I knew what rebellion in the heart looked like because it was in mine before I trusted Christ, He changed me, that rebellion left and was replaced by a desire to please Him Who lives in me. So what is wrong when we see this ungodly rebellion in the heart of another believer who claims to love Him? How could someone be so volatile over a challenge to obey God, when they claim to belong to Him? This was my question.
As I was praying the Lord placed in my mind the passage in 2 Timothy 3:1-5, I opened my Bible to that passage, knowing what it said, having read it many times, but never thinking that it was the passage that described our generation so completely accurately, right now.
For years I thought this passage was dealing with a generation in the future, it couldn't be possible that an entire generation of people could be this terrible all the time in every way, in our generation. My eyes were opened as I read that description of the complete rebellion of a culture in my country at this time in history. And, sadly I realized that this display of contempt for God was not just in the world, it was now most who attended churches regularly. The contempt we experience as believers is not against us really, but against God Whom we are representatives.
Many people and entire gatherings claim to be "Bible believing" churches but negate so much of His Word that they should not be saying this about themselves.
I have known of pastors who would use that phrase, "Bible believing church", while on their second and third marriages, as their congregants snooze in the pews week after week thinking this is perfectly find with God. These gatherings are an abomination, they are in rebellion and proudly lie to say they are "Bible believing." These same people who claim this mantra as their own, are enraged when challenged that they may need to go back to the Bible and prayer to see the error they proclaim. When we compare how they act rather than just what they say, we can see that much of their attitude is based not on the Bible but on psychological teachings that have infected the church bodies with a form of incurable gangrene. I have heard of some of these churches asking people to leave their church who challenged unBiblical practices, calling the one who exhorts "divisive."
To the rebellious church it is divisive to exhort the gathering to always go back to the Bible and prayer to make sure the leaders and the congregants are in line with God's Word. The divisive person is not the one who points out error, however it is the person who refuses to obey God bringing in wrong and deceptive doctrine who is divisive.
The very churches that endorse divorce and remarriage will have many superficial and extraneous unBiblical rules for their people to obey that have nothing to do with the principles of Christ. They are merely the leaders ideas of "holiness", but in fact have no power, are not blessed by God and actually leave the congregants feeling superior without love, empathy and kindness, unless those in their gathering follow their man made rules. Those who question and do not follow the manmade rules are asked to leave or ignored until they finally leave.
Mark 7:8 ""Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men."
Mark 7:13 "thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that."
2 Timothy 3:1-5 "1 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."
David Wilkerson warned us about this country many years ago,
but most did not take him seriously. The evil is growing rapidly, while those who claim to be believers wink at sin, negate those who challenge wickedness and demean anyone who will stand against their ungodly practices.
People were buying into the psychological foolishness that there are no bad people, only hurting ones, that everyone who lived a wicked life were merely acting out because of the pain in their heart from child hood emotional or physical injury. This thinking has brought us to the place of first; tolerance of sin in the body, then to the embracing of those who practice sin, while devaluing the one who will tell the truth about iniquity.
One of the mantras we hear frequently now that is patently unBiblical is "we must say things in a way that they will receive it", this is nothing more than an excuse to dumb down the gospel, sheepishly speaking softly so that those hearing will like us, it is cowardly and selfish. It is not important that anyone like us, nor are we commanded to do things in a way that makes people feel good. Just the opposite, the old time preachers spoke with authority and continually warned about sin and hell without apology and without worry about the delivery. Mankind is not going to like Christ because of the way we say things, in most cases they will reject Him as they have since the day He came to earth, but we are to speak boldly anyway.
Ezekiel 3:17 "17"Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me.
18 "When I say to the wicked, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.…"
Why would we preach harsh sermons to hurting people, why would we want to speak truth that would convict a hurting heart? The answer is clear when we know the Lord and His principles. Man's heart is evil, difficult things that happen to us do not make us bad, they only reveal what is already in the heart.
Jeremiah 17:9 ""The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?"
When someone responds with anger and contempt toward the one who has corrected, rebuked or exposed their sin, it is a show of rebellion in the heart. Often those who are rebellious are not able to endure even the slightest instruction from God's Word, they will rage against anything suggesting that there is a need for change of attitude or behavior. Even the mildest instruction is anathema to anyone who has themselves in an elevated status in their own minds. The rebellious person always believes they know everything, no one can teach them unless they go to them for instruction, but they only go to those who validate their sin and elevate them personally.
1 Peter 5:5 "Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
1 Corinthians 2:13-14 "And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned."
Proverbs 9:9 "Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning."
Those who are humble will take a rebuke with gladness, possibly even being thankful that someone cared enough to keep them accountable. When a humble person is justly rebuked, they respond in shame, resolving to fix their attitude or not repeat the actions. The humble person when unjustly rebuked will not react in anger but calmly explain themselves or go off and pray that the eyes of the accuser would realize their sin.
However a rebellious heart reacts in anger, accusing the one who exposed the sin, of things that may not be true to take the spotlight off of themselves. There are many tactics of the rebellious heart that are released when they are challenged or kept accountable. The rebellious heart hates to be accountable to anyone, even God.
Proverbs 12:1 "Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, But he who hates reproof is stupid."
Proverbs 26:3 "3 A whip is for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, And a rod for the back of fools."
When we realize what we are dealing with in these end times of nearly complete rebellion, we can rest in Christ, that we will be maligned, demeaned and shown contempt on a regular basis, we don't have to take it internally, seriously or attempt to do anything about it. We can live as we desire in line with the principles of Christ, trust Him to change us when needed and leave the rebellious heart to Christ.
We can pray for those in rebellion to be broken over their sin of pride, that they may see for themselves their own hearts. We can pray that God will show us when this happens, He must show us, because after years of enduring the carnage of the rebelliousness in our age, we may be reluctant to believe there has been a change, especially if the same old same old, keeps happening day after day, year after year.
I am confident when there has been a change in a rebellious heart, God will show us it is real and the relationship can be restored, but attempting to restore it too soon before there is repentance and brokenness, we can thwart God's lessons for ourselves and others, prolonging the agony of missed lessons.
Yes, there can be deep joy in our hearts at this evil time of the end. Our joy can be increased because we know the time is short, the Lord is coming soon and He is ultimately responsible for working on the heart of every person. We are His instruments and messengers, that's all, we have no responsibility to change another person's heart.
I rest in this truth, that God will have His will no matter what we or others do. Hallelujah!!!
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