Sin Taken Lightly

Luke 3:8 "8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham."

God requires us to prove we are born again when we say we are, through our actions and attitudes. When the attitudes are wrong, then the actions will follow. One cannot have pure attitudes and wicked actions.
 
We take sin so lightly in these days of apostasy that we tend to believe the psychological foolishness that teaches all men are basically good, when the Bible teaches the opposite.
 
Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
Because the culture as a whole has bought into the paganistic view that no one is truly evil and is merely acting out the hurt that is inside, we have a tendency to comfort the wicked man while beating up on the victim.

How many times have we seen those who jump up in court to "forgive" the perpetrator who is not repentant, while making the victim feel guilty if they don't feel compelled to forgive the rapist or murderer.

Those who get up in the courtroom to tell the perp that they forgive him, may make him cry but it does not change his heart. The Bible clearly says that a wicked man will not be changed by relieving him of his accountability. Grandiose gesture of forgiving the perp in the courtroom makes everyone feel all gooy inside, but really only masquerades as kindness. Those same people didn't need to do that in public they could have visited the perp in jail to do it, mostly what they accomplished was for those watching to praise them. When what they did was not Biblical.

We do not forgive people to get them to like Christ, we forgive when they are repentant to show them mercy and because Christ told us to do it. We withhold forgiveness from an unrepentant person to show them their sinfulness and to show them that Christ will not forgive without repentance. If we want to love them, then we can go to the jail and bring them the gospel, the true gospel of repentance and reconciliation.
 
“But when grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do not regard the majesty of the Lord (Isaiah 26:10).
I am not happy when I see sports stars who are Christians get out on the field to bend down in front of thousands of people to pray before the game. I have to ask a couple of questions, first, what are they praying about, secondly why do they do it in the area when they could have done it in the locker room or at home? I have to believe that praying in public to be seen by men is a way of motivating others to praise them.
 
Matthew 6:6 ""But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you."
Matthew 6:1 ""Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven."

There is a lot of showing off in our culture, moments of silence, phrases like "we are praying for your family" expressed by those who have no interest in God. "We are praying for you" has become a greeting now, even among the seculars, it is meaningless.
 
Luke 10:27 "And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your
 God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

When we love God will all our heart, there is no need to seek the praise of men, Christ in us is all we need or want.

John 14:21 "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
John 14:15 "“If you love me, you will keep my commandments."

Rebuke and Punish the Wicked Man

Our present government and many family structures operate this way, as we have seen, bending over backward to please an evil person, only brings more trouble, fiercer than before.
 
A warning from God's Word, “But when grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do not regard the majesty of the Lord (Isaiah 26:10).

Leave the Response to God

"AND IF THE HOUSE BE WORTHY, LET YOUR PEACE COME UPON IT: BUT IF IT NOT BE WORTHY, LET YOUR PEACE RETURN TO YOU. AND WHOSOEVER SHALL NOT RECEIVE YOU, NOR HEAR YOUR WORDS, WHEN YE DEPART OUT OF THAT HOUSE OR CITY, SHAKE OFF THE DUST OF YOUR FEET. VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, IT SHALL BE MORE TOLERABLE FOR THE LAND OF SODOM AND GOMORRHA IN THE DAY OF JUDGMENT THAN FOR THAT CITY. BEHOLD, I SEND YOU FORTH AS SHEEP IN THE MIDST OF WOLVES: BE YE THEREFORE WISE AS SERPENTS AND HARMLESS AS DOVES…..Matthew 10: 13-16 (KJV).

When we do what God has commanded us, we do not have to agonize over the rejection of Christ or us, we remain in peace having obeyed while the response is left entirely up to God.

Study to Know Truth

Our English translations often do fall short of truth, not by incorrect translation, necessarily, but rather by incomplete translation.

John 19:30 "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost."

 

"It is finished" should have been translated, "paid in full." When we consider the misunderstandings that can come from this incomplete translation, it is staggering.

 

“Τετέλεσται”, (meaning paid in full) is a word that was stamped on paid bills and debt certificates that were paid. 

 

Christ was saying that our debt of sin was paid in full on the cross. He died on our behalf, fulfilling the law, that only a blood sacrifice was sufficient to pay that debt. Not only was a blood sacrifice required but only a perfect sacrificial Lamb would do, the perfect One, Christ fit the criteria for payment for out sins.

 

We must remember that Christ paid the debt of sin for anyone who wants it, making it available to anyone who will trust in Him. Those who will not trust in Him, spurning what He did on the cross, rejecting Him, will not avail themselves to what He offered, these people will go to hell, paying the eternal consequences for that rejection. They will gnash their teeth in anger as they are being thrown into the fires, even to the very end, they will mock, reject and malign Him. 

 

In Webster's original dictionary, Webster defined the verb "gnash" as "to grind the teeth, to rage even to collision with the teeth, to growl." Webster defined the noun "gnashing" in this way: "striking the teeth together, as in anger, rage or pain. A grinding or striking of the teeth in rage or anguish."

 

Psalm 112:10

"The wicked will see and be vexed, they will gnash their teeth and waste away; the longings of the wicked will come to nothing."

"So, what is “gnashing of teeth?” The Greek word that is translated as “gnashing” is from a word that means “to bite” and describes the snarling of a wild animal as it attacks. In all of the passages where the Greek terms for gnash or gnashing are used in the New Testament or in the Septuagint they are always used of anger, rage, pain or anguish. They are never used of sorrow, grief, remorse or regret." (From the Truth Will Set You Free)

 

Some of us have been taught all our lives that the "gnashing of teeth" for those thrown into hell was from the pain they are feeling there, this is wrong according to the original language. 

 

One of the evidences of an evil heart like this is the continual rejection of the principles of Christ as given to us in the Bible. Many who say they are Christians have a contempt for anyone who uses the Bible as the standard for character and conduct. 

 

We run into this all the time on facebook and in families, those who say they are a Christian, while negating what Christ said, even replacing His truths with their own idea of truth, mixed heavily with cultural standards that are not in the Word.

 

Contempt for the use of the Bible as the standard is a mammoth clue that the one who spurns the Word is not born again. The second clue is the continual twisting or out of context spouting of popular texts to justify sin or reframe God's meanings.

 

It is vitally important that we study while seeking the Holy Spirit when we do it. Our modern terminology is often very different from the way in which the inspired writers of the Bible intended.

 

We don't see the gnashing of teeth in anger in our culture, mostly we get an angry look, raised voices to intimidate, exclude those we don't like from gatherings while maligning their character. 

 

There are many forms of negating those who bring truth in our culture, the gnashing of teeth was one that was common in Christ's day. In our culture we often have more covert and cloaked ways of negating others because of the hatred of the truth.

 

I guess you might say we are more sophisticated in our treachery, there is "plausible deniability", the ability to be unkind in such covert ways that onlookers might not catch it, making the victim appear insane for noticing.

 

The most important matter at hand, as believers, especially in our day, is that we seek God rather than the approval of men.

Proverbs 29:25 "The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe."

 

Jeremiah 29:13 "13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart."

 

James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him