Sin

Posted on by kevinjandt

asin

It has become abundantly clear to me that God hates all sin with such a passion that even the smallest, seemingly most insignificant, sins are an abomination to Him. His holiness is so intense and shines so brightly that even the slightest glimpse of His face would drop us dead on the spot. Does that seem a little extreme? I have no doubts Scripture teaches us this over and over again, yet we are mostly unwilling to hear it.

Sin is deceitful and it always coddles and subdues the vileness that it is to God. He is the standard of truth, the only true due north, that one can find their way. If we don’t believe everything He says and does is the standard of truth, then we are serving another god.

If sin is hated by God, shouldn’t it be hated by us?

We suffer from a low view of sin, because we have a low view of God.   To fully understand God’s view of sin, we must gain a more accurate view of God Himself. This is not easy. Our flesh fights against knowing God. The carnal mind is at enmity with God, and there is only one way to kill the carnal mind and that is to have it renewed through the Scriptures. We must be conformed to His will and not our own.

And he (speaking of Azariah) did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done, except that the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. Then the LORD struck the king, so that he was a leper until the day of his death; so he dwelt in an isolated house. – 2 Kings 15:3-5

God had clearly defined ways in which He is to be worshiped, but in his pride and arrogance Azariah usurped God’s authority. He decided it was okay to perform the priestly duties. Does this really seem like it’s a capital offense?   Azariah’s leprosy eventually killed him, in effect; God killed him through the disease that He gave him. God was offended and the punishment was death.

We see this cycle repeated over and over again in the life of the King’s of Israel, but to bring it closer to home, do we see this repeated in our lives? Do we see that our disobedience brings God displeasure and chastening?

How do we apply this seemingly, insignificant lesson to our lives, because talking about something that happened 2800 years ago doesn’t always seem relevant.

Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, again He designates a certain day, saying David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said:

“Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.” – Hebrews 4:6-7

Sin is hardening to our hearts, and a constant reminder of our need to depend on Jesus for His mercy and grace as the needed medicine for a diseased heart. He is the only hope we have, He is the great Physician.

Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. – Hebrews 4:11

Many will fall because of disobedience. The Word of God is clear on that subject. This is a horrible and fearful thought for me to consider. I must strive to enter through the narrow gate, because it’s the only place I can find rest, and I must never cease striving against sin. I will kill sin, or sin will kill me. If you don’t battle sin every day, then sin will overcome you, and take you by force.

I urge you beloved, to seek His mercy and His grace, and if you are redeemed, then you will have victory. This does not mean perfection, but if you wallow in the same sin as you’ve always wallowed, if you continue to return to your vomit, then you are probably not saved.

 

Kevin

Wide or narrow?

Posted on by kevinjandt

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“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. – Matthew 7:13-14

The way of True Christianity is difficult, narrow, constricted and exclusive…

There is only one way… John 14:6

For MANY this is impossible to understand, so what did Jesus mean by many?

pol-oos’  – Often, mostly, largely, abundant, altogether common, many, much, often, plenteous,

 

Can Jesus be saying what it appears He is saying?  Have you ever contemplated this before?  It appears He is saying the majority of the people will walk the wide road that leads to destruction.  Hell.

How about the few?  Will there be only a few that are saved and travel the narrow and constricted path that leads to life?

 

ol-ee’-gos – Of uncertain affinity; puny (in extent, degree, number, duration or value); especially neuter (adverbially) somewhat: – + almost, brief [-ly], few, (a) little, + long, a season, short, small, a while.

 

I see how very few seem to have any recognition of “a god” much less the God of Scripture; the actions that I see, the language that comes out of their mouth.  These are obvious signs of their current state.  The Lord tells us out of the abundance of the mouth the heart speaks, He says this is what defiles them (Matthew 15:18).  These seem to be pretty clear.

Then we have the less obvious…  The people that appear “good”, they live moral lives.  They might go to church, they might volunteer or they might do a lot of outward signs or good deeds.  They might be religious.

It’s all meaningless and that will incite anger within people because man is deceived by his sin.  Believing he has goodness inside of him.  Scripture completely disputes both of these claims.  (Jeremiah 17:9, Genesis 6:5, Romans 3:10)

That’s why this path is so narrow and so difficult.  Do you believe in Him and His challenging words?  Or is this foolishness to you?

Look at Jonathan Edwards’ sermon notes commenting on these verses:

1. There is a way to Heaven – God has opened the door

There is but one right way

Tis a hard thing to find this one right way

Appears: In that there are so few that find the way

Though all have so much need to find

Though so many desire to find and seek after it.

Though so many think they have found.

…so many are mistaken.

That many of those that do find it, first take a great deal of pains

Some for a long time

Many prayers

Many difficulties

Reason: Negatively, not that God hasn’t has not called us.

 “ “ very plain in itself.

Reasons:

Many wrong ways

Like traveling through a great wilderness

Full of difficulties…dangers….

But one right way

A narrow way

Many wrong ways.

Mention some of the wrong ways.

Do right in some things only.

Outward Religion only

Affections that go away

Religious out of regard to men

Religious only out of fear of hell.

…from self-love

Don’t love God for Himself.

Trust in their own righteousness

Depend on the good opinion of others

Apt to think themselves convicted when they are not

High pride: apt to think well of themselves

A little good looks great

Don’t see what is bad

How many things men often think are Conversion.

2. Men’s own lust blinds ’em.

The way is good and plain.

Right way is what men don’t like.

Up-hill

Contrary to all their lusts

… to their pride

… to their worldliness

… sensuality

… slothfulness

Enmity against God

Wrong ways are

Easy

Broad

Down-hill

3. Devils.

Blind them and deceive them

4. Things of this world blind ’em

5. Wicked men implead (?) ’em – Jonathan Edwards

We must examine our lives and constantly measure them by the truth of God’s Word.  We have an opportunity to live but that comes at the expense of a broken and contrite heart before God as we understand our sin (Psalm 51).  If you’ve not seen the ugliness of your sin I beg you to consider this today.  Most won’t and most will perish in their sins.  Don’t be fooled.

Are you willing?  Matthew 22:3

Kevin

Fruits…

Posted on by kevinjandt
http://challies.com
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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.  Against such there is no law.  And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires – Galatians 5:22-24

This past weekend I traveled to Little Rock Arkansas for business.  As I’ve shared recently my company provides timing services for running events.  The unfortunate part of my job is that it takes me away from church more often than I care to be away.

In my vast experience of traveling the country I’ve learned a thing or two about air travel.  It’s rarely reliable.  If this is news to you and you are planning to fly somewhere, let me repeat myself and add to it.  It’s rarely reliable and rarely timely.

Now let me quantify this statement.  Considering how many flights, how many employees, how weather affects air travel and a thousand other variables, I think the airlines do an amazing job.  Their safety record is exceptional and I can get to almost anywhere in the country in less than eight hours from where I live, including connections.  I have no beef with United Airlines (my airline of choice).

Today I want to talk about people.

One only needs to take a trip through Chicago O’Hare or spend 20 hours at a race expo and realize very few people exhibit the fruits of the Spirit.  I don’t say this as a blanket statement over everyone I see, but I see enough people to understand how true and reliable the Bible really is.  Jesus said “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” – Matthew 7:14

So how do we know who has found it?

Paul tells us that those who find it exhibit certain qualities.  They have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Nothing brings out the worst in people like large crowds and not having their needs met.  You hear the complaints and the ingratitude almost non-stop, especially when things don’t go right.

Will “Born Again Believers” exhibit these qualities perfectly all the time?  Of course not, but by and large this is a snap shot of who they are.  It doesn’t mean I can check the box and say “yep, that one is going to hell for sure”; because we have no idea of what God will do in someone’s life, but Jesus told us few find it.  So I have to believe that few find it.

Are you one of the many or one of the few?

If your life exhibits, lack of love, and I don’t mean self-love, lack of joy, lack of peace and lack of all the rest of these fruits consistently, consider your position before God.  Do you complain about a lot of things in life?  Are you a malcontent?  Do you know how to do it better?  Are you God’s gift to the world?  Do you enjoy being miserable and making others miserable?  I see a lot of this.  I see a lot of this almost all the time.  I see a lot of this all the time by people that profess Christ as their Savior

Have you crucified the flesh?  What do you turn to when you feel frustration?

Some turn to medication…  Idol

Some turn to anger…  Idol

Some turn to drugs or alcohol…  Idol

When my flesh screams out and is in rebellion to God’s Word, I must crucify the flesh to show I’m a child of the King.  I have work to do.

I must take thoughts captive…

I must work out my salvation…

I MUST because He DID…  If I can’t I’m not right with Him, not to perfection but in ever increasing obedience to Him.

Kevin