Exactly, it is not the delivery of the messenger, but it is the heart of the hearer.
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Helping the Wicked Remain Wicked
Romans 1:29-32
"29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, [a]haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them."
If we embrace those who are living wickedly, then we are sending the message that we approve of their lifestyle and their rejection of God. We need to be warning those who walk in evil, then removing ourselves when they will not listen.
Isaiah 26:9-11 "…9 At night my soul longs for You, Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently; For when the earth experiences Your judgments The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. 10 Though the wicked is shown favor, He does not learn righteousness; He deals unjustly in the land of uprightness, And does not perceive the majesty of the LORD. 11 O LORD, Your hand is lifted up yet they do not see it. They see Your zeal for the people and are put to shame; Indeed, fire will devour Your enemies.…"
An evil man who rejects the Word of God and goes away from us, knows where to find us if he changes his mind. In the mean time we can pray and keep ourselves from being touched by the evil through abstinence from their lives. God can do a better job of reaching them than we. When they are ready, God can bring us back into their lives or He can send someone else in our place.
When we cannot let go of someone because of emotional ties, then we have an idol and we have elevated ourselves to god status by thinking that we have to be there, no one else nor God can help this person.
When we have done what the Holy Spirit told us to do, even walking away at the ordained time, then we can depend on Him as our guide. The freest person on the planet is one whose mind is stayed so completely on Christ that lose of a person or rejection by someone does not altar our obedience to Christ.
James 4:8-10 "…8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.…"
"29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, [a]haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them."
If we embrace those who are living wickedly, then we are sending the message that we approve of their lifestyle and their rejection of God. We need to be warning those who walk in evil, then removing ourselves when they will not listen.
Isaiah 26:9-11 "…9 At night my soul longs for You, Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently; For when the earth experiences Your judgments The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. 10 Though the wicked is shown favor, He does not learn righteousness; He deals unjustly in the land of uprightness, And does not perceive the majesty of the LORD. 11 O LORD, Your hand is lifted up yet they do not see it. They see Your zeal for the people and are put to shame; Indeed, fire will devour Your enemies.…"
An evil man who rejects the Word of God and goes away from us, knows where to find us if he changes his mind. In the mean time we can pray and keep ourselves from being touched by the evil through abstinence from their lives. God can do a better job of reaching them than we. When they are ready, God can bring us back into their lives or He can send someone else in our place.
When we cannot let go of someone because of emotional ties, then we have an idol and we have elevated ourselves to god status by thinking that we have to be there, no one else nor God can help this person.
When we have done what the Holy Spirit told us to do, even walking away at the ordained time, then we can depend on Him as our guide. The freest person on the planet is one whose mind is stayed so completely on Christ that lose of a person or rejection by someone does not altar our obedience to Christ.
James 4:8-10 "…8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.…"
Do We Really Care?
Let me describe what I have seen many believers are feeling;
They are full of joy and boldness, continually rejected by rebellious hears, accused of "negative" attitude as they are compelled by the Holy Spirit to expose evil because of their love for Christ first and then their love of those to whom they speak.
Believers have a deep concern for the spiritual growth of their brothers and sisters in Christ as well as an even deeper concern for those who are unsaved and on their way to the fires of hell.
Our hearts leap with joy over our hope of going home, when all this mess we live with every day torments our souls as it tormented the soul of Lot.
We rejoice at what God has made us, where we are going and the joy of our love for Christ, while simultaneously grieving over the dying and evil world all around us.
2 Peter 2:6-8 "6 if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly; 7 and if He rescued Lot, a righteous man distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless 8(for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—…"
Those who would accuse a believer being too negative, perhaps does not understand the world they live in, the working of the Holy Spirit or the depth of depravity he or she is surrounded by.
These same people hate correction and instruction themselves, so they interpret these necessary elements of Christian life as saddening, rather than things that could bring joy to anyone who heeds the warnings and become born again because of it.
Anyone who cannot face truth, will never lead anyone to the Lord. Should we make people feel comfortable in their wickedness, or would it be better to warn them and watch them seek God because of the conviction they have toward their sin?
Romans 1:21-22 "21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,…"
Anyone who hears the "negative" truth of hell and damnation and heeds its' warning will be excited and blessed that they have been saved out of it and on their way to heaven.
2 Corinthians 7:8-9 "8 Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Although I did regret it, I now see that my letter caused you sorrow, but only for a short time. 9 And now I rejoice, not because you were made sorrowful, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you felt the sorrow that God had intended, and so were not harmed in any way by us.…"
The reality is this, those who avoid sounding negative while living in the dilution that everyone should be happy happy all the time are negating the Word of God and the effectiveness of the Holy Spirit to show us our sinful nature after which we become joyful that Christ provided a way out of sin and hell.
Would we rather a person go to hell for eternity, so that others will like us, or do we grief over evil and attempt to convince others to turn to Christ for their salvation?
"Romans 1:26-27
"26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is [a]unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing [b]indecent acts and receiving in [c]their own persons the due penalty of their error."
They are full of joy and boldness, continually rejected by rebellious hears, accused of "negative" attitude as they are compelled by the Holy Spirit to expose evil because of their love for Christ first and then their love of those to whom they speak.
Believers have a deep concern for the spiritual growth of their brothers and sisters in Christ as well as an even deeper concern for those who are unsaved and on their way to the fires of hell.
Our hearts leap with joy over our hope of going home, when all this mess we live with every day torments our souls as it tormented the soul of Lot.
We rejoice at what God has made us, where we are going and the joy of our love for Christ, while simultaneously grieving over the dying and evil world all around us.
2 Peter 2:6-8 "6 if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly; 7 and if He rescued Lot, a righteous man distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless 8(for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—…"
Those who would accuse a believer being too negative, perhaps does not understand the world they live in, the working of the Holy Spirit or the depth of depravity he or she is surrounded by.
These same people hate correction and instruction themselves, so they interpret these necessary elements of Christian life as saddening, rather than things that could bring joy to anyone who heeds the warnings and become born again because of it.
Anyone who cannot face truth, will never lead anyone to the Lord. Should we make people feel comfortable in their wickedness, or would it be better to warn them and watch them seek God because of the conviction they have toward their sin?
Romans 1:21-22 "21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,…"
Anyone who hears the "negative" truth of hell and damnation and heeds its' warning will be excited and blessed that they have been saved out of it and on their way to heaven.
2 Corinthians 7:8-9 "8 Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Although I did regret it, I now see that my letter caused you sorrow, but only for a short time. 9 And now I rejoice, not because you were made sorrowful, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you felt the sorrow that God had intended, and so were not harmed in any way by us.…"
The reality is this, those who avoid sounding negative while living in the dilution that everyone should be happy happy all the time are negating the Word of God and the effectiveness of the Holy Spirit to show us our sinful nature after which we become joyful that Christ provided a way out of sin and hell.
Would we rather a person go to hell for eternity, so that others will like us, or do we grief over evil and attempt to convince others to turn to Christ for their salvation?
"Romans 1:26-27
"26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is [a]unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing [b]indecent acts and receiving in [c]their own persons the due penalty of their error."
The Subtle Things Reveal the Heart
If you think no one is noticing an attitude of disrespect and contempt, remember that Even just the rolling of eyes and shifting of the head can be a sign of contempt.
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