Habakkuk 2

Then the Lord replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay."

Saturday, April 17, 2021

Is God Pleased with You?

1 Corinthians 10:1-5 ESV

 

“For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.”

 

There are a lot of people today who have grown up attending church gatherings. Their parents claimed to be Christians, so they went to church gatherings with their parents. Some of them kept going to gatherings of the church even after they reached adulthood while others discontinued.

 

Also, here in America, Christianity is the primary religion. Over half of American citizens claim Christianity as their religion. Most people seem to have heard of Jesus Christ, though not all. And many of them, if you asked them, would say they believe in Jesus Christ, even if they do not practice that faith.

 

In America, too, the Christian faith is taught on TV, on the internet, on the radio and in church gatherings across the nation. And Bibles are readily available for people to read in libraries or in bookstores or here on the internet. Christian music is also widespread and easily accessed.

 

The Christian faith is largely regarded as acceptable in America, and the way it is practiced in today’s modern market-driven churches makes it largely accepted by the people of the world, too, for it is made to conform to the norms of society and to be socially agreeable.

 

Yet, just because someone claims Christianity as their religion or Jesus Christ as their Savior, or just because they attend regular gatherings of what is called “church,” it does not mean that they have a relationship with Almighty God or that they are saved from their sins or bound for heaven.

 

And that is because faith in Jesus Christ is not just words we say, but it is what we do. By faith in Jesus Christ, we die with Christ to sin so that we might live to Christ and to his righteousness, but not just once, but daily. But if we walk according to the flesh, living in sin, even if we profess Jesus with our lips, we will die in our sins, not have eternal life with God.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Gal 5:16-21]

 

1 Corinthians 10:6-10 ESV

 

“Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.’ We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.”

 

Most of the Jews who were delivered from slavery in Egypt never did make it into the promised land because they rebelled against God, and they worshiped idols, and they committed sexual immorality, and they tested God and grumbled against him, and they didn’t take God and his word seriously.

 

And they serve as examples to us who profess faith in Jesus Christ, who believe we have been delivered from our sins and that we are bound for heaven, for our “Promised Land.” And this is so that we will take God seriously and that we won’t engage in the evil practices that they did.

 

So, in what way do these things serve as examples to us, especially if we are now under grace? Well, if we understand that God’s grace delivers us from our slavery to sin so that we can now live as slaves of God and of his righteousness, and if we understand that if we continue living as slaves to sin, that we will die in our sins, then it makes sense (Rom 6:1-23).

 

And this is because faith in Jesus Christ leads us to surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, to leave our lifestyles of sin behind us, and to walk in obedience to his commands, and to continue in him, firm and steadfast until the very end of time on this earth.

 

So, if we rebel against God, and we follow after other “gods,” and we engage in deliberate sinful practices, and we live to ourselves, for our own sinful pleasure, and not for God, and not for his pleasure, even if we profess faith in Jesus Christ, we will die in our sins. We won’t have eternal life with God.

 

So, don’t play with sin and with idolatry and think you are still going to end up in heaven one day just because you professed faith in Jesus Christ.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 6:44; Jn 14:23-24; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10, 19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15, 21; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8]

 

1 Corinthians 10:11-13 ESV

 

“Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

 

So, don’t get this notion that just because you prayed a prayer one day to receive Christ, or just because you made a public and verbal confession of him as Lord, or just because you were baptized, or you joined a local body of fellowship, that you are saved and bound for heaven.

 

And even if you are presently walking according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, don’t get high minded thinking that you are so spiritual that you can’t fall back into sin. We all can fall back into sin if we are not guarded in our hearts and minds against temptation to sin.

 

Also, don’t fall into the lies which tell you that you can’t help it if you sin, or that you are preconditioned to sin and therefore sin is what you will do. Jesus Christ died for us on that cross to put sin to death so that we would no longer be slaves to sin but that we would be slaves to God and to his righteousness.

 

Jesus Christ made the way for us to be free from our slavery to sin. We just have to take the way he provided for us out from underneath giving in to temptation to sin. In the power of God’s Spirit living within us, we can say “No!” to sin and “Yes!” to God.

 

But we have to cooperate with God’s work of grace in our lives. We can’t play with sin or with sin’s temptations and then expect not to get burned. We must cut out of our lives all that is leading us into sin and we must put on that armor of God daily to fight off Satan’s evil attacks against us.

 

More Than Words

 

BETTENCOURT, NUNO / CHERONE, GARY F.

 

Saying I love you

Is not the words I want to hear from you

It's not that I want you

Not to say, but if you only knew

How easy it would be to show me how you feel…

 

Hold me close don't ever let me go

More than words is all you have to do to make it real

Then you wouldn't have to say that you love me

Cos I'd already know

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