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."

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Wise in Own Eyes

Isaiah 5:18-19 ESV

 

“Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood,

    who draw sin as with cart ropes,

who say: ‘Let him be quick,

    let him speed his work

    that we may see it;

let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near,

    and let it come, that we may know it!’”

 

There is an old hymn written by A. B. Simpson called, “A Missionary Cry,” and the words speak of a hundred thousand souls of people a day passing to their doom. The Lord put this hymn in my mind, only the words I was hearing in my mind were, “They’re marching to their doom.” And there is a definite distinction between “passing” and “marching,” for those who are marching are walking (in conduct) quickly and with full determination.

 

And this fits with this passage of Scripture, for this is speaking of people who openly pile sin upon sin and who scoff at God. So they are those who are not only drawn into sin but they are actively and diligently drawing sin to themselves, and themselves to sin. And they do this via the lies which they tell themselves and others, and via the excuses they make for themselves, and via their deceptive arguments they use to defend their own actions.

 

And they live in open rebellion against God and against his commands (New Covenant), and they defy him, and they mock him and his word, and his servants, too. Yet, they may pretend to be followers of Christ and that they are hearing from the Lord and that they are following his counsel only to do the exact opposite of what his word teaches, and in deliberate and habitual sin against him and against other humans, without conscience or remorse.

 

Isaiah 5:20 ESV

 

“Woe to those who call evil good

    and good evil,

who put darkness for light

    and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet

    and sweet for bitter!”

 

Now this is happening a lot within today’s modern market-driven and flesh-driven businesses called “church.” For the majority of them are teaching a cheapened and altered gospel of Christ which is a half-truth gospel based largely in Scriptures which are being taught outside their context, and outside the context of the whole of the New Testament, and they are twisting and they are making those verses say what they do not say.

 

And so they have turned the gospel upside down, and they are teaching God’s grace as though it is just God forgiving us our sins so that when we die we are guaranteed heaven as our eternal destiny. And they are willfully omitting or they are teaching against God’s requirements for repentance (turning away from our sin) and for obedience to his commands (New Covenant), and for submission to him as Lord (Owner-Master) of our lives.

 

And so many of them are teaching that if we teach repentance and obedience to the Lord as part of saving faith that we are teaching works-based salvation which they say is wrong. And so they are teaching that no works are required at all as part of our salvation, including no repentance, no obedience, and no submission to Christ as Lord. So if you continue in sinful rebellion against God, that is being spoken of as though it is good.

 

Isaiah 5:21-23 ESV

 

“Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,

    and shrewd in their own sight!

Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,

    and valiant men in mixing strong drink,

who acquit the guilty for a bribe,

    and deprive the innocent of his right!”

 

So, what we have going in today’s modern market-driven “churches” is a lot of false teaching, and many people making false professions of faith in Jesus Christ, based on the lies they are being taught. And so we have a whole bunch of professers of faith in Christ who are not living much differently from those who make no profession of faith in Jesus. For they do and say and watch all the same things the ungodly do and say and watch.

 

And we have many people professing faith in Jesus Christ who are wise in their own eyes, but not with the wisdom of God, but with the wisdom of the flesh. Many of them are cunning and crafty and manipulative who find ways around obedience to the Lord, making pretenses of having a relationship with Jesus Christ while living the opposite of that profession. Many of them know the truth, too, but they deny the truth by their practices (habits).

 

And they are still addicted to sin, some to sexual sin, and some to drunkenness, and some to stealing, or to adultery, or to lying, or to cheating, or to gossiping, or to drugs, or to porn, or to watching sensual movies, etc. For you can be drunk on more things than just wine. You can be intoxicated to all sorts of different sins, and they can be your gods, your idols, instead of the one true God. And so you want to keep your sins.

 

Those who are addicted to such sins as these care nothing for what they are doing to others in the process. And for some people, their sins are that they deliberately and habitually sin against other humans in ways that they know are hurting them and that are causing them harm and yet they do it anyway, and despite their cries or their appeals for mercy. They give them no mercy because they want to inflict them with harm.

 

And let me tell you something here husband or wife. When you deliberately and habitually engage yourselves in sexual sin, whether it is in lusting after others, or if it is looking at porn, or if it is via self-gratification or via romantic or sexual affairs or light flirtations with one to whom you are not married, and if you do so especially against the pleas of your spouse to stop, you are murdering your spouse, for that is hate, and hate is murder.

 

And then if you put on a show of righteousness, and pretend that you are a good Christian, and that you are in relationship with Jesus Christ, and that you are in fellowship with God, and that he is hearing your prayers, and so you have convinced yourselves that he is speaking to you words of encouragement, and that your sins are all forgiven, and that you are on your way to heaven, then please read what the Scriptures teach.

 

For the Scriptures do not teach that you can live in open rebellion against the Lord in deliberate and habitual and premeditated sin against God and against others, including your spouses and/or children, and then claim to be in fellowship with God. In fact, it says in 1 John 1 that if we claim to be in fellowship with God, but while we walk (in conduct, in practice) in sin, that we are liars who do not live by the truth.

 

And that is not the only place where it says such things. Paul taught that much, that we can’t claim to be in Christ and yet live in deliberate and habitual sin against our Lord and while we do not obey him and his commands. For if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, we will not inherit eternal life with God regardless of what our tongues confess. Please believe this!

 

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:26-27; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

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.

 

https://vimeo.com/287303934

No comments: