God Hath Spoken

by Harris J. Dark

2. Bible Study. (That’s two words, isn’t it?) Do you have any trouble classifying that? In which list would you put it? Would you say that Bible study belongs with the fruit of the Spirit or with the works of the flesh? I shall not try to influence your opinion. Decide for yourself. You see I can put most anything up here today because I’m not committing myself. I’m playing safe. Well, let’s list another word.

3. Movies. Not as they could be and not as they ought to be, and not as they are in some isolated cases, but as they are in general, would you say that they look like this crowd (Fruit of the Spirit) or do they look like this crowd (Works of the Flesh)? Do they contribute to lasciviousness, do they contribute to envy and hatred and such like things, or do they look more like peace, self-control, and goodness? Decide for yourself! I’ve asked a great many people this simple question: “Do you believe that movies as they are in general are helpful to society or injurious to society?” All of the answers to that question except in one single instance have been on the same side. I think you know what the correct answer is.

4. Card playing. Let’s consider card playing here, playing bridge, and such like games. Please note what happened in Cincinnati a few years ago. The city council passed an anti-gambling law which, of course, outlawed playing bingo. Some of the preachers of the city got together and wrote out a petition asking the city manager to amend the anti-gambling law to give the churches permission to play bingo in order to raise money to carry on their work. The city manager granted the petition. It’s on the legislative record of the city of Cincinnati. Do you wonder why so many people have quit going to church, why the buildings are empty on Sunday?

A young lady in Cincinnati told me the first time I ever saw her that she didn’t like to go to church, that she came away feeling worse than when she went and that she didn’t get what she needed when she attended the typical place of worship in the city of Cincinnati. Do you wonder why? Now Cincinnati may be a little bit extreme, but similar conditions prevail at a great many other places.

There was a lady in Louisville, Kentucky, who told me she was alarmed about her son. She said he was a natural-born gambler. There are a lot of “natural-born gamblers,” but they are not all in Kentucky. I asked the lady if she didn’t go to bridge parties, and she said she did. Then I said, “Don’t you contribute your share of the money to buy a prize?” She admitted that she did. Next I asked, “Don’t you play a game of chance to see which lady will take the prize home?” Again she answered in the affirmative. My reply was, “Well, you taught your son to gamble. Why are you alarmed?” She was perfectly content to gamble in the living-room with a group of so-called refined ladies, but she didn’t want her son to bet on the horse races or go to some gambling den in the city. (I almost told you where I thought that one belonged, didn’t I? I didn’t mean to do that.) Let’s take something else.

5. Prayer meeting. Where would you put attending prayer meeting? I never heard anybody raise a question about that. I think everybody knows where it belongs so we pass on to something else.

6. Petting. We just as well talk about it; everybody knows about it. Many have been guilty of it. Where would you put petting? Does it look like lasciviousness, tending to produce wanton and lustful desires, or does it look like it belongs with the fruit of the Spirit? Now about the only difference I see in petting and dancing is that the dancing is done to music and the petting without the benefit of music; dancing is usually done in public, where the presence of others imposes at least some degree of restraint, whereas the petting is done in a parked automobile on a side road or in some living-room with the shades pulled down. That’s about the only difference. I’m perfectly willing to leave the decision to your own honest judgment, because if you’re not honest you’re certainly lost anyhow.

7. Tobacco. Maybe you think I’m going too far, but I’d like to ask you to classify the use of tobacco. Would you classify tobacco—whether it’s dipping, chewing, or smoking—as a work of the flesh, or as fruit of the Spirit? Do you believe that using it will help you to save souls or hinder you in saving souls? Would you be a little bit ashamed to let the man whom you were trying to convert see you smoking or dipping or chewing? Again, I’m just asking questions. Not answering them. If anybody wants to know what my answer is, see me after we’re through and I’ll tell you. But I want to leave it up to your own judgment. Where would you place these things? Do they belong in the list of works of the flesh or the fruit of the Spirit?

Friends, we are talking today about something that’s fundamental. There’s no part of the Bible more fundamental than the 5th chapter of Galatians. The Bible says those who do these things (works of the flesh) shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Against these things (fruit of the Spirit) there is no law. You’re perfectly safe when you’re on this side. There’s no law of God or man that would condemn anything in this list. You never heard of a law forbidding one of these fruits of the Spirit. There’s not a state legislature on this earth that would even think about condemning one of them. Against such things there is no law.

Perhaps the greatest progress the church of Christ could make today would be to heed diligently the lesson of Galatians, chapter 5, and get all of our thinking, conversation, and conduct in harmony with the fruit of the Spirit. The very example of the membership would then be a tremendous drawing power. It would win the admiration of all those who observed it. All serious-minded people who want to go to heaven when they die, would like to have a part with a group of people who are governed in such a way. If there are some present this morning who are guilty of following the lust of the flesh, there is still a chance for you to be forgiven. If you will repent, confess your faults, and pray God to forgive you, he will do so—that is, those of you who are erring children of God. You who have not yet been baptized into Christ may secure forgiveness by believing in him as God’s son, repenting of your sins, confessing your faith, and obeying the commandment to be baptized for remission of sins. If you are subject then to this call of Christ, we invite you to accept it.