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."

Sunday, November 27, 2022

People Plunging into Ruin and Destruction

1 Timothy 6:3-5 ESV

 

“If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.”

 

Such a “different doctrine” as what is described here is what is permeating today’s church here in America, and perhaps in other nations, too. Not everyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ has bought into this “different doctrine,” but it appears the majority have. It is based loosely in the true gospel of Christ, but many Scriptures are taught out of context and twisted to make them say what the Scriptures do not teach. And many Scriptures and their contexts are completely ignored on purpose.

 

This “different doctrine” is a creation in the minds of human flesh and it is created to appeal to human flesh and to the people of the world (to the ungodly). For its intended purpose is not to offend the ungodly with the truth of the gospel, for they are trying to attract the people of the world to their gatherings, and they want them to come back. And so they teach them a humanistic faith in Jesus which makes no requirements for genuine repentance nor for walks of obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

So they tell them if they just acknowledge who Jesus is and what he did for us on that cross, or if they repeat some words after someone in a prayer, or if they profess with their lips that Jesus is Lord, or claim that they have faith in him, or if they just accept his grace or his affection for them, then they are now his and salvation is theirs and heaven is their eternal destiny. And if they should continue in sin, and if they should feel guilty, they are being taught to just claim who they are in Christ to erase the guilt for their sins.

 

And so we have many people making professions of faith in Jesus Christ who are lovers of intoxication to sin, and so they have continued in deliberate and habitual sin, many of them without conscience. They have not been crucified with Christ in death to sin, and thus they have not been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him. So they are still living in sin while they are claiming they have salvation from sin, Jesus as their Lord, and heaven as their eternal destiny, regardless of how they live.

 

Their hearts have not been transformed of the Spirit of God for their hearts are still hard against the Lord and against submitting to Christ as Lord and against surrendering their lives to Christ and dying with him to sin and walking in holiness and in righteousness, in the power of God. Some of them may make attempts at behavioral modification but they are still the ones in the driver’s seat. They are still the ones controlling their own lives. So they are void of the Holy Spirit because they won’t yield to God’s control.

 

Yet, this is what they are offering to God and expecting God to accept and to grant them his grace and forgiveness. But they are not humbling themselves before the Lord, they are not repentant of their sins, and they are not willing to forsake their sins in order to follow the Lord in obedience. And so they end up destroying their lives because they refuse to bow the knee to God in full surrender. For their sin is their god. Their god is their belly. And their bellies are their fleshly desires which are ruling their lives instead of God.

 

1 Timothy 6:6-10 ESV

 

“But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”

 

Now this is not just about money. And this is not an issue just for the wealthy. This has to do with greed, and that comes in all sorts of forms. Even poor people can be full of greed and the lusts of the flesh. It isn’t just the rich who fall into temptation, into a snare, and into many senseless and harmful desires which plunge people into ruin and destruction. This is about lusting after the things of the flesh and craving them instead of desiring God and his righteousness. For the greedy make the flesh their god.

 

A lot of these sins, though, end up being hidden. They are secret sins which are carried out when no one else is looking. And those who are trapped in these secret sins will often lie to cover them up, or they will perform in certain ways which indicate that they are trying to mask something that they are doing. But these sinful practices and the lies to cover them up will sometimes be revealed in their eyes, in their body language, in the words that they speak, in their attitudes, and in their actions.

 

So, it is through craving the sinful passions of the flesh that many have fallen into many senseless and harmful desires. One of the main ones that always comes to mind, because it is prominent in most all the lists of sins in the New Testament, and because it is prominent in our society and in the church today, is that of sexual immorality. Pornography viewing and addiction are a huge issue among Christians (or professing Christians) today, even now including women and children, and even many pastors are involved in this, too. But it is predominantly a male sin issue.

 

And what many of them will not accept, because the “different gospel” does not teach this, is that if we choose to walk in sin, to make sin our practice, to continue in deliberate and habitual sin and not in walks of obedience to our Lord in holiness and in righteousness, we do not know God and he does not know us. We are not born of God but we are of the devil. And we do not have salvation from sin and we do not have eternal life with God unless we repent of our sins and we bow the knee to God and we obey our Lord.

 

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

1 Timothy 6:11-12 (read through to v. 16) ESV

 

“But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

 

Jesus Christ came to earth to die on a cross to deliver us from our slavery (addiction) to sin so we would now be slaves of God and of his righteousness, so we would now walk in holiness and in righteousness in walks of obedient faith in Lord, and so we would no longer walk in sin. So when we believe in Jesus we are to no longer live as slaves to sin to where we obey sin but not God. But we are to flee from sinful practices and now live as servants of our Lord who are here to do his will.

 

Therefore, righteousness, godliness, love, and steadfastness of faith in our Lord are to be what we practice. They are to be how we live our lives day in and day out. This is not saying we will never sin or that we will be absolutely perfect, but what this is saying is that sin should no longer have mastery over our lives. Sin should not be our habit. Righteousness should be our practice. So to fight the good fight of faith is to flee from sin and to now walk in holiness by faith in Jesus Christ, in the power of God’s Spirit.

 

Mary, Did You Know?

 

Songwriters: Greene Lee Rufus / Lowry Mark Alan

 

Mary, did you know that your baby boy

Would one day walk on water?

Mary, did you know that your baby boy

Would save our sons and daughters?

Did you know that your baby boy

Has come to make you new?

This child that you delivered, will soon deliver you

 

Mary, did you know that your baby boy

Is Lord of all creation?

Mary, did you know that your baby boy

Would one day rule the nations?

Did you know that your baby boy

Is heaven's perfect Lamb?

That sleeping child you're

Holding is the great, I Am

 

Mary, did you know?

 

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