Romans 1:28
"28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,"
When we resist God He will not continue to pursue us forever, at some point, when we have continually rejected Him and His principles over and over and over again, no matter how many warnings he brings, He will turn us over the our own minds.
What would that look like? Read 2 Timothy 3:1-5 to find the answer. When left to our own devices, pridefully thinking we can ignore God while having things the way we want them, we are placing ourselves and those we influence in grave danger.
The protection of the Lord is removed when He turns us over to ourselves and the devil.
1 John 5:19 "We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one."
When God turns us over to ourselves we are not in control, we come under the power of the wicked one as it says in 1 John. All those people who think they can run from God and live their lives as they please their own way, are under someone else's power, not their own. The power of the devil.
When we are under the power of the wicked one, we no longer have the ability to think in ways that help us. All our thoughts are under the sinful flesh and the devil.
Genesis 6:5 "Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."
The only solution for those who are running from God is to confess your sinfulness, trust Christ and let change your thinking.
Isaiah 55:9 ""For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts."
If we have no fear of God, we have no love for Him. At the core of loving God is the fear of displeasing Him. Our culture no longer reverences Him nor do they fear what He can do. Notice the BEGINNING of wisdom is the fear of God. Understanding God's power and majesty should make us quake in our boots when we are disobedience.
Proverbs 9:10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."
Proverbs 1:7 - The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of knowledge: [but] fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Matthew 10:28 - "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."
Deuteronomy 6:5 ""You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."
Matthew 22:36-37 "36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."
The problem with the modern church is not that they are not more involved with politics, it is that they are not engaged in admonishment, correction, rebuke in their lives with those around them.
The fear of man has caused the modern church to remain silent in the face of every day violations of the Word of God. Those who are politically active tend to look down on those who speak boldly about God's principles that are not popular.
Proverbs 29:25 "The fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the LORD will be exalted."
When relatives who claim to be "Christian" are endorsing shack up relationships, through acceptance of them, praising others while engaging in sinful activity and complimenting others on superficial matter such as appearance, activities of pleasure and accomplishments in their life, rather than teaching and training according to the Scriptures, they are validating all the useless and sinful acts of those around them. And, we know that the only reason to remain silent is to avoid the rejection we expect when correcting anyone in this culture.
There is nearly an absence of correction when it comes to divorce and remarriage. Leaving our culture to believe that second marriages are valid ones blessed by God, when God's Word clearly condemns the practice of divorce and remarriage.
In one conversation a couple of years ago, I was bludgeoned by a "Christian youth group", for chastising the young women for wearing bikini's at the beach to be seen by men there. The thing that amazed me was the complete lack of shame, the anger that emerged was shocking.
When a person is born again, they become ashamed when confronted with their sin, they think about it and eventually repent. When a person who is not born again but claims to be a Christian, is confronted with sin, their first response it rage. They work to attack the character of the rebuker, while claiming "you don't know my heart." When given Scripture to show that we can know a person's heart by their deeds, they continue with character assassination, claiming that we were unloving, judgmental and rude. They refused to addresss the bikinis at all, ignoring all the scripture while continuing to attack the messenger.
Jeremiah 6:15 ""Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done? They were not even ashamed at all; They did not even know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time that I punish them, They shall be cast down," says the LORD."
Matthew 15:9 ""For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders."
We feel proud of ourselves as a Christian culture for standing against same sex marriage and abortion, but violate so many other principles of God that it must be said, our stand against "the big stuff", makes us feel special and we know there are many others on our side. However, standing against the other violations will only get the true believer mocked and excluded from family, friends and even in their own churches.
The modern church has learned which things they can stand against that will bring them much adulation and even praise. When it comes to the other violations of Scripture the modern church mocks and isolates anyone who would stand against the sin that has permeated the church gathering.
To dare to suggest that most people who go to churches are not born again and must once again hear the gospel, is to bring down the wrath of church leaders and fellow parishioners. Often the leaders themselves are not born again, which is why we hear so much of a watered down cultural form of preaching that has little if any value in uplifting the people in holiness.
The point of this article is to show that most people who claim to be Christians are violating more of the Bible than they are obeying. When our Christian culture claims to be "Bible believers", in most cases it isn't true. Many not only violate His principles but they twist them to mean what they want them to say and live as though it were true.
Matthew 15:8 "'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME."
The gist of this discussion is that all true believer must study for themselves, ask the Holy Spirit to guide them and then boldly proclaim the truth no matter who listens. Most people will not listen, but we are still responsible to warn. We can leave their response to God.
2 Timothy 4:3 "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,"
AND!
The times we live in are rebellious and hostile to truth even in church gatherings. God said this would happen in 2 Timothy 3. Many believers are coming out of the organized church gatherings because they are being shunned for speaking truth.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
"3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these."
Nehemiah 13:25
"So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, "You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves."
Do you suppose there were people who told Nehemiah that he was "judgmental, mean spirited, or cruel?"
Imagine the silly verbiage we use, being used back in Christ's time, or the time of the prophets. We really are a culture of wuses. Waa, waa waa, all I hear it cry baby tears over the most mundane and silly things.
Sorry, I just had to vent, people are dying and going to hell, believers are being beheaded and we are whinning about "how someones said something to us." Sometimes I get so tired!!!!
To continually cogitate on sins, that God has forgiven when we confessed them, is the same as not believing God.
1 John 1:9 "9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
If we are not sorry, we are not forgiven, but if we have been broken and confessed, then God cleansed us, it's over, we have forsaken it, we can move on with a clear conscience.
If we are in contact with people who want to hold forgiven sins against us, then we need to explain that we have confessed, were forgiven and cleansed, and then move on if they continue to hold grudges about things that didn't even have to do with them. Sometimes relatives and acquaintances enjoy their skewed view of our previous life, they love to treat us in ways that elevate themselves and demean us. Those are the people that we need to put out of our lives, they bring no good thing to the relationship and even hinder our walk with the Lord.
I have met people who heard rumors about others, based on sins from many years ago, who hold those rumors against their target. Remember if something is a rumor, if we do not see it first hand, then we need to take it with a grain of salt, knowing that God changes people. The people we look down upon for rumored sins, may not have done the sin, the perspective of the person who repeated the sin, may have been flawed or the person gossiped about may have become born again and cleansed of the very sin others want to continue to hold against them.
If we love someone and we hear about a sin, we need to go to that person asking them to explain. If we do not go and clear it up, then we are choosing to believe something we are not even sure is accurate, this is not love. Those who want to believe evil about others without proof are evil themselves. If we did not see the sin and there is no evidence now that they are in that sin, then we need to dismiss it as gossip and continue as though it never was.
Gossip is not sharing what we know based on our own experience, Gossip is repeating something we never saw for ourselves based on what others have said. Repeating what we have not seen or heard for ourselves is often embellished and inaccurate, not to mention damaging to the reputations of those who were gossiped about.
Proverbs 20:19
"He who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets, Therefore do not associate with a gossip."
Ephesians 4:29 "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hearer."
Proverbs 16:28 "A perverse man spreads strife, And a slanderer separates intimate friends."
Those who love to believe evil about others when they have been forgiven by God, He calls "perverse." Hatred and jealousy are at the root of the "destroy and conquer" mentality of the wicked. Often what others "think they see" is not at all what happened.
1Corinthians 13:4
"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it his not arrogant."
James 3:14-15
"But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic."
Our goal as believers ought to be to find out truth, believing what we did not see without evidence is a blatant and perverse form of murder. God says if we so much as hate our brother we have committed murder. To malign and destroy a person's reputation based on no evidence is hatred and the same as murder, the intentions to destroy them is murder.
1 John 3:15 "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him."
The best friends to have are those who love us so much that they will choose not to believe gossip about us. If they see evidence that the gossip might be true, then those friends will come to us for an explanation. Those who refuse to communicate with the victim of gossip have hate and murder in their hearts.
May we be people who want truth while disdaining groundless and malicious gossip.
All those who become born again remain in the vine. Those who appear to not remain in the vine were never born again. Man does not become righteous through his own desires or power, we become the righteousness of Christ through HIS power. If we are attempting to live the Christian life in our own power, we are not living the Christian life. Trusting Christ to change us, cleanse us and keep us is the basis of our Christian existence.
Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through HIM who strengthens me."
Ephesians 6:10 "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of HIS might."
Ephesians 3:20 "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to THE POWER AT WORK IN US (CHRIST),"
2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."
1 John 1:7 "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and THE BLOOD OF JESUS HIS SON CLEANSES US from all sin."
Jude 1:24 "Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,"
1 Corinthians 1:4-9 "
4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus,
5 that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge,
6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you,
7 so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
8 who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
You see, when Christ changes us into a new creation, He cleanses us and keeps us until He comes for us.
Often the verse that is used to justify remaining silent or requiring others to remain silent, when someone is sinning is Matthew 7:5 ""You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."
Our culture has used this verse to intimidate others into silence when they are attempting to correct a believer about their sin. The verse was a warning to be sure you are not walking sinfully, while correcting others for their sin or even the same sin that we are doing.
God clearly shows us in His Word that we are to interact continually with one another for spiritual growth. One scripture taken out of context is hardly enough to prove a point. When God spoke of taking the plank out of our own eyes He never meant that we should never correct anyone else. God meant that we should make sure we are not doing the same thing that we are rebuking someone else for doing or sinning in others ways.
Proverbs 27:6 "Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy."
Romans 15:14 "And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another."
Colossians 3:16 "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God."
Luke 17:3 ""Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him."
1 Thessalonians 5:14 "We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone."
2 Timothy 4:2 "2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with [a]great patience and instruction."
It is important that our view of God and His principles is not based on one verse taken out of context. We must base our beliefs on the whole of the Bible in context.
