say you have to do works to be saved.
It says once you are saved, work it out and serve the Lord with your good works.
But you need to be able to hear somebody,
understand where they're coming from.
They're not coming to criticize salvation by grace through faith alone.
They just wanted an understanding of what that verse was talking about.
But again, I've seen a lot of hot-headed Christians just get out there
and destroy somebody before they even understood why they've come
with that question or concern.
Let's keep going, verse number 12 there, Proverbs 25 verse 12.
As an earing of gold or an ornament of fine gold,
so is a wise reprover unto an obedient ear.
All right, so if you're having a discussion with somebody,
if you're having a discussion with somebody, okay,
and you're going to reprove somebody that you're wrong,
let me explain to you why you're wrong.
It's not just reproving somebody.
You need to be a wise reprover, okay?
And that wise reprover, if you're able to take down their misunderstandings
and help them understand why they're wrong and why they need to turn
to another understanding of that passage or whatever,
you then are going to basically be that earing of gold, okay?
And they're going to be that obedient ear.
So the point being that, you know, an earing by itself is pointless.
You know, an ear without an earring is not as beautiful,
for a woman anyway, without her earring.
But if you are able to help somebody and reprove
and help them understand something about the scriptures wisely,
then basically that whole conversation is being pictured
by that ear being beautified, okay?
It's the reprover and the obedient person listening
that comes together and beautifies that ear.
Let's keep going.
Verse number 13.
But I'll read verse number 14.
Okay?
So if you're having a conversation, a dispute, an argument,
what you don't want to be doing is boast of yourself, okay?
Don't boast of yourself.
I have come across people that just want to boast of themselves, right?
People might say, well, have you been to Bible college?
Yeah, brethren, I've not been to Bible college, okay?
But you know, some people have been to Bible college.
You know what I've observed?
People that go to Bible college,
they don't seem to know anything about the Bible.
So it was like, have you been to Bible college?
Maybe the reason you don't believe in the preacher rapture
is because you've not gone to the Bible college, right?
And if you had as many degrees as I do,
if you've gone through the dispensation of studies as much as I have,
then you would know you're wrong and I'm right.
Hey, what's that?
That's boasting.
Does it happen?
Absolutely.
It happens all the time, okay?
That would be like me having a discussion with a brother in the Lord
about the Bible and I'm like, hey, are you the pastor?
No, I'm the pastor, so obviously I'm right.
That would be boasting.
Pastors can be wrong too.
Many pastors are wrong.
I'm sure there are things that I'm wrong about.
But that's boasting.
That doesn't help anybody, right?
Speaking about how smart you are and how intelligent
and how much you've studied doesn't win an argument, okay?
It's what is true that wins the argument, okay?
It's not how much you've studied or your experiences that you have.
That's not enough to win the argument.
Let's keep going.
Verse number 15.
By long forbearing is a prince persuaded.
So what are we doing when we have an argument?
We're trying to persuade that person.
You're wrong on that issue, you know,
and you need to see it the way I'm trying to teach you, right?
It says once again, by long forbearing is a prince persuaded
and a soft tongue breaketh the bone, okay?
So if you're, you know, obviously a bone is very strong.
It requires a lot of effort to break someone's bones, right?
But you know what?
If you speak to someone softly and you forbear,
you're patient with that person, you give that person time,
you can break their misunderstandings, okay?
You shouldn't be in this thought that, you know,
I need to fix this person as soon as possible.
Sometimes people need time.
You know, I want to think, consider yourself as a saved individual,
how many doctrines do you know today
and how long did it take for you to develop and learn those doctrines, okay?
I'm sure you can say it's taken me a long time, many months,
many years to know what I know today and I'm still learning.
Well, if it's taken you a long time to learn and develop,
you've got to give the other person time as well, okay?
Long forbearing is a prince persuaded.
In other words, don't bombard someone.
If you're trying to help someone along with a misunderstanding,
you don't want to bombard them with so much information that they can't digest, okay?
You want to make it long forbearance.
You want to give someone time.
And probably the best example that I can think about this,
there was a time that I lost some friendships.
I brought up the pre-trib rapture a few times.
Well, I lost some friendships over the pre-trib rapture, okay,
where people just thought I was a complete idiot, okay,
for believing in a post-trib pre-wrath, okay?
And we would have discussions and I was never interested in winning someone over.
I'd just say, look, this is what I believe, okay?
This is why what you believe is wrong,
but I knew that it's a doctrine that's so embedded amongst so many believers
that it takes time to break away.
There are so many things that you need to peel away in your mind.
It all takes time.
And you know what? Little by little we have discussion.
I drop a few truth bombs and I leave them alone.
Long forbearance.
We have the discussion once again, drop a few more truth bombs,
then walk away, okay?
Give them time to digest, to consider what is being said.
And many of those friends that, you know, despise my position on the rapture
now have come across and now they're post-trib pre-wrath believers, okay?
But if I just came in saying, oh, the pre-trib is a lie,
can't believe you believe that, it's not in the Bible, right?
Then they're not going to be won over.
They're just going to think I'm this crazy guy, okay?
But you need to be patient with people, patient with people
as they learn about different doctrines.
Verse number 16.
Has thou found honey?
Eat so much as it is sufficient for thee,
lest thou be filled therewith and vomited.
What does that mean?
If you eat too much honey, because honey is sweet and people have a sweet tooth,
if you eat too much honey, it's going to make you sick, okay?
And if you're just constantly, you know, just on someone's back
about their doctrines, about their beliefs, just constantly on them,
or just, you know, you've got this one hobby horse that you love to talk about,
you're constantly about the one hobby horse all the time, all the time,
people are going to get sick of you.
It's like, just leave me alone, you know, right?
And you need to be careful of that as well, right?
You don't want to be just a honey eater and just have to be a one doctrine person
or just, you know, you don't leave people alone.
People will become sick of you.
Verse number 17 is kind of similar.
It says, withdraw thy foot from thy neighbor's house, lest he be weary of thee,
and so hate thee.
As well, when you're having a doctrinal issue, argument, not seeing things eye to eye,
you need to learn when to withdraw your foot from your neighbor's house.
When you start to see, it starts to become heated, okay?
And he's kind of getting sick of you.
You say, you know what, maybe let's leave this for now.
Let's drop the conversation for now.
Maybe we can revisit this at some other time,
because you don't want to get to the point where your brother in the Lord
gets weary of you and hates you, okay?
So, you know, Proverbs 25, I think it gives a lot of great pointers
as to how to interact and how to see things from a, sorry, how to argue a point
or how to, you know, deal with disagreements when it comes to doctrines.
But let me give you some other things that I believe are very important
when it comes to dealing and trying to instruct someone in the Word of God.
Let me just give you four points that I'm familiar with.
Number one, use clear scriptures.
You're trying to win someone over to your position.
Show them clear, black and white scriptures, okay?
Don't turn to the cryptic verses.
Don't turn to the parables, because they're just illustrations of a greater truth.
Turn to the ones that are just simply black and white.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
That's black and white. Salvation is by believing, okay?
Black and white scriptures. You don't need to be fancy and complicated.
And you know what? If you don't have the black and white scriptures,
you say, look, this doctrine isn't black and white.
It requires a lot of deep study.
But if you don't have any clear scriptures, you've got nothing black and white,
is it actually worth disputing?
Is it worth arguing when it's not crystal clear?
You understand?
There are some things that, you know, when it comes to tertiary issues,
look, look, when it comes to the fundamentals of the faith, okay,
when it comes to the major doctrines, they're black and white.
You're going to find black and white scriptures,
you're going to find multiple black and white clear scriptures.
When it comes to secondary doctrines, tertiary doctrines,
things that are deeper, things that are more complicated,
you're not always going to find the very clear scriptures.
And if someone doesn't see eye to eye with you on those scriptures,
don't argue with them, okay?
Maybe you're wrong, okay?
Maybe you're wrong.
Like, if it's not clear enough for someone to just see it, obviously,
you could be wrong.
I'm not saying you are wrong, I'm saying you could be wrong.
Then is it worth dividing? Is it worth breaking a fellowship over?
Next thing is, don't build your argument from silence.
I know people that build their doctrines on silence, okay?
So, let me just give you one example,
because people, you know, in this day and age of the COVID world,
people start to think about end times and stuff like that.
You know, I've heard so many Christians say to me,
but what if, you know, Christians, Christians, you know, what's going to happen?
Are they going to take the mark of the beast?
You know, they're going to go hungry, and they're going to desire the mark of the beast,
and it's like, does the Bible say Christians are going to take the mark of the beast?
No.
Oh, no?
So, where are they getting their beliefs from?
From the written word of God?
No.
They're developing beliefs on silence.
The Bible never says that Christians are going to take the mark of the beast.
The Bible never says Christians are going to be even tempted to take the mark of the beast.
Rather, the Bible tells us that the Lord Christ is going to provide our raiment, our food,
you know, everything we need to live in life.
So, if we get to a point where we can't buy and sell, we've got the mark of the beast,
well then, guess what?
The Scriptures tell us God will provide for us.
We don't have to worry about the mark of the beast.
Okay?
I know it's in the Bible, but I want to get people to build their beliefs and understanding on silence.
It blows my mind every time people, you know, believe in something,
but what if this or what if that?
Where'd you read that in the Bible?
Oh, I didn't read it.
What's giving you that idea?
You know?
And you've got to be careful.
Don't build your doctrines on silence.
Okay?
Don't create beliefs that are not based on the Bible.
The third thing that I want to point out here is don't rely on your conjecture.
Okay?
Don't rely on your conjecture.
You say, what's conjecture?
It's basically the filling of gaps.
It's kind of like what I asked before.
Was Barnabas wrong?
Was Paul wrong?
Which of those two were wrong?
The Bible doesn't tell us.
Okay?
Well, we find out both men served the Lord afterwards.
Okay?
In different ways.
But the Bible doesn't tell us who was wrong.
Your conjecture would be like, well, I think Barnabas was wrong.
Well, I think Paul was wrong in this situation.
Okay.
Well, maybe your opinion is right, but you don't know that.
Hey, maybe someone else would have a different opinion than you.
Maybe someone would say, no, Barnabas was right.
He's like, Paul was right.
And then you'll find out who was right or wrong.
Okay?
Don't rely on your conjecture.
You don't have to fill the gaps.
If the Bible doesn't tell us, okay, it's not important.
All right?
And the next thing that I have for you and that I think is really important is present
your position yourself.
So, if you have disagreement with a brother, I don't recommend to refer them to a video.
I don't recommend that you refer them to a book.
I would recommend that you bring the argument from yourself.
If it's your friend, someone that you're talking to, they want to hear it from you.
If you're so convinced that this person is wrong and you're right, you should be
so convinced that you've studied it yourself that you know the scriptures you need to turn
to and you can be a help to that one individual.
Why?
Because then they can ask questions along the way and you can guide them.
The video, the book, is not going to answer the questions in real time.
Maybe the answers will be within those things at some point, but if you're going to be willing
to get into an argument and debate an issue, you better be clear enough in your own understanding,
right, to make sure that you're able to present the truth to that individual.
I personally find that I have won more people from one position to another position by just
interacting with them one on one than pointing them to a video or to a book.
All right?
Now you say, well, you know, I'm talking to my brother and we're just not seeing eye to eye, okay?
We're not seeing eye to eye on this and I feel like it's going to cause conflict.
The next thing that I would bring up to you, brethren, is are your views contradictive, okay?
Because believe it or not, I've seen Christians argue about a doctrine, but their views are not contradictive.
They've got different views.
You've got view X and you've got view Y, but they're not actually contradictive views, okay?
And here's what you need to understand.
If your views are not contradictive, what's contradictive?
Okay, contradictive is someone saying, hey, salvation is by grace through faith alone.
Someone says, the other says, no, it's by your works.
You've got to clean up your life. You've got to repent your sins.
That's clearly a contradiction. They can't both be true, okay?
But if your views are not contradictive, have you ever wondered you both could be right?
You both could be right. Actually, you both could be wrong as well, but you both could be right.
So what does that mean? Here's the thing about the Bible. The Bible is very deep.
The Bible has many layers, okay? The Bible has so many applications.
We will never get to the end of the Bible.
I can preach through the Bible over and over again and we're never going to get to the bottom of it all.
The Bible is deep, has many layers, many applications.
So if someone sees a scripture and they apply it one way and you see the same scripture and you apply it another way,
it doesn't mean one of you are wrong. You could actually both be right.
Because that's how deep the Bible is, okay? That's how deep the Bible is.
So think about that. Is that a contradiction? If it's not, we could both be right, okay?
That's realistic. I've seen that. I've seen people argue about things that are not contradictive.
You're both right, guys. You can apply it in both ways, okay?
It's God's word. It's a very deep book, all right?
And you might say, well, another thing that I would recommend if you're having an argument with somebody is never state this.
It's tempting to state it, but never state it with someone. Never be like, you know what, I just believe the Bible.
People are like that. You're discussing things. Well, I just believe the Bible.
Well, of course you believe the Bible, so does the other person that you're speaking to, okay?
When you say, I just believe the Bible, what you're actually saying, you don't believe the Bible.
But they do believe the Bible. They just have a different understanding than what you've come to, okay?
Never take that view. If you want to lose an argument, that's what you're saying.
I just believe the Bible. You've lost there, okay?
Because they believe the Bible as well. You just have a different perspective on what that scripture is saying, you know?
Never speak over your opponent. Once again, remember to listen to what they have to say.
Make sure the words you speak are fit for the discussion, that you've paid attention to what they have to say.
That's how you win people over. When they feel like their voice has been heard, that they're important to you,
that their opinion is valued in their eyes, and then you can respond and help them understand what you've had to say.
If they don't feel you're important to them, they're not going to be convinced. They're not going to turn to your view.
The next thing I have is don't misrepresent their position. Don't misrepresent what they have to say.
You know, there's been the issue on the Trinity and oneness and all that kind of stuff.
And I've heard some of these people that believe in oneness basically say,
Oh, those Trinitarians, you know, they're polytheistic. They kind of believe in three gods.
It's like, no, that's a straw man argument. That's a misrepresentation of the Trinity.
The Trinity already addresses the fact that there is one God, but one God in three persons.
We don't believe in three gods, okay? There is one God.
But if you misrepresent what someone is saying, you're not going to win them over either, okay?
You want to make sure that you don't create, they call it straw man arguments, right?
You create a straw man argument, something that is false, and you tear it down, and you think you've won an argument, okay?
That's not how you're able to convince someone to come to your side.
You say to me, Pastor Kevin, I've tried hard to discuss this issue, this brother.
They're not hearing me. They're not getting it. It seems like whatever I show them, they've got other verses.
They've got clear verses as well. They're black and white verses.
When I challenge them and I ask them questions, they always have an answer.
They're able to turn to this passage of the Bible, and they've got an answer. What do I do?
Well, you know what? If your opponent is able to show you clear black and white scriptures,
if your opponent is able to answer all of your questions, maybe you're wrong. Maybe they're right.
And that's just hard. That's the hard part, because we're so prideful, okay?
We don't want to admit that we're wrong. There's been times where someone has to show me something.
You know what? You have more answers than me. You've got more scriptures than me.
The scriptures you show me, yeah, they're saying what you're saying.
I'm going to have to change my view. I'm sorry. I was wrong.
And you were right, okay? But that's hard to admit. It's very hard to admit.
So, you know, don't automatically assume that you're right and they're wrong.
Okay, I'm going a bit over time here, but I just want to end on one last point.
The next point is this. Let's say you just don't see eye to eye, okay?
You believe they're wrong, they believe you're wrong, okay?
And you're feeling a bit heated. You feel like it's going to cause an argument.
This is the last thing that I would say to you, and I think this is really important,
something that you really want to think about when it comes to disputes.
The next question is, how crucial is your disagreement? How crucial is it, okay?
And if you determine that it's not that crucial, then why are you fighting about it, okay?
Let me give you an example. We don't believe that the Jews are God's chosen people in this church.
But did you know that probably the majority of independent fundamental Baptist churches in Australia
believe the Jews are God's chosen people? That's a pretty big difference, okay?
But let me think of, you know, consider this. How crucial is that doctrinal difference, okay?
Because, you know, I sometimes get emails from people in Australia, and they're like,
I can't find a good church, and I try to help them find a church, and I say, check out this one.
Oh, yeah, I've been to that one, or I went to that one, but they believe the Jews are God's chosen people,
so I'm not going to go there. It's like, how crucial is that understanding, though?
Because I know if I go to a brother in the Lord about this topic that believes they're God's chosen people,
and I say to them, so hold on, do you believe the Jews that reject Christ,
these people that you call chosen and special, do you believe when they die they go to heaven or hell?
You know what they're going to say? No, we believe they go to hell, because they don't believe in Jesus.
I say, okay, so if you come across one of these Jews and they're lost and you're able to give them the gospel,
would you give them the gospel? They'll be like, of course we would give them the gospel.
We want to see them saved, we want them to see and believe in Jesus Christ.
Okay, so we're on the same page. We both believe if they die they go to hell,
we both believe that if they're lost they need the gospel, so then it's like, well, so what makes them chosen?
And at the end of the day, you know what it is? It's just a title.
I don't want to call them God's chosen people. I believe God's chosen people are those that believe on Jesus Christ,
whether you're Jew or Gentile. They believe they're God's chosen people for whatever other crazy reason.
I don't know exactly why, but you know what, when it comes to the practical dealings with these people,
we're going to deal with them exactly the same way. We both believe they're going to hell if they reject Jesus.
We both believe they need the gospel. If we both knock their doors and there was a Jew on the other side of the door,
we would both give them the gospel presentation. So then, yeah, do we have a different view? We do.
But is it worth splitting over? Is it worth breaking fellowship over? No, because the practical difference is no difference whatsoever.
So why would I break fellowship with those people? Look, if you're one good church,
if you're listening to me online in Australia, and your one good church believes the Jews are God's chosen people,
or that one good church believes that the rapture before the tribulation, brethren, it's not worth breaking fellowship over.
It's not worth disputing. It doesn't make any colossal difference at the end of the day.
It's not another Jesus. It's not another spirit. It's not another gospel.
If it's not those three things, then you need to consider, is it worth dividing over?
This could mean one good church. Go there, brethren, okay?
And just understand that we're not always going to see things eye to eye.
All right, brethren, I hope this has given you a few things to think about.
Arguments happen. You can't stop them. There's going to be disputes. There's going to be conflicts amongst churches.
But at the end of the day, let me just encourage you, don't give up. Keep serving the Lord, okay?
There can be good reasons for divisions, good reasons for arguments.
You know what? If it's not your matter, don't worry about it, okay?
You keep your mind on the Lord. You put your eyes on Jesus Christ. You serve Him. You serve His kingdom.
And you know what? At the end of the day, we're all going to get to heaven. Those who are saved, of course.
We'll be able to rejoice and be in fellowship with one another.
And we'll no longer have the stupid arguments that we have on this earth.
All right, let's pray.