The first Ten Commandments are the hardest!
The world asks: why does God allow natural disasters? Why does He not advert things like this if He has the power to do so?
These are legitimate questions. It is fair to ask them. But too many people do not want to hear the answer because they do not like the answer!
The fact is it is all our faults. It is our sinful nature that causes judgment. For over 40 years, our sinful ways have been begging for judgment. God is giving us the opportunity to repent. We don't repent, we are judged. Let’s find out why.
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As the ultimate mathematician, physicist, and Creator of all things God does have the power and authority to advert natural disasters if He chooses:
Romans 1: 20-21 “ From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see His invisible qualities--His eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship Him as God or even give Him thanks...”
Matthew 8: 26-27 Jesus calms the storm
And Jesus answered, 'Why are you afraid? You have so little faith.' Then He stood up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly all was calm. The disciples just sat there in awe. 'Who is this?' they asked themselves. 'Even the wind and waves obey him!'
Psalm 65: 6-7 You formed the mountains by your power and armed yourself with mighty strength. You quieted the raging oceans with their pounding waves and silenced the shouting of the nations.
God can avert these natural disasters. Why doesn't He then? Because if He saves your body but not your soul what has been accomplished? The body, from the moment of birth, is dying. The soul, however, is eternal and this is what God wants to save. Sometimes, to save, one must have his eyes opened to his true nature.
Truth can hurt. But it also will set you free~~John 8:32
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Israel
Every nation that has turned their backs on Israel has suffered judgment from God. America was one of the architects for the withdrawal of Israeli’s from the Gaza strip. Many of us believe we are just beginning to see the judgments for this.
Genesis 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”
Obadiah 1:15-16 “The day is near when I, the Lord, will judge the godless nations! As you have done to Israel, so it will be done to you. All your evil deeds will fall back on your own heads. Just as you swallowed up my people on my holy mountain, so you and the surrounding nations will swallow the punishment I pour out on you. Yes, you nations will drink and stagger and disappear from history, as though you had never even existed.”
Our sinful natures:
The first sin
Genesis 3: 14-19 The very first sin was one of disobedience.
It brought dire consequences with it: banishment from the Garden of Eden. Woman to have pains during childbirth and to answer to her husband. Man to toil all his days to scratch for a living. Finally, physical death.
What did Adam and Eve do that was so terrible? Adam and Eve ate from the one tree they were told not to eat from. Doesn’t sound too bad—but it is disobedience. God does not quantify sin like man does. To God, sin is sin—it is all bad. To us, we view murder as worse than disobedience. But in reality, God’s view of sin is the correct one.
Just as we must punish our own children for their errors, so they will learn; God must punish us for ours~~so we will learn also! We don’t punish our children because we hate them. Rather, we punish because we LOVE them. It is the exact same thing for God. He LOVES you! He wants you to repent so you will have eternity rather than damnation. But it is up to you. God gave mankind free will to choose. If you haven’t chosen, well, you really have. You have chosen NOT to choose. But the consequences are the same~~eternal death.
Sin spreads to others: Genesis 4: 8
Cain murdered his brother Abel. It went from Adam and Eve’s disobedience to murder!
Consequences of our sins will affect our progeny:
Exodus 34: 7
“I show this unfailing love to many thousands by forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion. Even so I do not leave sin unpunished, but I punish the children for the sins of their parents to the third and fourth generations.”
If God tells the truth, and He does as He is incapable of sinning, then we need to stop and think about our very actions. Because what we say, think, and do will affect our great, great, great grandchildren!
If you know this and believe it, would you commit the sin you are thinking of? Would you be disobedient? Would you murder? Commit adultery? Curse God? Do you want your future loved ones to pay for YOUR SINS?
But there is hope.
Compromise and Tolerance dulls our sensitivity to sin:
Exodus 34: 12
“Be very careful never to make treaties with the people in the land where you are going. If you do, you soon will be following their evil ways.”
Revelation 2:14
“…You tolerate some among you who are like Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to worship idols by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin.”
Or as any farmer knows, one bad apple spoils the barrel. To save the barrel you must get rid of the bad apple. Sin is the same way. To remain chaste and righteous you must stay away from those who try to talk you into sinning. They will call you intolerant, self-righteous, closed-minded. But to allow them to encourage you to compromise is to allow that bad apple to spoil the barrel.
Too many churches today have compromised by allowing sinful practices into their congregations. They have not given the reproof necessary when our brother has sinned:
1 Corinthians 5: 12 “It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your job to judge those inside the church who are sinning in these ways. God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, ‘You must remove the evil person from among you.’”
1 Corinthians 5:1-2 “I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you, something so evil that even the pagans don’t do it….And you are so proud of yourselves! Why aren’t you mourning in sorrow and shame? And why haven’t you removed this man from your fellowship?”
If the ‘church’ fails to do this then there are consequences for the entire ‘church’:
Revelation 2:5 “…If you don’t, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.”
Church –is made up of the people who attend a building for religious worship.
For a church to lose her lampstand is for the church to cease as an effective witness~~the people have lost their ability to witness with any credibility due to the sin found within their family of fellowship. Churches are meant to be a ‘light’ to the communities around them. Jesus warns that their lights could go out and in fact He would extinguish any light that did not fulfill its purpose.
Episcopal and Anglican Churches are faced with this right now. Ultimately, they will have to choose to either tolerate the evil that is wanting in; or to remove those, who want to tolerate that evil, from their fellowship.
Importance of speaking out against sin:
1 Chronicles 9:1 “The people Judah were exiled to Babylon because they were unfaithful to the Lord.”
Not everyone in Judah was unfaithful! But the entire nation was carried away into exile. Everyone was affected by the sin of a few. It is not enough to say, “I wasn’t committing that sin.” We MUST speak out against the sins of our society.
New Orleans was a city that had sex shops everywhere that blatantly posted pornographic pictures in the front windows for everyone to see—including children. It was a city that had a large segment that practiced voodoo and satanism. The “Decadence Parade” was an annual event as was Mardi Gras. Gambling was legalized all up and down the Gulf coast.
Just as all of Judah was exiled, so all of New Orleans was destroyed. Not everyone practiced these vile evils; but everyone suffered because of them. Where were the churches and the Christians speaking out against these evils? I’m sure some did. But it wasn’t enough to affect a change. And if all they did was speak it from the pulpit without putting it into action to change their community; then it was a faith of words only. We must be the hands and feet of the Lord and go out and do His work in a hurting community.
All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke
Sins begin with our attitudes and our thoughts:
Mark 7: 20-23 “…It is the thought-life that defiles you. For from within, out of person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, eagerness for lustful pleasure, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you and make you unacceptable to God.”
Do you remember back when President Carter was being interviewed and he made the statement that if you lust in your heart you had committed adultery? Remember the grief the interviewer gave him? It was as if this interviewer had never heard of such a thing. Yet, President Carter was correct!
Matthew 5:27
Jesus said…”You have heard that the law of Moses says, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust in his eye has already committed adultery with her in his heart.’”
Why did Jesus take it a step further than the law of Moses? Because He knew, once you start to fantasize about other women, or men, you have allowed evil to enter and you have undermined your marriage. You must be faithful to your spouse not only in body but in mind as well!
Why is God angry at the sinner?
Romans 1:18-19 “But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who push the truth away from themselves. For the truth about God is known to them instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts.”
Paul points out that we ALL are sinners! We ALL deserve damnation and death.
But….even in His righteous anger, He desires to restore you to Him! God is able to do this as long as you (or I!) do not stubbornly distort or reject the truth of God’s word.
How we rationalize our sins:
Luke 7: 41 “And why worry about a speck I your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?”
Often times, we like to point out the sin in someone else’s life—see what they are doing? Aren’t they horrid and sinful?
We shouldn’t ignore wrongdoing, but we should not be so worried about others’ sins that we overlook our own! It is better to confront your own sins than to point out someone else’s! What ‘specks’ in others are easy for you to criticize? When we feel like doing this, we need to remember our ‘logs’—and when we do, we will feel less like criticizing!
Philippians 2:5-11
“Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though He was God, He did not demand and cling to His rights as God. He made Himself nothing; He took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form He obediently humbled Himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross. Because of this, God raised Him up to the heights of heaven and gave Him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Hmmm, humble. Most of us, don’t do humble well. Most of us like to feel important and special. When we strive to feel important or special, we can become selfish! Selfishness can destroy a church, but genuine humility can build it!
Sometimes Christians’ attitudes do more damage than they do good in the secular world. Instead of humbly leading someone to Christ, we feel like we must jam it down their throats. We become argumentative and turn into bullies. But all this does is reinforce their poor opinions of Christians. In essence, we have become our own jihadists! That is, from God’s and Jesus’ perspective, totally incorrect, inappropriate and damaging. Instead of leading someone home to God, we have pushed them further away!
Recently, I read a post from a very angry young man who said that IF God exists, then when he comes into His presence, he was going to flip God off and curse Him out. What this young man fails to understand is he will not be given that opportunity. Whether he likes it or not, he WILL BE bowing down before Christ and proclaiming Him as Lord. And then judgment comes.
There is a lot of anger in today’s society. Rather than getting angry, or vituperative back, we, as Christians need to stay calm and loving and gentle. We need to show as well as tell this hurting world that there IS a better way.
Therefore, hard as humble is, we should strive for it.
We must face our sins before we can be forgiven:
Luke 7:36-50
Jesus has come to the home of Simon a Pharisee to dine. A woman of “ill” repute comes in and begins to clean Jesus’ feet with a very expensive perfume and her tears. Simon decided that Jesus was no prophet because He didn’t know what kind of woman was cleaning his feet. Jesus tells Simon that He wants to say something to him –and proceeds to tell the story of a man who loaned two people money. One was loaned 500 pieces of silver and the other was loaned 50. Neither man could repay the debt. So the debt was forgiven. Jesus asked Simon then which debtor was more grateful? Simon responded that it would be the one who had the larger debt. Jesus replies that this is correct. The parallel is the woman who had a great many sins was truly grateful for her redemption and she showed her love and gratefulness to Christ by anointing His feet and kissing His feet because she HAD been forgiven much.
“I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”
Overflowing love is the natural response to forgiveness. Only when we realize the depth of our sins can we appreciate the complete forgiveness that God has offered us. Jesus rescues all of His followers, whether we were once extremely wicked or conventionally good, from eternal death!
Correct response when others point out our sins:
Money cannot buy us what we need for salvation:
Acts 8:18-24
“Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given when the apostles, placed their hands upon people’s heads, he offered money to buy this power. ‘Let me have this power, too,’ he exclaimed, ‘so that when I lay my hands on people, they will receive the Holy Spirit!’ But Peter replied, ‘May your money perish with you for thinking God’s gift can be bought!’ You can have no part in this, for your heart is not right before God. Turn from your wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps He will forgive your evil thoughts, for I can see that you are full of bitterness and held captive by sin.”
Simon’s response: “Pray to the Lord for me, that these terrible things won’t happen to me!”
Most of us, when we are rebuked by someone else, tend to become angry, hurt or defensive. But these are the wrong attitudes! Instead the correct response is just like Simon’s, we should pray and ask forgiveness.
Simon in his ignorance wanted to purchase that which is freely given!
We cannot save ourselves.
Good people don’t go to heaven. “Saved” people go to heaven.
What is the difference you might ask? A big one. There are many good people on this planet. They do wonderful things for others. They are altruistic. They are kind. They are loving. They are not selfish. They love their fellow man. And they are just as surely damned as any thief, rapist, murderer or satanic worshipper!
Why?
Ephesians 2: 8-9 “God saved you by His special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”
Isaiah 64:6
All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
Titus 3: 5 “He saved us, not because of the good things we did, but because of His mercy. He washed away our sins and gave us a new life through the Holy Spirit.”
NO AMOUNT OF MONEY CAN BUY SALVATION, FORGIVENESS OF SIN OR GOD’S POWER. THESE ARE ONLY GAINED THROUGH OUR REPENTANCE AND BELIEF IN JESUS CHRIST AS OUR SAVIOR.
One example comes to mind here for me. It is one that comes from the movies! I don’t have any personal experience of this. The movies always show the mafia dudes as tithing to the Catholic church. They erroneously believe that their generous tithes will guarantee them a place in heaven. Then they go out and order the next ‘hit’ on someone.
Their place is NOT guaranteed because you cannot buy your way in to heaven! (Isn’t that a relief? I would be too poor to buy my way in!) Once you have accepted God’s free gift of salvation, you can’t go out and commit the same old sins! You have become a new creature in Christ and you are to shed that old sinful nature just as a snake sheds his skin. What’s more, once you have become a Christian, you should NOT want to continue with those old sins! Those mafia types who tithe but continue to order the killing of other people or kill are not going to heaven.
Forgiveness may NOT stop the consequences of sin!
1 Peter 4: 17-18
“For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin first among God’s own children. And if ever we Christians must be judged, what terrible fate awaits those who have never believed God’s Good News? And ‘If the righteous are barely saved, what chance will the godless and sinners have?’”
This passage is not about final judgment. It is about refining discipline. (Hebrews 12:7) God allows believers to sin and experience the consequences of that sin. He allows this for several reasons: 1) shows us our potential for sinning 2) encourages us to turn from sin and to depend more on God 3) prepares us to face even stronger temptations 4) helps us to stay faithful and keep on trusting Him
If believers need earthly discipline from God, how much more will unbelievers receive it?
Look at the following list. Which ones are sins?
1. suppressing the truth
2. Approving sinful behavior in others
3. lack of gratitude to God
4. speaking slander
5. gossiping
6. arrogance
7. sexual impurity
8. hating God
9. homosexual behavior
10. pride
11. greed
12. boastfulness
13. envy
14. disobedience to parents or authority figures
15. engaging in disputes
16. being untrustworthy
17. deceitfulness
18. unloving
19. maliciousness
20. unmerciful
21. inventing evil
22. murder
23. lack of discernment
24. failure to glorify God
25. worship of something or someone other than God
26. living together—cohabiting
Would you believer every single one is sinful? They are.
This is what happened to New Orleans. Which sins were obvious in the Big Easy? Many practiced voodoo. Mardi Gras is just a big drunk fest before lent begins. The Decadence Parade is basically a homosexual mardi gras. They had sex shops with pornographic pictures on the windows for anyone to see—children included. Gambling is everywhere.
Not every one in New Orleans deserved discipline. But all received it. And just like everyone in the kingdom of Judah received exile, not all of them deserved it. But they were all disciplined for the actions of the few. The Christians of New Orleans are in shock right now. But they WILL come out of this stronger in their faith before it happened. And the non-believers? They will be more angry, more hateful, more sinful. Unless they find God.
Are your actions contributing to the disciplining of America? Or your nation? Are you caught up in the bondage of sin? Do you want to be free? Free of the constant anger. Free from hate. Free from sexual perversions. Free from whatever your sins are?
God’s Plan of Salvation
It isn’t hard. There are no tricks. You don’t have to pay for it because Jesus did that for you!
1) You must realize you have a need for a savior.
Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
2) There is a price for your sin.
Romans 6: 23 “For the wages of sin is death…..”
3) God loves you and paid for your sin!
Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
4) Christ offers you the gift of LIFE.
Romans 6:23 “….but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
5) You need to repent and receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
Romans 10: 9,13 “that if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and
believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
For everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved.”
6) God calls you to Holiness of life.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 “May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you
through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and
He will do it.”
Pray the Sinner’s Prayer
Dear Lord,
I acknowledge that I am a sinner and that there is nothing I can do to remedy my sin problem on my own. I believe that you died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin. I am placing my complete confidence in you for eternal life. Thank you for forgiving my sin. Thank you for coming into my life. Thank you for giving me eternal life. help me to turn from my sin and live for you!
That’s it. It is so simple. God is so gracious! He loves you. Once you have accepted Jesus you need to find a church family so you can continue to grow in your faith.
At some point, you will need to make this decision public. Stepping out in that aisle and walking its length to profess your faith in Jesus is the most scary thing you will ever do. You’ll be thinking that these people KNOW what a sinner you are! That they know you have been the most terrible person ever.
But you would be wrong!! They are rejoicing! You are the prodigal! You have returned to the fold. The very angels in heaven are singing choruses of hallelujahs!
So, when the time comes to step out. Do so in faith. Do so knowing that the already saved children of God are truly rejoicing that you have come home where you always belonged!
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If you have prayed the sinner’s prayer I would love for you to leave a comment. I would love to welcome you to the family of God!
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