 Welcome to class everyone. Thank you for joining this class on Romans. On Monday we began looking at Romans chapter 2. We continue looking at the rest of the verses in Romans chapter 2. I'll just give you a recap of what we studied last week and then we'll continue with the rest of the verses. So can one of you please lead us in prayer before we begin? Anyone? Rosalind, you'd like to lead us in prayer? Yes Pastor, let's go. Wonderful Heavenly Father, we thank you Lord. We thank you for this time that you have given us the Lord to study from the Book of Romans. Father God, we commit each and every one of us into your hands, Lord. Father, we ask you to open our spiritual understanding that we may understand what we are going to study now. Father God, give us the grace, give us the wisdom, Lord, and give us the open our spiritual years and spiritual minds. Father God, to receive your word, Lord, I also commit a dear pastor into your hands. Father God, whatever your word comes forth, Father God, let it be for our spiritual growth and let it bring glory to your name. Thank you and we bless you. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you Rosalind. So on Monday we began looking at studying chapter two. Basically in chapter two, Paul is addressing the Jews and he's saying, hey, you know, he's talking as one among them because he himself is a Jew. He says, you know, we feel proud as Jews because we have been given the oracles of God, that means we've been given the written law. And he goes on in this letter to also talk about how we've been given the promises, we've been given the prophets, the covenants have been given to us. So we feel proud about all of these things and we hold this. And we who have been given the written law, the written oracles, we go and teach it to others, we tell others what is right, what is wrong. You know, when they're doing something wrong, we quickly tell them. But he says that, you know, at the same time, we ourselves are not keeping the law. We ourselves are breaking the law. We who are custodians of this law, we who are teaching the law, we ourselves are not keeping the law. And then he says that, you know, in chapter two, we will be judged by the law. And the Gentiles, you know, they can say, hey, we've not been given the law. So, you know, the Jews will be judged by the law, but how would the Gentiles be judged? So Paul says, you know, God has given them as a written law in their hearts, which he refers to as the conscience. The conscience is the written law in their hearts, a conscience that tells them, you know, what is right and what is wrong. An inbuilt law that is written in their hearts. And Paul says that, you know, there is also a law that is built inside every person, irrespective of whether they are Jews or Gentiles. And he says there are two things that are inbuilt that God has given all of us. And these two things are reason and conscience. So reason and conscience, which means within every person the way God has designed us, he has already given us two things, which is, you know, reason. And reason, which he has just finished talking about in chapter one, the latter half of chapter one, where he says, you know, creation. When you look at creation, we can reason in our minds that, hey, this does not come about just by itself, everything that did not happen by itself. But, you know, he says that in Romans chapter one that, you know, creation reveals the invisible attributes of God. It reveals the eternal power of God. It reveals the Godhead. So people are without excuse. So he's just finished saying that, and this is a continuation. So he's saying that, you know, people have been given reason to inbuilt things by God that every person has been designed with. That is reason by which they can know that there is a God. Okay. They can, that which can lead them to having a personal relationship with God. And the second thing is he says is conscience. Conscience means what is right and what is wrong. Okay. And he says, but irrespective of whether we have the reason, the conscience, the Jews having the law, he says, you know, Paul says, everyone will be judged according to the gospel of Jesus Christ, whether they are a Jew or whether they are a Gentile. So we can ask this, I mentioned last week and said, we can ask this question. What about people who don't hear the gospel? You know, we really don't know, but we know that, you know, every person who by reason, you know, discover God would not to know God would seek to know God. God would reveal his gospel to them and reveal his good news to them, reveal himself to them. But those who do not hear the gospel, you know, what can we say? We can't infer anything or we can't say anything much. You know, we can't come up with another alternative because we don't have another alternative option. All we know is when we read verse 16 of Romans chapter 2 that, you know, everyone will be judged, whether Jew or Gentile will be judged according to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Okay. So Paul is basically writing this whole portion of this letter to the Jews. He's addressing the Jews. He's speaking to them. And then we looked at verse 17, where he's, you know, 17 on this. He's strongly rebuking the Jews. He's saying, hey, you know, you Jews, you're resting, you're relying on in the law and you're boasting in God. And in verse 18, he says, we know his will. We can tell what is right and wrong. And Paul is telling them, you know, you know what is right and what is wrong. You're teaching it, but you yourself are not doing it. And when you're not doing it, you are also breaking the law. In fact, not just breaking one part of the law, but breaking the whole law, because if you can't keep one law, you break the entire law that God has given them. So Paul is basically building up the case here. And he's telling the Jews, Jews, it's true that you have the law and everything in the law, but you know, you know about it, but you are also breaking the law. And then he goes on in verse 19 and he says, you know, you're so confident in yourselves about the law, but it's like, you're like a blind man, a blind guide leading others into darkness. And then he says, he's been very strong in his words towards the Jews. He says, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge, verse 20 and truth in the law. You devil who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? You who say do not come on, commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who make the boast in the law, do you dishonor God to breaking the law? And then we stop at verse 24 where he says, for the name of God is blaspheming among the Gentiles because of you, you know. And he says, hey, you know, you have been so proud that you have the law, the physical sign of covenant, which is circumcision, telling everybody keep the law, keep these certain kind of foods, keep these certain kind of festivals, be circumcised and when you yourself are teaching what is right and wrong and you're not doing it, then, you know, the name of God is blasphemed among you. You are doing exactly what the law does not require of you. You know, you are doing opposite of what the law says. Okay. And then he goes on to talk about another issue which the Jewish Christians were basically, he goes on to talk about in verses 25 to 29 about circumcision which the Jewish believers will join the church, you know, are forcing the Gentile believers in church, to be circumcised. And so, you know, Paul very beautifully argues or brings about the point that circumcision, yes, is a physical sign of the covenant that God made with us, as us means he's talking about Jews, but, you know, God really requires not the physical circumcision, but the circumcision of the heart. So, he says, you know, aren't the Gentiles much better than us when they are obeying the law, when they are keeping their law, you know, they might not be physically circumcised, but, you know, they are as good as circumcised because, you know, in their hearts, you know, they are doing what God wants them to do. So, that is what he speaks or talks about in verses 25 to verses 29. So, can one of you please read verses 25 to verse 29, please. Verses 25, for circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law, but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision. And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who even with your written code and circumcision are a transgressor of the law. For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God. Amen. Thank you, Rosalind. So, verses 25 to 29, Paul goes on to talk about the issue of circumcision, which the Jews were very proud of and which for them was a sign of the covenant between God and them. And he says the Jews, you know, we say we are circumcised, and circumcision is a sign of our covenant with God, you know, which we have physically, but you know, he says which we have physically, even if we have this circumcision, you know, which is a sign of the covenant, and we are breaking the law, we are not doing what is right, we're not doing the right thing. Okay, then circumcision, which is a physical sign of our covenant with God actually amounts to nothing. So, it's of no use. Okay, so he's saying, hey, you people, you know, boasting of this circumcision, the sign of the covenant that you have, you know, you know, and you yourself are not keeping the law and you're not doing what is right, you're doing what is wrong. Then this physical sign of this covenant with you and God absolutely amounts to nothing. And then he says if the circumcised who are the, sorry, the uncircumcised who are the Gentiles, the Gentiles keep the law or do things, you know, that are right in God's sight. Then he says, you know, shouldn't their circumcision or shouldn't we say that, you know, their uncircumcision is good as being circumcised because they're doing what is right before God. So it says if the uncircumcised who are the Gentiles, you know, if they keep the law or if they do things that are right, then shouldn't we say that their uncircumcision is good as being circumcised because they are doing what is right before God. So what Paul is basically saying is, you know, don't go around, you know, telling the Gentiles that they have to be circumcised, you know, because circumcision is actually of nothing. He comes back to this later on in this letter, you know, it's not, he talks about how Abraham was justified by faith. He was made righteous by faith even before the physical sign of the covenant or circumcision was given. Abraham was already declared righteous by faith. So Paul is bringing that argument very beautifully and he's saying that, you know, it's not the circumcision ritual that will make one justified before God or will make one righteous before God because Abraham was not justified. He was not made righteous before God because of the sign of circumcision or because of the covenant of circumcision. But even before that physical sign of covenant of circumcision was given, he was already being justified. He was made righteous because of his faith in God because he took that step of faith. So, you know, he goes on to elaborate about this in the other chapters. But for now, he says, you know, we Jews, you know, we boast of this circumcision ritual, this covenant that we have, but the uncircumcised are, you know, as good as being circumcised because they're doing what is right before God. In verses 28 and 29, Paul says, what really matters is not circumcision of the flesh. Okay, it's not the physical circumcision that really matters. But he says it's the circumcision of the heart, which means he's saying that there has to be a change of heart. And, you know, and he's reminding them of the Old Testament promise where he says, God says, I will remove your heart of stone and I will give you a heart of flesh, which means I will give you a heart of understanding, a heart of flesh means a heart of understanding. So here he's saying that what is more important is an inward change, an inward change of heart that is more important and it's not the physical circumcision. You know, so for the Jews, he's saying, don't get old, don't hold on to all of these signs, these rituals, you know, these practices, because yes, it has a meaning in its own context. But it's of no use if we are, you know, doing it just as a ritual, just as a practice. But in our hearts, we are not committed, we are not a lawyer, we are not pursuing righteousness and holiness, which is more important to God than any of these outward signs that we do. What God is more interested is in that we live a life that is righteous upright and holy before him. So imagine the Jews are saying, you know, just imagine with me, the Jews are saying, hey, I have the law, but I'm not keeping the law. And so, you know, the law and the circumcision amounts to nothing in my life. I have failed before God, you know, I don't meet up to his righteous judgments or to his righteous standards. So we see that through chapter two, you know, what he has built up so far, he continues to talk about that in chapter three, which we will look at again. But here he's just leaving the Jews with this thought, or he's just getting them to think. He's saying, you know, you have the law, you have the covenant, you have the promises, you have the blessings, you know, yours is the forefathers, everything is yours. But, you know, you are not keeping the law. And, you know, when you're not keeping the law and the circumcision, it amounts to nothing because you have failed before God, because of you, his name is blasphemed among the people. And you don't meet up to the righteous judgments of God. So, you know, he builds this up till here, and then he continues on in chapter three, which he will continue to discuss about sin, and then he goes on to talk about how we will be justified or made righteous by faith, and then how we will be justified and made righteous by grace. Okay, so if you look so far, you know, I've just given, I've just followed my kind of my own thought process as notes that just given you have followed that. But we will just look at our notes and highlight a few important things because there are a few important things in our notes that we can look at and that we can highlight. Okay. So, I'll just open to notes just in a minute. So, in this chapter, basically in our notes, if we look at, you know, he says, we see Paul challenging the attitude of Jews towards the Gentiles, then he's presenting an understanding of God's judgment, how, what and when. And then he's also revealing the work of conscience, and then he's presenting what a true Jew is. So, we just look at a few points here, because I've just kind of mentioned, I've gone through like through my own notes, but it's important to also look at a few things that have been given in the course content, which are also important. Okay. So, there are some few insights that we can gather from our course notes. The first thing is, you know, in this chapter Paul is challenging the attitude of Jews towards the Gentiles. Okay. So, as I mentioned that Paul is addressing the Jews here, he's challenging their attitude towards the Gentiles who do not have the law. And then he says, you know, he considers three truths that he presents. So, as we consider these three truths, we can apply them to ourselves, and, you know, we can also have the understanding of the truth and how we can view those who do not have this truth. So, this is what is mentioned, a summary of it is mentioned in Romans chapter 2. Paul challenges the Jew and that attitude by stating that judging others requires that I must hold myself accountable to the same standards. Okay. So, Paul is challenging the Jews and challenging their attitude by saying that, you know, when we judge others, it requires that we also must hold ourselves accountable to the same standards. And when we're judging others and practicing the wrong, you know, that we condemn, we will not, God will not permit us to escape the judgment that he has in store for us. That is what he's telling the Jews. Hey, Jews, if you are, you know, judging people in the same way that you are breaking the law, then you will not escape God's judgment. And then we also looked at in verse 4, you know, that the goodness of God, his patience that leads people or leads us to repentance. God's righteous judgment is without partiality on all who do evil, the Jew first and the Gentiles. Okay. The Jew first, because to them we're given the oracles of God first. So, we see that he mentions this twice, you know, that God is a righteous God. He will judge everyone without partiality and all who do evil. And he says, you know, first to the Jew and then to the Gentiles. So why does he say first to the Jew, then to the Gentiles? Because they were given the written law, God had given them the written law first. Then another point he mentions in Romans chapter 2 is those who have the law, God would judge them according to the law. Okay. Because God has his own way that he is determined to judge them outside the law. For those who do not have the law, he has his own way of judging them outside the law. The Jews were very proud that they had the written code and that is the written law and the circumcision which is the sign of the covenant. But Paul makes it clear that just having these things or just hearing the law will not amount to anything if they violate what the law requires them to do. Okay. So says there's no point in having the law in circumcision. If you are not keeping it, if you're not following it, you know, it's good as blaspheming the name of God. And then we see in chapter 2, what's giving the notes is, he presents an understanding of God's judgment. How, what and when. How God judges when will God, what God will judge and when will he judge. Okay. So we look at how God judges in Romans chapter 2 verse 2. We see he would judge everyone according to the truth. That means he would judge everyone according to the word of God. And in verse 5, we read that it's a righteous judgment. Okay. And verse 11, he will judge without partiality. And in verse 16, he will judge everyone according to the gospel of Jesus Christ. So how would God, who is a righteous judge, judge us? He will judge us according to the truth. That is the standard of his word. Okay. It's a righteous judgment. It's without partiality. And he will judge according to the gospel. Okay. We read in John chapter 17 verse 17, you know, God's word is the truth. Like we all mentioned in Romans chapter 2 verse 2, he judges us according to the truth. And what is the truth God's word is the truth. And also John chapter 12 verse 47 and 48. Can somebody read that please? John chapter 12 verse 47 and 48. And if anyone hears my words and does not believe, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. He who rejects me and does not receive my words has that which judges him. The word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. Yes. Amen. Thank you Rosalind. So the word will judge him on the last day. And ultimately, you know, we'll all be judged by God in truth that is according to his word. Okay. And we will be judged in righteousness. We will be judged without partiality. And we will be judged according to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Okay. And I've already answered this question. What will happen to those who have not heard the gospel? So we will not forget that it's already given in our rules. But I've already mentioned that and I've reiterated that even as we began class. Okay. What does, what God judges? Okay. What God judges? Romans chapter 2 verses 6 to 11. He judges our deeds. Okay. So if our deeds are, we are not obedient to him. We are not obedient to the truth in his word. We're not living according to his word. You know, if we are not being righteous in the way that we are dealing with things, the way that we are living, you know, our deeds, we will be judged for our deeds. The second thing that we will be, what God judges is our desires, you know, when we seek our own desires, when we seek our own selfish desires, our own selfish passions, you know, our desires that bring glory to our self, that our self-honoring, you know, that, you know, profess the self more than God is seeking our own evil selfish desires. We will be judged for that. And verse 16 he says, you know, we will be judged for our motives when God will judge the secrets of men's heart, you know, as we read in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 5. Can somebody read that please? 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 5. Therefore, judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsel's purpose, motive of the hearts, then each one's praise will come from God. Amen. Thank you, Rosalind. So he says when the time comes to judge, God will judge and reveal or bring to light the things that are hidden, you know, he will reveal the counsel's of the hearts. That means counsel's means what? He reveals the, he will judge the, or he will reveal the motives of men's heart, whatever is our motives. So sometimes we can appear to do things in a very nice way and everyone will praise us but what is our motives deep down, you know, hidden agendas, hidden motives, hidden plans and purpose may not be God honoring, may not be God in the way that God wants us to do things. It can, it will not be righteous in God's side and God says he will, the time of judgment he will bring that to light. He will reveal the counsel's. The counsel's here means the purpose and the motives of people's heart. And then, you know, each one, depending on their motives, the way that they have done things, you know, their deeds, their desires, then each one will get their praise or each one will, you know, will receive their judgment, whether it's condemnation, it's hell or it's heaven. So whether Jews or Gentiles, all of us fall short of, all says in three areas, you know, all of us fall short, we sin in three areas. And what are the three areas, areas of our deeds, areas of our desires where we are seeking our own desires, our own selfish motives and our own plans of our hearts. Okay. Now Paul's intent in showing this to us is so that we can understand all of, that all of us, whether it is Jews or Gentiles, you know, fall short when we are judged in these three areas and that none of us are perfect. And that is why he goes on to talk, you know, that all of us have fallen short of the glory of God. Okay. All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, which he talks about in Romans chapter three. Okay. Then he, in this chapter, he also talks about when God judges men. Romans chapter two, verse five, says, you know, on the day of Roth, God will judge us on the day of Roth, which means that, you know, the day when God will judge, he has an appointed day for it. He mentions this in Romans chapter two, verse 16, the day when God will judge. There is a day that God has appointed for specifically for judgment as we read in Acts chapter seven, verse 31. So can somebody please read Acts chapter seven, verse 31 please. Now it's 17 or 7. 17, verse 31. Because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained, he has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. Amen. Thank you. You know, so we see here in Acts chapter 17, verse 31, that God has an appointed day when he will judge the world in righteousness, a specific day and an appointed day when he will judge us. So this is, you know, one of the themes that he talks about is the law. Also talks about God's judgment. Another thing that we can see in Romans chapter two is conscience. Okay. So he also reveals the work of conscience. And in Romans chapter two, verse 14 to 16, he talks about this. And what does he talk about conscience? Paul reveals that the work of the law is built into every person. And he says this work of the law is the conscience that effectively, you know, achieves the same work of the law pointing out what is right and wrong. So here the conscience is presented to us as a law which is built into every person. Okay. So when he says conscience, he's basically saying this conscience is, you know, what he presents to us is a law which is built into every person. And the conscience is the functioning of the human spirit. Okay. The conscience is a functioning of the human spirit is a human spirit that is programmed with the law of God, so to speak, you know, it's like the law of God. And it's like, it's programmed to be the law of God in our hearts, in our spirit man. And the human spirit is telling us or speaks to us or is telling us, you know, telling the person what is right and what is wrong. So that is what he's talking about conscience that he says every man has a judiciary system built in, you know, maybe a judiciary system is basically a conscience that he's referring to the conscience that judges you that tells you what is right and wrong but their own conscience is challenging their own thoughts. Okay. Look at John chapter 8 verse 9, it says our conscience convicts us. Okay. Can somebody read John chapter 8 verse 9 please. Then those who heard it being convicted by their conscience went out one by one beginning with the oldest even to the last and Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst. Yes. Another is the incident of, you know, the woman who was caught in the act of adultery and this whole narrative, this whole scenario that they bring her to Jesus. And, you know, they actually want to trap Jesus. They're not interested about the woman, but they want to trap Jesus. And, you know, in the end what we see was, you know, they were all convicted in their own conscience because none of them knew that, you know, their deeds, their desires, their motives were right. They all knew that their conscience, you know, was not right, was smirled, was, you know, was evil, was not good, was weak. And they did not have a chance or stand to, you know, condemn this woman because they themselves stand condemned because they are not righteous in their own actions, in their own deeds, in their own motives of their hearts and in their own desires and their passions. And that is why, you know, they all just locked the stone or they, you know, they took the stone along with them and they walked away and finally Jesus was just left alone standing with the woman. So, you know, Paul is basically saying that, hey, you Gentiles, you can't say that we don't have the law, so, you know, we can't be judged by the law, but you have this conscience, this inbuilt judiciary system, you know, this human spirit which is programmed to be or, you know, is programmed with the law of God, so to speak. And so every person, whether they are a Jew or a Gentile, you know, has this inbuilt program in them, their conscience telling them what is right and what is wrong, okay? And we also answered this question, that conscience instead of the gospel, can people be judged by their conscience? We said, you know, whether they have the law or they have the conscience, everyone will be judged by the gospel of Jesus Christ. We already mentioned about that. I also mentioned about the two built-in indicators, that is reason and conscience, so I'm not going to go through that again. But we'll just look at this point on the conditions of the conscience. You know, we see that in other places in scripture that conscience can, you know, be in different conditions, you know, we can have a good conscience. A good conscience is basically a conscience that is fine-tuned. We can say that a conscience that is functioning properly and conscience that is functioning according to God's intent. It's telling the person what is right and wrong and the person is listening to their conscience and doing what their conscience is telling them or following their conscience and not giving in to what is evil or what is wrong, okay? So scripture also talks about, you know, conscience without offence means a conscience that has not been violated in any way, a conscience that has been protected. It's a pure conscience. It's a clear conscience. It's a holy conscience. So when we talk about a conscience without offence, we're basically saying that it's a conscience that has not been violated in any way. It has been protected. It's a pure conscience and it's a clear conscience. And then, of course, we have a pure conscience that is holy, that is righteous, that is God-honoring, that is, you know, doing what God wants us to do walk according to the standards of His Word, the truth in His Word. And then we have a weak conscience. A weak conscience is basically a conscience that, you know, we all start off with a good conscience, but slowly, you know, we tend to get into our old nature at times. And we think it's okay, you know, when we say a small lie or when we get angry or we indulge in some, you know, small sin, we think it's okay. It's not as big as adultery. It's not as big as addictions or it's not as big as smoking or drinking that I'm doing. I just told a lie. I just saw something, you know, or maybe I got angry. I spoke, you know, condemning words about somebody else. You know, it's okay. I mean, I just gave into that moment of my weakness but we need to be very careful because, you know, a weak conscience can, you know, move us away from a good conscience, a pure conscience and a conscience without offence to a conscience that is seared. You know, what does it mean? A seared conscience that is totally dead. You know, when you keep hot iron on your shirt or your, you know, or your trousers or, you know, the dress that you are ironing, you know, and it catches, it leaves a patch, it burns up that shirt or the trousers and you can't use it, you know, because it's totally, it's wasted, it's seared. So a conscience that is seared is basically a conscience that is dead, you know. So we can lie and then we can continue lying thinking it's okay. You know, it's just a lie. It's not something that is big but we can come to a place where our conscience can be dead to lie. You know, that just at the drop of the hat we can say a lie and it will not even affect us. We will not even have to think twice that, hey, I've seen, I've done something wrong because our conscience is seared in that area of our life or it is, you know, retaliating or it's grumbling or it's murmuring or it's complaining or it's constantly talking negative about others or, you know, not looking at the positives. So, you know, all of these areas, our conscience can be seared. The sense that conscience can come to a place where it's, we are totally dead. We don't know at that point what is really, you know, we don't know what is right. We come to a place where we just do it because we are dead in that part of our faculties or in that part of our area of our life and we continue to indulge in sin and that can bring us to a very dangerous place because that can lead us to a place where we are defiled. You know, a place where defiled means, you know, where we are living in willful, constant sin which is unholy, which is displeasing to God. So, it doesn't start off, you know, move dramatically from a good conscience, a pure conscience dramatically to a defiled conscience but it goes to a place where our conscience gets weak and then we're not listening to the whistle that blows, you know, hey, what you did is wrong, what you're saying is wrong. When we overlook it, when we think that we have control over it, we can come over it, we can get over it, then we come to a place where our conscience is totally dead and then we come to a place where we are defiled in our conscience and, you know, we begin to live a life that is, you know, a defiled conscience or evil conscience, you know, is a place where we accept what is wrong and no longer think what we're doing is evil in God's sight or is displeasing to God. So, we come to a place where we are living in defilement, in total unrighteousness and unpoliness and in evil and wicked ways. So, you know, we need to be very, very careful, we need to listen to our conscience when the whistle blows loud, you know, we need to listen because when we don't, the whistle slowly starts, I mean, this is giving you a kind of an illustration that you can understand. So, when the whistle blows, it blows loud the first time. Hey, what you did was wrong and you feel really terrible. But the second, and when we think it's okay and we overlook it, the second time the whistle blows but, you know, the sound is not too loud and slowly it diminishes, it comes to a point where, you know, we can say it's a sealed conscience where our conscience doesn't even, you know, react because we are dead and to that part of sin and that can lead us into more dangerous, you know, sin which we can fall and we can hurt the heart of God, we can go away from Him, we can do things that are totally unrighteous, unholy, even to the place of adultery or, you know, getting into addictions, getting into deep sins because, you know, we've given that place where our conscience is sealed. So, let's listen to our conscience, very, very important. You know, just listening to two life examples the weekend, I was just listening to somebody I met them and they were telling me about who people who have hated the salvation of God, seen the goodness of God in ministry, you know, so sad to hear how they have gone away from the truth, you know, gone into doing things that are totally detestable, totally displeasing to hear it, you know, just broke my heart. I was just thinking, you know, how God's heart would have broken because His own people were tasting Him, His own shepherds going away from Him and quickly came to a place where I, you know, I moved on to this place of feeling so bad and terrible about their sin, how could they do it, to thinking about, you know, how they hurt God's heart, how God is grieved even as I am so grieved and sad to hear about it. They came to a place where I said, you know, God, I need to be so much more careful, you know, I can look at their sin and, you know, how they've fallen, the depths of sinfulness that they have gone into, but I can also be that place, I can also come to that place and God, you know, helped me to every day be conscious of living, you know, according to your word, living in the truth, being accountable, you know, not straying away, even little sin that is there, you know, helped me to be mindful of those little sins, to know those little sins that I'm doing, pointed out to me, God, and helped me to deal with those sins so that I don't come to a place where my conscience becomes so seared that it becomes defiled and evil. Okay, so we'll stop at this. We look at the rest of the notes on Monday and just a little more, and then we'll move on to chapter 3, but just let to leave us with this thought, you know, let's listen to our conscience, whether it's a small thing or big thing, sin is a sin, whether it's a lie, whether it's a word, whether it's grumbling, murmuring, let's not move, you know, to a place where we can come to a place where we have defiled and do what is evil in God's sight. Okay, thank you all for joining today's class. I'll see you on Monday, and I'll ask God to help us to listen to our conscience and to live according to his word, whether in secret or in the opening that is recountable to God and to walk in his face and to live in righteousness and holiness and play according to that and live according to that. Thank you, everyone. Have a blessed weekend. God bless you.