Friday, November 5, 2021
The Stiffened Neck
Proverbs 29:1
"He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing."
Romans 2:5
"But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed."
Philippians 2:3
"Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves."
If you want to avoid a hardened heart then you must ask God to change you into a new creation if you are not born again. For the believer who is born again a stubborn heart will bring chastisement from God, to avoid this we must ask God to return us to a tender heart of flesh.
A hardened heart will send a non-believer to hell. A hardened heart will bring heartache to the one being disciplined by God to return to righteousness.
Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"
1 Corinthians 3:14-16 "…14 If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as if through the flames. 16 Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?…"
God will discipline those who belong to Him when they will not obey Him. Just a thought, perhaps we are seeing that discipline right now in the form of a disease that is locking people down, keeping them fearful and covering their mouth that refuses to speak of Him. This disease has shut down the places of worship, but never forget that it is God Who is doing this to cause repentance, but little of it is happening.
Amos 3:5-7 "…5 Does a bird land in a snare where no bait has been set? Does a trap spring from the ground when it has nothing to catch? 6 If a ram’s horn sounds in a city, do the people not tremble? If calamity comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it? 7 Surely the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets.…"
I find it interesting that so many Christians are angry at the government for the mandates but do not recognize that it was God that sent this discipline we are all under.
It is God Who is attempting to bring the people of the world to the realization that they are not in control, He is in control.
The people have been distracted by their own anger forced to do things they dislike but will not admit they brought it all on themselves by their own rebellion and disobedience.
The people have trusted in themselves while calling themselves Christians. They fight against the discipline of God as though He had no right to bring us to our knees.
I do not hear many preachers saying that God is the One Who brought this disease to discipline us. I hear them shouting loudly about their right to gather in buildings but I do not hear them telling people to meet in their homes while they are in lockdown.
I am convinced God wants the believers to learn how to worship Him in their homes with only a few people rather than depending on a man standing up front entertaining them.
Perhaps there is someplace in the world where people were brought to their knees and obeyed God to stay home and worship with family and neighbors. May the Lord bless those who realized God was using this pandemic to chastise His people and return them to proper worship and obedience.
God's Love in Every Born Again Believer
Faith and works are two sides of the same coin. There are many people who believe they are being saved by their works. God never said such a thing. In the following passage we see that when we have been born again, our faith will bring about works, but not to gain salvation, as evidence of salvation.
However, works alone are not proof of salvation. Even wicked people do good works to glorify themselves. The proof of salvation is in the fruit of the Spirit.
James 2:18-26
"18 But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”
19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
20 But are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless?
21 Was our father Abraham not justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?
22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;
23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called a friend of God.
24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was Rahab the prostitute not justified by works also when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?
26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead."
Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
This fruit is in every believer who has been changed into a new creation by Christ. Those who are not born again cannot have all the fruit. They can pretend some of these things but they are superficial pretense and not authentic fruit.
The love that comes from the world is not Christ's love, but self-serving love based on performance rather than truth. Those who love this way cannot love others who are not just like them. They must have compliance with their own ideas in order to love others.
God's love is the opposite of this worldly love. God's love is demonstrated even when someone does not measure up to our own ideas. We love others because God first loved us, not because they have earned that love.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends."
1 John 4:8
"Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love."
Colossians 3:14
"And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."
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