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."

Thursday, December 2, 2021

Don't Put Christ to the Test

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.”

 

This is a lot like the church today, at least here in America, which has largely gone the way of the world and has partnered with the government (the state), and with the world, and with big business, and is now marketing the gatherings of the church like any other commodity, appealing to the likes and dislikes of the people, supplying them with what they hunger after.

 

And since they are trying to sell “the church” to the world, they have also altered (adulterated) the gospel of Jesus Christ to make it more palatable to the people of the world and to the flesh of humans. So, they are teaching a cheap grace gospel that makes no demands on the “believer” to change his lifestyle, but which teaches that Jesus does it all and we do nothing.

 

But in America, we all have access to the Scriptures. They sell them so many different places, and some people give them away, and they can be found all over the internet in various places, so no one can claim they didn’t know. We can all go to the Scriptures and read them for ourselves and we can learn what they teach about our salvation and eternal life with God.

 

Anyone who reads the Scriptures (in context) will see that God’s will for us has not changed. His moral standards have not changed. Old or New Testament, the message is still the same. We must leave our lives of sin behind us, be changed in heart and mind of God, and follow Jesus in obedience to his commands (New Covenant) in his power.

 

If we do not, if we decide we like the cheap grace gospel better, for it makes no demands on us to change, and it promises us forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God regardless of how much or how many times we sin from that point forward, and so we continue in deliberate and premeditated and habitual sin against God, then we must know that the Scriptures teach that we will not have eternal life with God, for God is not pleased.

 

Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Ro 2:6-8; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Matt 7:21-23; Heb 10:26-27

 

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.”

 

Just because we are under grace and we are not under the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, and purification laws that the Jews of old had to follow, it does not mean God’s moral requirements have changed. It does not mean God will not punish unrepentant, deliberate, and habitual sin. He will. It doesn’t matter if we say “Lord, Lord.” He will tell us, “Depart from me you workers of iniquity. I never knew you!”

 

Read the Scriptures I referenced above. Read them in their context. The Bible does not teach that you can “believe” in Jesus, have your sins forgiven, and have heaven guaranteed you, and that you can go on living just like you did before you “believed.” The Scriptures teach the opposite of that, all over the New Testament!

 

That is why we have this passage of Scripture here in 1 Corinthians 10, to let us know that God still sees sin in the same way as he did back then, and that if we do what many of the Jews did during their years of wandering in the wilderness, and we ignore God’s commands, and we rebel against his moral standards, and we choose the flesh over God, we will die in our sins.

 

And the things they did then are the same primary things that probably the majority of people professing the name of Jesus in America today are doing. They are idolaters, adulterers, those engaged in sexual immorality, and in sexual deviant behaviors, and they are those who are engaged in drunkenness and in intoxication to sin and revelry, and many are indeed putting God to the test, for they know what the Scriptures teach and yet they defy them and they dare God to make good on his threats.

 

For, it is clear from this passage alone that if we practice the kinds of sins they were practicing that it is not going to end well for us. Heaven is not going to be what awaits us on the other end. But we will burn for eternity in the fires of hell. Again, go back and read those Scriptures referenced in their context and let the truth of God’s word sink into your minds and hearts, and please take the Word of God seriously, for God means business.

 

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.”

 

A lot of people are professing faith in Jesus Christ who are living in slavery (bondage, addiction) to sin. Addiction to sin is not a sickness. It is not something you can conquer via support groups where they tell you that you will always be an addict and where you gather weekly with a bunch of other addicts in order to confess your sins.

 

The only way to freedom from addiction to sin is through the cross of Christ, and that cross means death to sin, not just Jesus putting sin to death on that cross for us, but us dying with him to sin and living to him and to his righteousness. This is the way of escape Jesus made for us and if we don’t take it, then we won’t find true freedom from slavery to sin.

 

Many people claiming faith in Jesus Christ never get victory over their sinful addictions, number one, because they do not want to give up their sin, but also because they refuse to take the way out that Jesus provided for us with his death and resurrection. So, we have to say “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly lusts, and we have to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives, in the power of God, if we are going to have eternal life with God.

 

Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:19-20; 2 Co 5:15; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10

 

There’s a Stirring

 

By Annie Herring

 

There's a stirring deep within me
Could it be my time has come
When I'll see my gracious savior face to face when all is done
Is that his voice I am hearing?
'Come away, my precious one'
Is he calling me?
Is he calling me?

I will rise up, rise up
And bow down
And lay my crown
At his wounded feet

Is that His voice I am hearing?
'Come away, my precious one'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yocTjkB6hV8

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