Isaiah 3:8-9 ESV
“For Jerusalem has stumbled,
and Judah has fallen,
because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord,
defying his glorious presence.
“For the look on their faces bears witness against them;
they proclaim their sin like Sodom;
they do not hide it.
Woe to them!
For they have brought evil on themselves.”
Today in the gatherings of the church here in America it
appears we have few people who are following Jesus Christ in purity of devotion
to the Lord, who are walking according to the Spirit and not according to the
flesh, who have died and are dying daily to sin and who are walking in
obedience to the Lord’s commands as a matter of life practice.
It appears that the vast majority of those professing faith
in Jesus Christ today are accepting a more worldly and social gospel which
gives them more liberty to keep on in sin while claiming Jesus as Lord, and salvation
from sin, and eternal life with God. Some just think that how they live doesn’t
matter for eternity while others believe they should not obey the Lord at all.
Many have bought into a half-truth altered gospel message
which makes no demands for repentance, obedience, or submission to Christ as
Lord. Some may recommend walks of faith but not as required for salvation,
while others are opposed to us walking in obedience to the Lord, for they call
that works-based salvation, and so they claim Jesus does it all and they do
nothing.
Sin has always existed since Adam and Eve sinned in the
Garden of Eden, and sinful human beings have always engaged in sinful acts. But
this altered gospel is giving those professing faith in Jesus free liberty to
continue in deliberate and habitual sin with no requirements for repentance,
obedience, or submission to Jesus as Lord, so sin is running rampant in the
church.
So, basically this altered gospel which is now permeating
the gatherings of the church (or what is falsely called church) is against the
Lord, and it is against Jesus Christ and all that he stands for, and it is
against righteousness and holiness and godliness and purity of devotion to the
Lord and walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands.
And so it appears that the vast majority of those professing
faith in Jesus Christ are living lives habitually that are opposed to the Lord
and to his gospel and to his moral standards and his holiness and
righteousness. For they are engaged in all sorts of wickedness such as lust,
greed, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, self-gratification, porn
addiction, spousal and child abuse, lying, cheating, stealing, and faking
Christianity, etc.
And those who are addicted to lust, well lust has a way of
showing up in their faces, in their eyes in particular, and in their
countenances. Some may be good at hiding it, but many are not. They are so
captivated by lust and by immorality and sexual idolatry that they aren’t
thinking about what might be showing up in their faces. And some people don’t
care if it does.
And the diluted and altered cheap grace gospel makes no demands
for holiness and it gives free license to continue in sin, and so we have many
people living like the ungodly, as though Jesus never died to free them from slavery
to sin. And they are not worried, for they are convinced that all their sins
are forgiven and God won’t judge them for their sinful lifestyles and so heaven
is still guaranteed them for when they die. But this is a false hope.
Isaiah 3:10-11 ESV
“Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them,
for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.
Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him,
for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.”
The righteous are not those who are just positionally
righteous by faith in Jesus Christ but they are those who are living righteously
in obedience to the Lord. The wicked are also not just the unbelieving, i.e.
those professing no faith in Jesus Christ, but they are those who are living
wickedly by the things that they practice such as lying, cheating, and adultery.
So, when this says that it will be well with the righteous
but woe to the wicked for it will not go well for them, this is talking about
those living righteously or those living wickedly by what they do and how they
live. But this is not talking about self-righteousness but the righteousness of
God being lived out through our lives by obedient faith to our Lord.
And this is not just Old Testament teaching. The New
Testament teaches us the same. For we will all be judged by what we do, and if we
sow to please the flesh, from the flesh we will reap destruction. But if we sow
to please the Spirit, from the Spirit we will reap eternal life.
Isaiah 3:12 ESV
“My people—infants are their oppressors,
and women rule over them.
O my people, your guides mislead you
and they have swallowed up the course of your paths.”
God has designed it that men are supposed to be the ones
leading the church and the family spiritually. They are the ones responsible
for the spiritual growth and maturity of their congregations and their
households. But these men must be living lives above reproach in all holy and
righteous living and in purity of devotion to the Lord in faithful obedience.
Well, with the way things are today in the church, and with
the cheap grace gospel now permeating the gatherings of the church, statistics
have it that perhaps as high as 75% of Christian men and 35% to 50% of pastors
and elders are engaged regularly in sexual immorality, in particular porn
addiction or the regular viewing of pornographic images.
The church overall is on as massive spiritual and moral
decline. And so the number of truly godly men who are living lives above
reproach is nearly zero. And so marriages are falling apart and children are
getting involved in sexual sin, and families are breaking apart, too, and
children are being abused, and “Christian” families are largely living just
like the world.
And so the people of God are lacking for true spiritual male
leadership. Too many pastors have become clowns and entertainers and talk show
hosts and actors and motivational speakers who are not preaching under the
power of the Holy Spirit the truth of the gospel as Jesus taught it and as the
New Testament apostles taught it in the power of God.
And so the people are not being led by those who are telling
them the truth, for the most part, but they are being led by manipulators,
liars, thieves, used car salesmen (in personality), con artists and seducers
who are telling them that they can believe in Jesus and have heaven guaranteed
them but that they don’t have to forsake their sins or obey the Lord.
And so many professing Christians are not on the right path at
all for they are following these deceivers like they are pied pipers who are
leading them to their deaths. For they are promising them heaven while they are
sending them straight to hell, for they are telling them that their sins no
longer matter to God when they do, and they are telling them that God will not
judge them when he will.
So, please know this. The Scriptures teach that we must die
with Christ to sin, putting our sinful practices behind us, and that we must
walk in obedience to our Lord in doing what he says to do or that we don’t have
eternal life with God or forgiveness of sins. For faith in Jesus Christ is
obedience. It is action. It is doing the will of God (Matt 7:21-23).
[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; 1
Jn 1:5-9; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; 1 Co 15:58; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23]
Broken
Cord
An
Original Work / August 29, 2018
Your bond is broken
With your Lord and Savior
And, your testimony is
Separate from Him.
Your words not matching
Your actions today.
Repent of your sin and
Bow down and pray.
Live what you testify
In truth always.
Purity’s lacking in
Your life and witness,
For you profess one thing,
But other you do.
Not moral, spiritual.
Still of the flesh.
Not living in truth to
What you confess.
Lying about it
Puts you in a mess.
Living a lie is your practice,
‘tis true of you.
Masquerade righteousness –
None of it true.
Your heart is not given
To your Lord God.
Because of how you live,
You are a fraud.
Turn from your sin and
Give your life to God.
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