Too often people think of sin as a mistake or poor judgement, but to a Holy God sin is a big deal. Too often when people that get caught in a sin they casually reply, "oh, sorry". There is no sorrow from the heart, no desire to change. They do not see themselves guilty before God, sometimes they are sorry they got caught, sometimes because everybody else does it they don't feel bad. Too often people reason that God expects us to sin, so it can't be that important. Remember King David and Bathsheba? That's right, King David took the beautiful Bathsheba as his wife by having her husband killed. David sinned big time, and after a year God sent his prophet Nathan to confront David and point out the king's sin. David wrote Psalm 51 as a repentance song. Notice how David confessed, read the sorrow from the heart. How he acknowledged that the sin was foremost a sin against God himself. Here are a few verses of that Psalm. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. Verses 1-4 Cleanse me with hyssop and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Verses 7-10 So, what is true repentance? Because God is holy, sin is bad, very bad. It is not a simple mistake, but a sin against a holy God. True repentance is a heartfelt sorrow in committing a wrong and then a deep desire to right the wrong if possible. True repentance brings a change of heart so that you will not do the wrong again.
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No this passage is not saying that we should never judge others. When Jesus declared , “Do not judge, or you to will be judged”, He was forbidding a judgmental, critical attitude that reads wrong motives into what others do and views their actions in the worst possible light. Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Galatians 6:1 Paul was telling the people in the church that it is their responsibility to watch over each other so if one sins the church can bring the sinful Christian back to spiritual fellowship. Notice that the people who judge, do so gently. We must evaluate the beliefs and actions of spiritual leaders to judge for ourselves whether they are truly God’s servants. Does what they teach agree with the Bible and do they live according to God’s plan for all of us. Judging others is wrong when it stems from a self-righteous attitude, reveals a critical spirit or presumptuously interprets motives. But judging is right and helpful when it flows from proper motives, when it uses God’s Word as the standard and when it leads to corrective action. Yes, God can put your marriage back together by filling the husband and wife with His love so you can love each other. Also with guidance found in His Word. By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. Proverbs 24:3 A marriage is something that is built, it doesn’t happen by magic. It takes time and knowledge. You don’t find that knowledge watching a sitcom on T.V., but by someone who knows, God Himself. Adam and Eve had the perfect marriage until sin came on the scene. It corrupted all relationships, making all husbands and wives self-centered in their marriage. The first thing to be aware of is that we are all born into sin and Satan enjoys dividing couples. God on the other hand wants your marriage to be a great marriage. Both husband and wife must long for a loving relationship with God and trust Him to put your marriage back together. Pray together, read the Bible and go to church together. For a marriage to succeed you must understand how God designed men and women to relate to each other. Husbands must learn what it means to care for and sacrificially love their wives. You work hard at a job that you might not like; you clean the garage because that is something your wife thinks is important. It’s asking her how her day was and then listening when she explains how frustrating work was. Wives must learn what it means to honor their husbands. Recognize that God created man to be the Godly leader in the home and wives need to help their husbands be that leader. It’s a foolish man that doesn’t ask his wife for her input on important issues that come up in any home. But it is a selfish wife that argues and demands her own way when the husband decides something she disagrees with. That doesn’t mean that a man can just boss his wife around. A wise husband will know when her idea is better than his own and when she is right and he is wrong. When we get married, often there is a mindset of how this marriage is going to make me happy. That, however, produces an unhappy marriage for both spouses. Instead, the thinking needs to be, how can I glorify Christ by serving my spouse. If she needs a date night, plan something nice and go take her someplace special. It does not matter if things are tough at work and you’re all stressed out; your wife really would enjoy a night out. If his favorite meal is lasagna, make him lasagna. Yes, it is difficult to make, but take some extra time to make it. Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life… 1 Peter 3:7 The Webster Dictionary divines ‘considerate’ as being thoughtful of the rights and feelings of others. It is easy for women to be hurt, so men need to be considerate. Do not raise your voice or put down your wife. Be calm and try to approach the situation from her perspective. Wrong, Satan and his demons all believe in God and they are not going to heaven. You say that you are a good person; the problem with that is that you are comparing yourself to other people, sinful people. What is required of you to go to heaven is a comparison to God himself. A perfect God, a holy God. If you can say honestly that you are as holy as God, then yes, you can go to heaven when you die. Everyone is sinful, all of us have lied, hated others, been prideful. Look at what God says about our condition. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23 So, mankind has a problem, nobody is perfect, everybody has sin in his life. How does anyone get to heaven? God in His holiness judges sin and our punishment for our sin is hell. And that is where Jesus fits in; Jesus took that punishment for us when He died on the cross. Someone had to be punished and Jesus was willing to pay the penalty for our sin. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17 And when Jesus rose from the grave, He conquered sin once and for all. Then everybody gets to go to heaven, right? Wrong, God does not want to force people to heaven but gives salvation to all who ask for it. Here’s what you need to pray. 1. Believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that he took the penalty for your sins on the cross, then rose from the dead and is living in heaven with God the Father. 2. Confess that you are a sinner and that you are sorry for your sins. 3. Ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins. 4. Ask Jesus into your heart so that he can be the Lord of your life. This is what happen; instead of you taking the punishment for your sins, Jesus did. When you die and stand before a holy God, He will not see any sin that would block your way into heaven, only a person clean from sin. God says in the Bible that He wants to prosper us and make the lives of Christians better. But I know of Christians who have terrible lives. Is God forgetting His promise? For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 Whenever you read a Bible passage you need to understand something; all of scripture is useful for us but not all is written to us. Jeremiah 29:11 was written to Israel at a time when God’s people were not honoring God. Jeremiah was pleading to the people to come back to God so that God can, once again, bless His people. This passage reminds us that we serve a loving God, but that verse was written to the people of Israel. Today God is more concerned about our spiritual walk with Him, than worldly possessions. Most of all, whether rich or poor, sick or healthy we need to make sure that God is glorified in our lives. …though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:6b-7 For those who would ask that question I believe your Christianity is very self-centered. The most important reason to go to church is to worship and praise God. Going to church is to be God centered, our focus is God because He is worthy of our praise. It is important for the body of Christ together to worship a holy and almighty God. You are disappointed with church because you have been hurt by someone at church, or maybe you thought the sermons were boring, or nobody cares about you. Did you notice how many times the word “you” was mentioned in the last sentence? Think about it… your Christianity is self-centered. Praise the Lord. I will extol the Lord with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly. Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them. Psalm 111:1-2 Another reason for the church is to minister and encourage one another. Teach a 3rd grade Sunday School class, be on the outreach committee, help organize a food drive or visit one of the church members that is in a nursing home. Be God’s hands and feet. Remember… you’re switching from self-centered to God centered. The last reason to go to church is to get spiritually recharged. Everything, including your Christianity, will run down over time. Going to church keeps your spiritual life running smooth. It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13 You’re thankful that Jesus paid the penalty for your sins on the cross. You’re happy that you will spend eternity in heaven. But you can’t seem to find any joy here on earth. It doesn’t make any sense. Christians are supposed to be happy. We live in a sinful world, a broken world, a world where a perfect relationship with God is in the future and in a different place called heaven. Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 2 Corinthians 5:1-4 Some are living the Christian life right, but are sad because of a personality type and that’s OK. Some are unhappy because of certain choices. There are Christians who think they can do life alone. We need each other. We need to encourage and be encouraged, we need to serve and be served. We need to connect with one another. We are happier together than when we are apart. Are you reading and meditating on the Word of God? Look up Bible verses with the words joy or rejoice in them. How’s your prayer life? Ask God to bring joy into your life; not to the point of laughing all the time or walking around with a grin on your face but a heart of peace and a mindset of ‘God is good’. Have you thought about the character of God? God is love, merciful, powerful…(keep going). Are you listening to Christian music? Are your thoughts negative or positive? Your emotions, most of the time, will follow your thinking. Do not give up hope, do not dwell on your own unhappiness. Find someone who needs your help or needs a friend and be that friend. TEACH OTHERS, PLEASE SHARE. What Satan wants most of all is to weaken Christians, to make them ineffective witness for Jesus Christ. It is true that Satan wants the ultimate destruction of all people, but he does not have to work that hard for those who have not asked Jesus to forgive them of their sins. They are already going to be punished in hell. It’s those Christians, the children of God that Satan is focused on. Satan works very hard at convincing Christians not to take the Word of God seriously. If Satan can get Christians away from knowing Biblical truth, away from understanding how to live a life that pleases God, away from church where Christians can encourage teach, and serve one another, then it is very easy to make them shallow, self-serving and ineffective. Then sin is not such a big deal, but just a mistake or bad judgement. Or worse; it is not a sin at all. You can get drunk, just don’t do it often. Live together before marriage, everybody else does it so it can’t be wrong. Steal money out of the cash box at work; that’s fine as long as it’s under 10 bucks. And you can swear if it’s only 20 times a day. Satan knows that God uses the body of Christ, Christians, to bring Him glory and bring others to salvation through the work of Jesus. That can’t happen if His children do not know scripture, think praying is boring, and have no problem with sin. Yes, Satan tempts all people to sin, but nonbelievers are easy game. Satan really enjoys tempting Christians and is succeeding. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith… 1 Peter 5:8-9b Another way Satan weakens Christians is to plant false Christians among real ones. These false believers try to offer a false gospel to turn people’s hearts away from Jesus. These false Christians will also steer our minds away from the truthfulness of the Bible. Christians need to know His Word so well that when false teaching comes Christians will know that it is false. Unfortunately some of these false Christians teach at our colleges and write books that are read by millions. Christians need to question all teaching and compare that teaching with what is taught in the Bible. Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Acts 17:11 Christians need to realize that there is a spiritual battle going on. God wants strong, faithful and knowledgeable children and Satan wants weak, fearful and ignorant Christians. Satan does not want the world to know God and His plan of salvation, he does not want God to be honored by the love Christians share. So Satan fights and attacks Christians by convincing Christians that God is small and His Word is not needed. TEACH OTHERS, PLEASE SHARE. Here’s a scenario: Your 10 year old daughter has been hit by a car and is in critical condition. You pray for her life; your church prays for her healing. But she dies two days later. You are hurt and disappointed with God. After all, she was a good kid. She didn’t have to die. It wasn’t her fault. Why didn’t God answer your prayers? Where was He, and why didn’t He heal her? Is God even there? Does He care? God feels so very far away. The writer of Psalm 77 had some serious hurt and pain. The writers name was Asaph. Read what he was feeling. I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. When I was in distress, I sought the Lord at night I stretched out untiring hands and my soul refused to be comforted. 77:1-2 Asaph does not tell us the source of his pain, but we know he was in great distress. He feels that God has left him and he is very much alone. Will the Lord reject forever? Will He never show his favor again? Has His unfailing love vanished forever? Has His promise failed for all time? 77:7-8 Then Asaph does something that most people never think of. He puts aside the pain, the disappointment and the hurt. He stops and rethinks the situation; Asaph decides to think about the greatness of the God he loves. I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds. Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. 77:12-14 Asaph thought that prayer would solve his problem, take away the hurt. Prayer was never designed for that purpose. God designed prayer as an instrument of intimacy between Him and us. Before you pray, meditate on God, think on who God is, His holiness, His love for us. Focus on God Himself before you focus on what you want God to do. When we pray before meditating we put ourselves at the center of our prayers: I’m in trouble! I’m in pain! Sometimes we think we are in charge, not almighty God. We need to meditate on Bible passages that speak to us about God and who He is. Read this last statement very carefully… We need to allow God to be God and trust Him for the outcome of our lives, whether good or bad. TEACH OTHERS, PLEASE SHARE. A personal God created the heavens and the earth. He also created man in His own image and had a perfect relationship with him. When Adam and Eve rebelled against God, they brought in sin to all of mankind and creation. That relationship was broken. However, God promised to make all these things right and gave His word that He would send a Savior, or Messiah, who would deliver mankind from the bondage of sin. God’s Word did indeed come true. God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ. He was fully human and fully God. Jesus took the punishment for man’s sins and rose from the dead so that man’s sin could be judged by a holy God. Being the perfect righteous God man, Jesus was the only one who could take the punishment for mankind’s sin. This was God’s perfect plan. No other plan works because it was not from God. If mankind could have reached God any other way, then Jesus would not be God and would not have had to die. Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name (Jesus) under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12 |
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