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CHARITY (11)

 

Charity…Rejoiceth Not in Inquity

Victor M. Eskew

 

INTRODUCTION

 

A.   Here are some things that we find in the church today.

1.    False doctrine proclaimed from the pulpit and in classrooms.

2.    Practices not authorized by the New Testament being engaged in.

3.    Fellowship being extended to those in the denominations.

4.    Churches refusing to disfellowship those who are in sin.

 

B.   Not only are these practices taking place, but we find some to gloat and rejoice in the fact that they are doing these things. 

 

C.   None of these things involve a person in the exhibition of love because charity “rejoiceth not in iniquity” (I Cor. 13:6).

 

D.   Charity rejoiceth not in iniquity is the title of this lesson.  We will continue with our same pattern of discussion.

1.    Definition of terms

2.    Bible examples

3.    Application to our lives

 

I.             DEFINITION OF REJOICETH NOT IN INIQUITY

 

A.   Rejoiceth not

1.    Strong (5463):  to be full of cheer

2.    Thayer:  to rejoice, be glad, to rejoice exceedingly

3.    Barnes:  rejoice, find pleasure in

4.    Jeremiah:  takes satisfaction in

5.    Renner.com:  overjoyed, elated, ecstatic, exhilarated, thrilled, jubilant, rapturous

 

B.   Iniquity

1.    Strong (93):  injustice…moral wrongfulness (of character, life, or act)

2.    Thayer:  injustice of a judge, unrighteousness of heart and life, a deed violating law and justice, act of unrighteousness

 

C.   Various translations

1.    KJV:  rejoiceth not in iniquity

2.    AVS:  rejoiceth not in unrighteousness

3.    NKJV:  does not rejoice in iniquity

4.    NASV:  does not rejoice in unrighteousness

5.    ESV:  it does not rejoice at wrongdoing

6.    NIV:  Love does not delight in evil

7.    NLT:  It does not rejoice about injustice

8.    Phillips:  It does not …gloat over the wickedness of other people

9.    Message:  doesn’t revel when others grovel

 

II.           BIBLE EXAMPLES

 

A.   Jesus did not rejoice in iniquity when He saw the money changers in the temple (John 2:13-16).

And the Jews’ Passover was at hand,  and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:  and when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; and said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise.

 

B.   Jesus did not let others have pleasure in wickedness when the woman anointed his body for burial by breaking the alabaster box (Mark 14:3-6).

 

And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious and the brake the box, and poured it on his head.  And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste made:  for it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor.  And they murmured against her.  And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble you her?  She hath wrought a good work on me.

 

C.   The apostle Paul did not rejoice in the iniquity that was in the church at Corinth (I Cor. 5:1-2).

 

It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.  And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.

 

D.   John did not rejoice in the evil Diotrephes (III John 9-10).

 

I wrote unto the church:  but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.  Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words:  and not content therewith, neither doth he receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.

 

E.   NOTE:  It is possible to rejoice in iniquity.

1.    The wicked man (Prov. 2:14).

2.    Edom (Obad. 12).

3.    The Jews over Jesus (Mark 15:29-32)

4.    Romans 1:32

 

III.         APPLICATION OF REJOICETH NOT IN INIQUITY

 

A.   The ease of rejoicing in iniquity:

1.    La Rochefoucald:  “…there is something not altogether disagreeable to us in the misfortunes of best friends” (Scroggie, 29).

2.    “It is easy to be glad at another person’s misfortunes, especially when their misfortune has a tendency to make us look better…” (Jeremiah, 92).

3.    Statements we might make:

a.    Well, he got what he deserved!

b.    I wish he would fall from his mighty “throne.”

c.    I wish my mate would commit fornication so I can get a divorce.

 

B.   Love is opposed to sin, and grieves and weeps over it.

1.    If we do not grieve over sin, we delight in the very thing that offends the heart of God.

2.    If we rejoice when another transgresses God’s will, then we rejoice in the thing that put Jesus on the cross.

C.   “Love rejoices in the virtue of others, not in their vices” (www.gotquestions.org, “What does it mean that love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth? I Cor. 13:6?”).

1.    Love is never gladdened when others go wrong.

2.    Love never makes capital out of other’s faults.

3.    Love does not delight in exposing the weaknesses of others.

 

D.   There is a lot of rejoicing in evil in our society.

1.    Some individuals really enjoy the sin they practice.  In fact, we love it so much that we attempt to go to the Bible to “prove” that it is an acceptable practice (social drinking, Jesus turning water into wine, John 2).

2.    Some like to enjoy the sins of others.

a.    Pornography

b.    Movies

c.    Games that promote theft and murder

3.    Gossip:  “This sin, which many Christian treat lightly, is wicked not only because it uncaringly yields and reveals the weaknesses and sins of others, but because the heart of gossip is rejoicing in evil.  The essence of gossip, you see, is gloating over the sins and shortcomings of others” (Jeremiah, 94).

4.    Mobs and gangs rejoicing when they do evil to their enemies and opposition.

5.    Hate groups like the KKK rejoice in evil when they terrorize and torment and harm and kill others just because of their race.

6.    Social injustice groups often rejoice when businesses are looted, towns are burned, citizens are threatened or hurt, and lives are lost.  At one protest in NYC, the protestors were shouting:  “What do we want?  Dead cops.  When do we want it?  Now.”

7.    Fundamental Islam rejoices every time a terrorist attack takes place anywhere in the world.  On 9-11, when the Twin Towers fell there was dancing in the streets in many Muslim nations. 

8.    Revenge is a form of rejoicing in evil.  When another “gets his due,” we are glad to hear the news (See Luke 9:52-56).

 

And sent messengers before his face:  and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him.  And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.  And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?  But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.  For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.  And they went to another village.

 

CONCLUSION

 

A.   God does not rejoice in wickedness (Ps. 5:4).

 

For thou are not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness…

 

B.   What a man rejoices in is a fair test of his character.

 

C.   Proverbs 24:17-18

 

Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth.  Lest the Lord see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.