God Has the Final Word

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.” (Romans 1:18-23 ESV)

God, in his infinite wisdom, chose to reveal himself to all humankind through his created works so that we are all without excuse if we refuse him in favor of the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. Thus, we can see the power and wisdom and glory of God in all of his creation, if we are willing to see God for who he truly is.

But if, although we can see who God is in what he has revealed to us, we do not honor him as Almighty God, the creator of the universe, and we do not give him thanks, but we become foolish in mind and heart and behavior, instead, and we end up worshiping the created rather than the creator, by our life choices, then his wrath is against us. For if we choose the path of sin and adultery and idolatry and sexual sin and lying, cheating, and stealing, then by our unrighteousness we therefore suppress the truth that we know.

But we have a choice! God has given us that choice to choose him by him revealing himself to us. But if we choose to follow the ways of the world and of the flesh and of selfish desire, and to make other humans our idols, in place of God, or to make sin our practice, and not godliness, and not holiness, and not obedience to our Lord via God-persuaded faith in him, then even if we profess to know him intimately, and we claim to be in fellowship with him, his word says that we are liars who don’t live by the truth.

“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.” (Romans 1:24-25 ESV)

God will not force his will upon us. He will give us all the opportunity to honor him as God, but if we suppress the truth we know of him, in favor of the lies, he will let us go, at least for a while, until he decides that it is time to pour out his wrath on all who chose their sins over him, or until he knows that our hearts are ready to receive him and to follow him and to honor him, and then he will call out to us to repent and to follow him in obedience to his commands and to be his servants in doing what he has called us to do.

But please know that if you choose sin over God, even if you profess to know him, that you will not have eternal life with God unless you repent and you now choose to follow him with your lives. Also know that when you sin, you are not sinning only against God, but you are sinning against other humans who you are supposed to love, perhaps even your spouses and your children or your parents. That will crush them in spirit. So you don’t sin to yourself alone. What you do and how you act impacts the people around you, too.

For if you sin sexually, the sin is not just against God, but it is against your spouse, or perhaps against your children, too, and it is against the person you are sinning with, even if it is with yourself, and even if it is just in your own imagination in your fantasies about someone. For when you lust after another to whom you are not married, or even if you lust after your spouse in ways which are dishonorable to him/her, then you are degrading that other person and you are treating them like dirt for you to stomp on.

The first sins mentioned in verses 26-32 have to do with homosexual relationships. God does not approve of homosexual relationships. For he created man and woman to be the ones joined together as one. Marriage is to be between a man and a woman. But when a man or a woman prefers sex with the same sex, that is dishonoring to God. And I believe that includes anyone choosing sex with themselves over sex with their spouses, which may also include the use of same sex pornography. 

But this passage of Scripture is not limited to sexual sin or just to homosexual sin, but it includes a whole list of sins which are committed by those who reject the Lord in favor of their sinful appetites. And these include covetousness, malice, envy, murder, deceit, gossip, slander, haters of God, the insolent, haughty, inventors of evil, the foolish, heartless, and ruthless, etc. And it concludes with: 

“Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” (Romans 1:32 ESV)

And that is a very sad reality. For many who commit such atrocities absolutely know better, and they know what the Scriptures teach, that if sin is what we practice, and not righteousness, and not obedience to our Lord, that we will die in our sins. We will not have eternal life with God, regardless of what our lips profess. But they deny the truth that they know so that they can continue in their sinful practices without feeling guilty and while claiming that they have eternal life with God. But God has the final word!!

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]

My Sheep  

An Original Work / June 24, 2012  

Based off John 10:1-30 NIV

My sheep hear me. They know me.

They listen to my voice and obey.

I call them and lead them.

They know my voice, so they follow me.

They will never follow strangers.

They will run away from them.

The voice of a stranger they know not;

They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that

I am the gate, so you enter in.

Whoever does enter

Will find forgiveness and will be saved.

Nonetheless whoever enters

Not by the gate; other way,

He is the thief and a robber.

Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,

Who laid his own life down for the sheep.

I know them. They know me.

They will live with me eternally.

The thief only comes to steal and

Kill and to destroy the church.

I have come to give you life that

You may have it to the full… 

They know my voice, so they follow me.

https://vimeo.com/114938263