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- Dec 18, 2008
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It seems the message I hear from some churches today is... "eh, you sinned, don't worry about it. Just forget about it." After all God removes our sins as far as the east is from the west right?
... and yet, I find a theme through the Bible, I will start with the New Testament here.
Jas 4:5; Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"?
Jas 4:6; But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."
Jas 4:7; Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Jas 4:8; Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Jas 4:9; Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.
Jas 4:10; Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
We all know and quote the scripture here. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. But usually we tend to leave out the "Submit therefore to God" part of it.
Cleanse your hands.. "you sinners". Purify your hearts... Then James says... be miserable and mourn and weep. Laughter and joy should be turned into mourning and gloom.
When you sin.. do you just sweep it under the rug, and move on the next thing quickly? Or do you stop and think about it. Does your pride not allow you to be sorry for what you've done?
Do you ever stop and contemplate your sin. Do you hate it? Do you hate hate it like God hates it? Do you hurt over it? Does it make you miserable? Do you weep and mourn over it?
Does it make you humble? Does knowing you sinned make you more humble before God?
1Cor 5:1; It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father's wife.
1Cor 5:2; You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.
We all know this story as well, a man is sleeping with presumably his step-mother. His father's wife. And the church appears to be OK with it. Paul says you have become arrogant!!
Why aren't you mourning for this instead? Why doesn't this hurt your soul? Your conscience? This person is a member of the church, when they sin.. it should hurt you, and you should hurt for them.
2Cor 12:20; For I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you to be not what I wish and may be found by you to be not what you wish; that perhaps there will be strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances;
2Cor 12:21; I am afraid that when I come again my God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have sinned in the past and not repented of the impurity, immorality and sensuality which they have practiced.
We move from the 1st letter to the church at Corinth, to the 2nd letter here. Paul says, he is afraid he will find people in the church, "who have not repented of..." .. and he says I may mourn for them.
Paul loves these people. He hurts for them. He mourns for their sins. Even though he himself is not the one committing these sins, he hurts for those who are.
2Cor 7:9; I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.
2Cor 7:10; For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.
2Cor 7:11; For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter.
Are you sorrowful? Sorrowful to the point of repentance? This sorrowful repentance leads to salvation. There is a difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow. Typically someone is sorry for the trouble they caused, but that
is different from hurting simply because of the fact that you sinned. What has happened to us? How have we become so calloused? Why are we so comfortable with sin these days? Why aren't we on our knees, crying, hurting,
being truly sorrow from our hearts for sin.
In the old Testament, there was a prophet named Jeremiah.. he was known as "the crying prophet". Do you want to know why he was called this? Have you ever read the book?
God said his people had turned away from Him and He was going to pronounce judgment on them. Jeremiah hurt for these people. He mourned for them, he mourned for their sins.
There was also a Gentile city called Nineveh. God sent Jonah there. We know the story... Jonah and the whale. But what did these Gentiles do when they heard what Jonah had to say?
Jon 3:7; He issued a proclamation and it said, "In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water.
Jon 3:8; "But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands.
Jon 3:9; "Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish."
Jon 3:10; When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.
They fasted, and dressed themselves in sackcloth and ashes. They turned form their wicked ways. They humbled themselves... and then.. and only then... God relented and did not punish them.
... to be continued ...
... and yet, I find a theme through the Bible, I will start with the New Testament here.
Jas 4:5; Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"?
Jas 4:6; But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."
Jas 4:7; Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Jas 4:8; Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Jas 4:9; Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.
Jas 4:10; Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
We all know and quote the scripture here. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. But usually we tend to leave out the "Submit therefore to God" part of it.
Cleanse your hands.. "you sinners". Purify your hearts... Then James says... be miserable and mourn and weep. Laughter and joy should be turned into mourning and gloom.
When you sin.. do you just sweep it under the rug, and move on the next thing quickly? Or do you stop and think about it. Does your pride not allow you to be sorry for what you've done?
Do you ever stop and contemplate your sin. Do you hate it? Do you hate hate it like God hates it? Do you hurt over it? Does it make you miserable? Do you weep and mourn over it?
Does it make you humble? Does knowing you sinned make you more humble before God?
1Cor 5:1; It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father's wife.
1Cor 5:2; You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.
We all know this story as well, a man is sleeping with presumably his step-mother. His father's wife. And the church appears to be OK with it. Paul says you have become arrogant!!
Why aren't you mourning for this instead? Why doesn't this hurt your soul? Your conscience? This person is a member of the church, when they sin.. it should hurt you, and you should hurt for them.
2Cor 12:20; For I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you to be not what I wish and may be found by you to be not what you wish; that perhaps there will be strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances;
2Cor 12:21; I am afraid that when I come again my God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have sinned in the past and not repented of the impurity, immorality and sensuality which they have practiced.
We move from the 1st letter to the church at Corinth, to the 2nd letter here. Paul says, he is afraid he will find people in the church, "who have not repented of..." .. and he says I may mourn for them.
Paul loves these people. He hurts for them. He mourns for their sins. Even though he himself is not the one committing these sins, he hurts for those who are.
2Cor 7:9; I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.
2Cor 7:10; For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.
2Cor 7:11; For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter.
Are you sorrowful? Sorrowful to the point of repentance? This sorrowful repentance leads to salvation. There is a difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow. Typically someone is sorry for the trouble they caused, but that
is different from hurting simply because of the fact that you sinned. What has happened to us? How have we become so calloused? Why are we so comfortable with sin these days? Why aren't we on our knees, crying, hurting,
being truly sorrow from our hearts for sin.
In the old Testament, there was a prophet named Jeremiah.. he was known as "the crying prophet". Do you want to know why he was called this? Have you ever read the book?
God said his people had turned away from Him and He was going to pronounce judgment on them. Jeremiah hurt for these people. He mourned for them, he mourned for their sins.
There was also a Gentile city called Nineveh. God sent Jonah there. We know the story... Jonah and the whale. But what did these Gentiles do when they heard what Jonah had to say?
Jon 3:7; He issued a proclamation and it said, "In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water.
Jon 3:8; "But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands.
Jon 3:9; "Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish."
Jon 3:10; When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.
They fasted, and dressed themselves in sackcloth and ashes. They turned form their wicked ways. They humbled themselves... and then.. and only then... God relented and did not punish them.
... to be continued ...
