Therefore, Choose Life!
For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.
See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” (Deuteronomy 30:11-20 ESV)
God Loves Us and Wants Our Love
This commandment is not too hard for you.
God is Creator. He is, therefore, Sovereign. He gets to call the shots. In the obscurity of eternity past, He conceived of a mortal companion that would be capable of love. Almighty God already had companionship and love in the Trinity. He had all that there was to be had. He was a companionable, loving Trinity of three Persons in One Almighty God. And yet He wanted something other that was not God to Love God.
Why, is a mystery. He had all the love. He had all the fellowship in and of Himself. He did not need anything more. He was, is and always will be complete in Himself and in Himself. Nevertheless, He desired to have another who could love Him.
He could have created another spirit. Perhaps the Cherubim, Seraphim, Archangels and angels were His first Creation. They loved the Almighty, but they had one limitation. They were Created to love and obey. They were not volitional.
Someday I will have to do the research necessary to discover how Lucifer had the volition to not only covet God’s throne, but also to corrupt a vast number of angels to join in Lucifer’s rebellion.
We Are Created to Love God
Still the Almighty wanted some “other” to love Him. He determined it would have to be material. That in turn required God to Create laws for the material to hold together. Electrons swirling around in the infinitude of space needed cohesion to form substantial things. God Created Gravity, Laws of Motion, Magnetic Attraction, Light, Energy (and therefrom Heat). All this was “without form and void”. God moved and created light, and brought the formless to coalesce into liquid and solid. He exploded the light and heat into an extremely vast number of flaming stars as centerpieces of solar systems. And then, God expanded the solid exponentially. He coalesced the solid into a great number of earths to orbit around the stars. All perfectly following God’s “thermal-kinetic” laws
Still all this was insensible. That “other” needed being and sentience. It needed electrons to coalesce into a shape. It needed a place to inhabit. The habitation was delineated by the earths available. These formed the first layer of foundation for the other that God desired. He focused in on a mediocre star; and then on the third planet from that sun. There the Almighty chose to plant a garden of multiform plants – trees, bushes, flowers, lichens and molds. They formed the second layer of foundation. On that basis, the Almighty brought forth sentient creatures – insects, fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals. They formed the tertiary layer of foundation upon which the Almighty could create that other.
God Creates Humans to Love
To this moment in eternity all God’s Creation had been impersonal. He had conceived and he had spoken it all into existence. But with the “other”, the Almighty got His hands dirty. He selected some of the basic elements and based on the excellent design of the mammals, He personally formed a human being. Animals he had spoken into being and into life. Humans, He said not a word, but personally formed the first; and then the Supreme being the Trinity, the Almighty God, in a kiss of love, breathed into man the Spirit of Life.
Man opened his eyes and beheld the most magnificent, infinitely loving Maker and Master. The Almighty filled all of this other’s first living sight.
Man’s heart was stirred and he knew, as the absolute first knowing, that he loved his Creator. God introduced him to the earth, the garden the animals. As man began his work, he felt joy in his obedience to the Almighty’s instructions. This was the second knowing – joy of obedience.
Still as he claimed mastery over all the animals in the naming of them, he saw them in pairs, each kind having a mate. But he had none. God was wonderful, a magnificent companion who loved him completely and who man loved completely. Nevertheless, God was not a mate.
God Creates Woman
The Almighty was not surprised by that lack. For His reasons He created Mankind male only, at first. As the man’s sense of lack of a mate grew, the Almighty anesthetized him. God, the Divine Surgeon, opened Man’s chest cavity and removed a bit of bone and flesh. Again personally, hands-on, created a mate to complement and fulfill man; therefore, she was called Woman. Adam opened his eyes and there stood Eve and God, the two beings he loved in all the world.
Adam and Eve shared the tending of the garden. After a day of labor, they relaxed setting aside the work until the next day. They were never rushed. There were no schedules. The work was satisfying in itself. The rest at the end of each day was just as satisfying. They would first bathe in the River Gihon. Then the Almighty joined them and the three strolled through the evening in loving companionship. Adam and Eve pointed with innocent pride at all they had accomplished. God was pleased with their obedience and industriousness. Life was such a joy – filled with love, accomplishment, peace and God’s Presence.
Adam and Eve Sin
I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. (Deuteronomy 30:15)
There were two trees in the Garden of special note. The Holy Spirit has not given us any indication that Adam and Eve sampled the delights of the Tree of Life. The thrust of the information was The Fall. Eve and then Adam both disobeyed Almighty God, their loving Father. They chose to sample the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
How could they be that stupid? Well, they weren’t really stupid. They were innocent, naive, inexperienced. They knew nothing of deception, having lived only in the Truth of God. Nevertheless, just as soon as they actuated their disobedience, their righteousness was stripped away along with their innocence. The close, loving fellowship with their gracious Father was severed. They knew the burden of guilt. They sought to hide their sin deceiving God, hiding from Him.
Satan said, “Ye shall not surely die.” It was a half-truth. They would not immediately die physically. But they immediately died spiritually and physical death was immediately in the future; whereas before sinning, death had not even been known. Satan gave them a half-truth that was a whole lie.
After being exiled from the Tree of Life, Adam and Eve drop out of the story, except the Holy Spirit makes record of some of their, likely, many children. The sins most other children committed were not recorded.
The Sons of Adam and Eve
Their second son, Able, gives us an indication of his parents’ righteous teaching. He was the “good” son. In obedience to Almighty God, he offered a lamb as a righteous sacrifice, i.e. life for life. It was a lamb of sacrifice to cleanse Abel of sin.
The elder son, was of a different character. He apparently was not listening to Adam’s or God’s instructions. He thought the offering to God was a ceremony. He brought the best he had. But it was not an atonement for his sin. What Cain needed to do was obtain a lamb from Abel.
Abel’s name means “something transitory”. Cain’s name comes from a root meaning “provoke to jealousy”
Cain thought his offering was good enough, so when God honored his baby brother, instead of Cain, he took offense.
Despite their loss of righteousness, God was intimately involved with the humans He Created. Knowing that murderous sin was in Cain’s heart, the Almighty God took a personal interest and spoke directly to him, “If you obey me in the manner of sacrifice, your offering will be accepted. If you persist in disobedience you are open to greater sin. Satan is waiting at your door, but you have the ability to triumph over him.”
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:6-7)
But, tragically, Cain liked the feeling of jealousy and resentment. It gave him a sense of power, so he chose to embrace that, The enemy of our souls lied to Cain and he, like Eve, believed Satan, rather than God. Satan said, “You know, if Abel were dead. You would be the only one, so God would have to approve your offering.” The logic was there, except for one slight detail. God doesn’t have to do anything by man’s logic.
Cain chose to eliminate Abel. He hid the body and covered Abel’s blood with dirt – the “Perfect Crime”, no evidence, no body.
God has a way of asking questions He already knows the answers to, “Cain, where is Abel? I miss him.”
Cain compounded the felony with a lie and an accusation against God. “I don’t know! And besides he’s a grown man, I don’t have to keep track of him.” The implication is that God was exceeding His authority expecting Cain to keep track of his brother.
Cain chose a series of evils, when the good was so easy. By setting aside his pride, Cain could have gone to Abel and asked for, or even purchased a lamb for offering. It would take humility and acknowledging that Cain had to learn from Abel. Instead he preserved his pride at the price of Abel’s life and Cain’s banishment from God’s Presence – and loss of his pride anyway.
Obey by Loving the Lord your God
Now let’s leapfrog over several millennia to the time of King David and after. David loved Almighty God! He had grown to be intimate with the Almighty as David, in solitude, tended Jesse’s flocks. He chose to obey and follow the Almighty exclusively with all his heart. In battle, David followed the Lord God, and God gave him victories against superior forces time and again, over Goliath, over Saul (David refused to slay Saul despite two separate opportunities), over the Philistines, and all the rest. By example He led the People of God to worship YHWH exclusively. During David’s and Solomon’s reigns Israel honored YHWH, exclusively, so they had peace and prospered.
However, beginning in the reign of Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, idolatry cropped up and began to flourish. The people chose to worship nothingnesses, building places of worship on “every high hill”! From the division of the nation into Israel and Judah, Israel completely rejected Almighty God and worshipped nothingnesses, particularly Baal and Ashtoreth.
Judah had a checkered history. Under the evil kings they abandoned God Almighty, but under the righteous kings, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Uzzah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah (even though several of these “good” kings committed grievous sins) they reformed the nation and eliminated idolatrous worship. Under those latter kings Judah was spared defeat by the bully nations.
Israel and then Judah were clear object lessons for us today. When a person or a nation commits his, her or their hearts to the loving Almighty God, he, she, or they are protected and prospered by the Almighty.
If Your Heart Turns Away
When individuals or nations turn their back on Jeshua, He as the righteous Savior, gives them up to their desires. Paul instructs us in Ch. 1
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. 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 1:22-25)
In our nation, today we have chosen to feed on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We are living by human logic and understanding.
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. (Proverbs 14:12)
We have begun to bow down at the altar of science. We have worshipped screen stars and rock stars and sport stars, as if they had wisdom, when all they have is fickle human emotion. They declare the latest politically correct craze, regardless of the truth that God reveals, and theydecry the “deniers” as pariahs.
We are sacrificing our pre-born babies on the altar of Moloch, which we have re-branded as “convenience” and “birth control”.
We are being told that we must embrace the abomination of homosexuality and all its spawnings. The laws of the state are enforcing our compliance with fines and suits that bankrupt believers who adhere to their faith in Jeshua.
We are indoctrinating our children in public schools and colleges to turn them into idolaters and away from Jeshua.
We have ignored past history. Very few are even cognizant of Biblical history. Even the history of our nation is unknown. America prospered and was victorious as long as we looked to Jeshua as the Lord of our nation. In the middle of the last century faith in Jeshua began to be eroded and now three generations later believers are just a faithful remnant.
You May Dwell in the Land
America is not ours. All the world, all the cosmos belongs to our Creator God. He gave this land to the faithful Pilgrims and their successors the Founders of this nation. America was founded by men and women who believed in Jeshua as their Lord and Savior. They knew that as long as the People adhered to faith in the Lordship of Jeshua our nation would prosper. As long as we were submissive to the will of God Almighty, we could keep this land, living in peace and prosperity.
We introduced the scourge of slavery to pollute the nation and we reaped the whirlwind of God’s judgment. A war to free the slaves cost America the blood and lives of 623,026 of our youth. BUT GOD! … accepted that sacrifice and allowed us to keep this nation.
From the 1850’s to the 1930’s, America has sent hundreds of missionaries to the far corners of the globe to evangelize the not yet reached with the Gospel.
In 1917, we sent our men to rescue Europe from stalemate and likely defeat during WW I
In 1941-45, We fought again, sending our men to Europe to save the nations from the Nazi scourge and at the same time sent our men into the Pacific to destroy the Japanese attempt to take over those nations.
After we had brought our victorious men home, leaving thousands in graves all over the world, we spent Billions of dollars rebuilding the war-torn nations of our enemies and our friends.
But since those godly sacrifices, America has turned away from God. We have been increasingly excluding Jeshua from sector after sector of our society.
Jeshua, the One who will judge nations and peoples with righteousness has, in his mercy, withheld His just condemnation, giving America the space to repent and return to surrender to the Lordship of the Mashiach. If we do not, He will cast down our nation and allow another to have a go at living under His rule.
He gave the Jews a millennium and a half to see if they could live under God’s Law that He gave to Moses. They could not. God sent His Son, Jeshua to give them one last chance. They rejected Almighty God’s only Begotten Son: therefore, Jeshua sent His Disciples to the Gentiles throughout the world. Christianity has spread across the globe by faithful missionaries. Many, if not most, were sent and financed by America.
He has given America 400 years. We began strong, and yet, in the last century we have drawn away from Jeshua.
Living in His Blessings
Therefore, choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, (Deuteronomy 30:20)
What must we do? We must take Jeshua seriously. He said,
Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. (Mark 16:15)
You are charged with an evangelical mission.
Jeshua said,
I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (John 17:20-21)
It is your word of testimony that will:
- Lead others to Jeshua
- Give them the foundation to believe in Jeshua
- Bring them into the family of Almighty God and make us all one in God and one with one another
- Make the conditions right for the Holy Spirit to send belief in Jeshua to every corner of this globe
We cannot bring in the Kingdom of God by our efforts, but we can proclaim salvation to all who will hear that wonderful news, that Jeshua is the King of kings and Lord of lords. It is to Him we must all surrender and be saved, clothed in righteousness and be given a place for eternity in the Presence of Love inestimable, joy unspeakable and peace unceasing.
Go in the power of the Holy Spirit to change your friends and neighbors, to change our nation and to change the world!
Prayer for Grace and Service
Lord God Almighty, You sent Your Son to transform our lives and to give us Your message to the world
You sent the Holy Spirit to empower and embolden us to seize that message of salvation through Jeshua ha Meshach, and proclaim it from the housetops.
You have adopted us as Your beloved children. You are asking us to follow Your Son and the Holy Spirit into a hostile world and give them your love.
We choose to obey. We choose to comply. We choose to be Your hands of mercy, Your feet to serve and Your mouths to proclaim the love of God for all people.
Amen
Benediction for Choosing God
“Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and in the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. (Romans 16:25-27)
Speaking Disrespectfully Of Sin
Call to Worship:
Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright.
Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness.
He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. (Psalms 33:1-5)
Scripture:
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate. (Genesis 3:1-13)
It was Tuesday when Henry ran into Zeke in Salem, Arkansas. Henry had been doing business that took him into Little Rock for the weekend, so he missed Sunday worship at the Church in Salem.
“Hullo, Zeke, how was that visitin’ Preechur, standin’ in fer Pastor Michaels?”
“OK.”
“What’d he preach on?”
“Sin.”
Frustrated with Zeke’s uninformative one-word answers, Henry asked, “Well, what’d he say about it?
“He’s a’gin it.”
I hope we are all “a’gin it.
Sermon Message:
Sin is a Trap
The Officers Candidate School was at Fort Benning, GA. In the south they have a much greater problem with bugs than we do. During our orientation one of the strong prohibitions was no food in the barracks. They called it “pogey bait”. If we received cookies or cake from home we had to eat in completely before lights out. It was also forbidden to order in any delivery food.
Each of the four platoons in the company was under a “Tactical Officer”, a Lieutenant who was permanently assigned to shepherd each platoon through the course.
In violation of orders, we officer candidates in 1st Platoon decided to have a “Pogey Party”. Now we had to have the pizza and soda delivered in such a way that it was not discovered by the on-duty Tactical Officer. We planned to have the pizza driver pull up by the dumpster in back of the barrack building. Another candidate and I would take out our garbage can to dump it in the dumpster. Meet the driver, pay him and carry the pogey bait concealed in the garbage can back into the barracks, distribute it and pig out. A great plan!
Except the stupid driver did not get the delivery instructions. He pulled up in front of the barracks and honked his horn.
I raced out and told him to go around to the back. We then proceeded with our original plan. We met and paid and loaded the pizza into the can and began hotfooting it back into the barracks. Then we heard “Halt!” We had been discovered!
The other candidate said, “What do we do?” I said, “We didn’t hear anything!” and we kept on. But then, close enough so we could not ignore it, “Halt! Ground that garbage can!” It was 2nd Platoon’s Tactical Officer. He looked me in the eye, and said, “Take off the lid!” There for all to see were stacked boxes of pizza and containers of soda. We were busted! I had been disobedient to a lawful order of a superior officer. In other words, I was guilty of sin.
Then the officer ordered, “Put the lid back, bring the can and follow me.” He marched us into 2nd Platoon’s bay, had us set the can down, stand at attention while he said to his candidates, “Men you get a pogey party, courtesy of your Tactical Officer.” We left much humiliated amid the cheers and jeers of the other Platoon.
Sin Snatches Away Pleasure
Satan is like that. He leads you into sin, promising a great reward for your violation, and then snatches the pleasure of the sin from you.
He offered Eve an expanded understanding of life.
“You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4,5)
Adam and Eve did get the Knowledge of Good and Evil, but the enemy of our souls failed to make full disclosure. He did not tell them that the disobedience would break, irreparably the intimate relationship with God. And for them the shock of loss of righteousness, and the death of their spiritual connection with their Loving Creator. He did not reveal that the cost would be thousands of years of misery. Eve had no conception that God Himself, the Messiah would have to become a man and die to redeem the consequences of one little bite. Such a little thing to have such great consequences.
What is Sin?
What is sin? It, too, is only a little word, but has world-shaking consequences. Paul defines sin,
“for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;” (Romans 3:23).
Falling short of the glory of God is essentially not being God. Adam and Eve were created in perfection, and knowing nothing else, they lived robed in God’s righteousness and lived in perfect harmony with one another, with animals, with vegetation and with nature.
In considering the temptation offered by Satan, Eve fell short of God’s glory. Adam followed Eve’s lead. He, too, fell short. The result was they were no longer perfect, and they fell out of God’s righteousness and were naked and ashamed.
We have a hard time conceiving perfection. God is eternally perfect. He is righteous in all He thinks, says and does. His words had the power of Creation and His creation was perfect until Man, to whom God had given dominion, broke faith and disobeyed. Because man obeyed Satan instead of God, man’s dominion changed hands, giving Satan dominion over the world. Thus, the broken Creation became the world of natural disasters, pestilence, and entropy. It cannot be fixed. It must be discarded and God must start over.
What Makes a Sin?
If sin is falling short of the glory of God, what makes a sin? Well, certainly, the murder of another man, because it destroys God’s treasure that is life. Theft is sin, because it deprives another of what God has provided for her. Disobedience of parents is a sin, because in flaunting their authority it is thumbing one’s nose at God Who gave them their authority.
Every sin is in some way a sin against God.
A husband answers his wife’s question, “How do you like my new dress?” with a white lie, “Oh, darling it is lovely,” even though the color makes her look pale and sickly. That is just a little lie. But that mistruth is an affront to the Majesty of Almighty God.
God is truth and in Him is not a shadow of untruth. He is righteous, perfectly righteousness. Any one of the people He has created that does the slightest thing that is not perfect, is saying to God, “I know a better way than Yours.” That translates into “Move over, God, I’m taking control!”
God is a jealous God, and will allow no one or nothing to usurp His place. Thus, there is no such thing as a little sin. Every thought, word or deed that is not perfectly righteous, is a heinous sin and punishable by being eternally assigned to Hell to burn forever in the fires of condemnation. Remember, Jesus made it clear,
“but I say unto you, that every one who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of the hell of fire.” (Matthew 5:22)
Yes, God is punctilious. He’s a knit picker, and nothing escapes His eye.
“Thou that art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and that canst not look on perverseness, …” (Habakkuk 1:13)
In the following thought in the quote from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives us both instruction and a warning.
“If therefore thou art offering thy gift at the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art with him in the way; lest haply the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.” (Matthew 5:23-25)
Jesus Saves Us from Sin
Jesus is the God-man, who came to Earth to be our Savior. He died to free us from sin, death and Hell. But He gave us instruction both directly and via the Holy Spirit. Jesus is quoted in the Scriptures, so we must pay attention to His teachings. The Holy Spirit has delivered the Scriptures to us. They are given that we might learn to avoid sin.
“But abide thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a babe thou hast known the sacred writings which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 3:14-15)
Here we’ll deal with Jesus words. Jesus is admonishing us “to keep short accounts”. In the days before credit cards, the general store in a village had accounts for all the folks in the vicinity, who were mostly farmers. Their income came when they sold their harvest. They had an account at the store and were “carried” until they sold their crops. Then they paid their general store bill in full, hoping they had enough left over so they would not have to add much to their account, until they needed to buy spring seed. They wanted to keep “short accounts”.
Jesus is advising us to keep short accounts of sin. If you come to worship and know there is an unresolved disagreement, a complaint, an offense given or taken, between you and a brother or sister in Christ, Jesus wants you to resolve that difference before you worship. God knows our hearts. He will not respond to our prayers or our praise because the sin in our hearts.
Our Sins Impact Others
They have labeled the younger generation “the Snowflake Generation” because they are so easily offended, they easily meltdown at the slightest thing. Colleges now have to have “safe rooms’ where they can “recuperate” from some offense.
Because we live in a world populated, not by perfect angels, but by sinners, God exhorts us to be reasonable and give one another some latitude. Paul teaches:
Love “Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; (1 Corinthians 13:5)
Believers are to be tolerant of offense, affront, to “turn the other cheek”. We are to be peace makers (as someone has said) not peace breakers. God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. We are to live reconciled with one another.
Perfect Love Casts Out Sin
It is amazing how the words, “I love you” can make relationships easier. Ruth and I have been married for 59 years June 18th. We are very different people. God has had to work very hard to make us one, and sadly we are still not one flesh. But we love one another and we say it many times a day. That smooths over the hard times, because despite our disagreements, I know Ruth loves me. And she knows I love her.
In church, we do not tend to say, “I love you,” to one another, but perhaps we should. We are, after all, brothers and sisters of one another. Besides, saying, “I love you,” won’t break the COVID-19 protocol, which currently frowns on hugs.
Resist Sin with Humility
So, what do we do about sin? Well, first of all, DON’T. If you do sin, make a quick confession and seek forgiveness. If you believe someone has sinned against you, keep short accounts. Speak to that person and to no one else. Seek to get it resolved between you. If you cannot resolve it between you, do not allow your emotions, your wounded pride, frustration break fellowship. Initially agree to disagree. Then seek a disinterested third party to reconcile the disagreement.
When you have sinned against another, the Holy Spirit will let you know it. If you have to justify your words or actions, you can be sure it is your soul trying to cover up your sin. That is the time to get honest before the Lord, asking his forgiveness, first; and then go to the one you have wronged, and seek his or her forgiveness. There is nothing in this that you do not know. It is all old stuff. But it is hard stuff to do. Our soul wants to project the perfect image, despite the reality of our flaws.
All relationships require humility. Coming together, knowing I might do something offensive, or you might, too, will make anything negative that happens have less impact and importance; therefore, it can easily be smoothed over, if both are committed to act quickly. The ideal is that the two, each eagerly, hurrying to make things right between you, meet in the middle with apology and forgiveness.
Sin in Our World
What do we do about sin in the world? We can’t do anything directly. Sin in the world is everywhere we look. The sin problem is too big for us to handle. It is a God-sized problem. Our role and responsibility are to pray that the Holy Spirit will come with His revival fire and purge hearts as He has done periodically throughout human history. At times it has been a drastic purging as in the Noachian Flood and the Babylonian captivity. At other times God’s dealing with sin has taken the blood of war, as in the American Civil War, which cleansed our nation of the sin of slavery.
While we must leave reconciling sin in worldly people to our Almighty God; we have a responsibility to warn them.
What do we know about our neighbors across the road, or on either side or behind the Church? What do we know about those living on this road or nearby in our area? When was the last time any of us visited them? We need to get to know them, their families, their successes, their problems. To pray for them effectively, we need to know what is their relationship with Jesus, or lack thereof. In Ezekiel 33:1-9 God says that we are “the watchman on the wall”, with the duty to warn the people when God is coming with a sword to judge the people. He said that if we did not warn them, their condemnation would be on us!
Dealing with Our Own Sin
Our main focus this morning is dealing with sin in our own lives. That begins with humility:
Search me, O God, and know my heart: Try me, and know my thoughts; And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalms 139:23-24)
Did I say, “Humility”? Yes. One of the spiritual exercises each morning before you get out of bed, is pray, “God guide through this day and make me a worthy servant, giving You glory in all I do.”
And then each night, before you get into bed, pray, “Search me, O God, see it there be any wicked way in me.” That starts and ends each day in humility.
God has made us ministers of reconciliation,
But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, and having committed unto us the word of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)
Since we are brothers and sisters in Christ, we cannot say with Cain, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The answer is, “Yes, we are!” I quoted Jesus who said reconciliation with a brother is more important than worship, “leave your gift and be reconciled with your brother.”
Paul taught
Brethren, even if a man be overtaken in any trespass, ye who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to thyself, lest thou also be tempted. (Galatians 6:1)
Jesus taught
And if thy brother sin against thee, go, show him his fault between thee and him alone: if he hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. (Matthew 18:15)
Paul taught, it is better to suffer personal loss than to take a brother to court.
but brother goeth to law with brother, and that before unbelievers? Nay, already it is altogether a defect in you, that ye have lawsuits one with another. Why not rather take wrong? why not rather be defrauded? (1 Corinthians 6:6-7)
Jesus said the 2nd Commandment was
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. (Matthew 22:38)
Again, Paul taught,
doing nothing through faction or through vainglory, but in lowliness of mind each counting other better than himself. (Philippians 2:3)
We may not be able to eradicate sin in this congregation, but we can work at it by inviting the Holy Spirit to look into our hearts. As we look on diligently and honestly, then we confess the sin that lurks in the dark corners. We can rid ourselves of burdens that without our knowledge suck up emotional energy and, wear us out with their additional weight.
So, my summery is: Sin – I’m ag’in it! In me and in you.
Closing Prayer:
Please pray for me and with me.
Lord God, Holy Spirit, Jesus sent You to be our Comforter and to convince us of our sin. Give us honest, humble hearts to throw them open to Your purging, no matter how painful. Make us see ourselves as You do and as others do, too. Give us the joy of a spring cleaning. Bring us together to reconcile differences and to bind us together with cords of love that cannot be broken.
We acknowledge that we are too often agents of the enemy of our souls. He is Hell bent on dividing us from other believers, and uses us to do it. Give us the spiritual vision to see ourselves as You do, so we can reject our enemy’s temptations to separate us from the love of one another.
Father, John tells us that You are love. So, infuse us with your love that we become impervious to all attempts to separate us from any brother or sister in Christ.
For Your glory we surrender our hearts once more. Amen.
Benediction:
“Unto him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins by his blood; and he made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto his God and Father; to him be the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (The Revelation 1:5-6)
Spiritual Warfare
A Sermon on Resisting Temptation
How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!
You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.
Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?’
All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb; but you are cast out, away from your grave, like a loathed branch, clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a dead body trampled underfoot.
You will not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land, you have slain your people.” (Isaiah 14-12-20)
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” (The Revelation 12:7-9)
We are in a Spiritual War
We are in a war, but believers in America are only vaguely aware of that fact. They are like the Londoner’s in WWII.
“The first German attack on London actually occurred by accident. On the night of August 24, 1940, Luftwaffe bombers aiming for military targets on the outskirts of London drifted off course and instead dropped their bombs on the center of London destroying several homes and killing civilians.”
“Beginning on September 7, 1940, and for a total of 57 consecutive nights, London was bombed. The decision to wage a massive bombing campaign against London and other English cities would prove to be one of the most fateful of the war.” “During the nightly bombing raids on London, people took shelter in warehouse basements and underground (subway) stations where they slept on makeshift beds amid primitive conditions with no privacy and poor sanitation facilities.”
“Hitler’s intention was to break the morale of the British people so that they would pressure Churchill into negotiating. However, the bombing had the opposite effect, bringing the English people together to face a common enemy. Encouraged by Churchill’s frequent public appearances and radio speeches, the people became determined to hold out indefinitely against the Nazi onslaught. “Business as usual,” could be seen everywhere written in chalk on boarded-up shop windows.” (World War II in Europe: The Blitz, The History Place)
Yes, brothers and sisters we are under attack. It is usually a sneak attack, but never a mistake. It is always intentional. Our enemy’s purpose is to disrupt, to dissuade and to discourage.
The Spiritual War Continues
Hal Lindsey wrote the book Satan Is Alive and Well, and Dwelling on Planet Earth. He pointed out that in modern, scientific America, the educated and sophisticated laugh at belief in a real devil. They couldn’t be more wrong. It has been a very successful ploy of the enemy of our souls to convince us that he is not real, that “the Devil made me do it,’ is a bogus excuse for heinous behavior.
As Christian believers, we believe what the Bible teaches. That evil one has a negative place throughout the Bible. He appears in Genesis 3 as the tempting, lying serpent and in The Revelation as the great dragon, the old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.
Make no mistake! That evil spirit is ever with us – unbelievers and believers alike.
God has Already Won the Battle!
But GOD! I love that phrase! The evil one, the enemy of our souls is a very powerful being. Far more powerful than any one of us, and even more than all of us. We must take his power seriously,
But GOD! Jeshuah ha Mashiach proved the method to defend against his temptations – “It is written!”
But GOD! Our Savior not only gives us defense, but He, our Lord God, has utterly defeated the enemy of our souls when He died for us, the atoning sacrifice for our sin, and then in his Resurrection utterly destroyed the hold of death upon believers! He gave us authority over the enemy and all his demons.
Encountering Temptation
God made Adam’s and Eve’s life simple.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)
The enemy did not make Adam angry with Eve. He did not tempt the two of them to lie or cheat one another. He sowed a little doubt,
“Has God said …?” “You will not die if you eat it, the fruit is not poison!”
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat of any tree in the garden?'” (Genesis 3:2)
He was right, and Eve in surrendering to his temptation did not die … physically; but she, and later Adam, died spiritually!
There were three temptations:
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:6)
John defined them in his first epistle (1 John 2:16)
- The lust of the flesh – “good for food”
- The lust of the eyes – “pleasant to the eyes”
- The pride of life – “to be desired to make one wise”
Temptations the enemy laid on Jesus (Luke 4:3-13)
- Command this stone to be made bread – lust of the flesh
- Worship me and I will give you all the world – lust of the eyes
- Throw yourself off the pinnacle of the temple – pride of life
Scripture says,
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)
It is true that our enemies are not people; but they are the forces and the demons that are operating in the flesh and blood that we must confront.
Tempted by the Devil
In our own lives we wrestle against the World, the Flesh and the Devil!
First, we look at the enemy of our souls – the Devil.
“as the great dragon, the old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world”. (The Revelation 12:9)
Actually, he is the easiest to defeat. He has no power against Jeshua (Jesus), nor against believers, who are living in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jeshua said, He is sending the Holy Spirit to us.
And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. (Luke 24:49)
James taught,
But he gives more grace. Therefore, it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 4:6-8)
Peter warned,
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)
Authoritative command in the name of Jeshua (Jesus) sends the enemy of our souls packing.
Tempted by the World
Second, we live in the World. The world persistently pressures us to conform to the lowest common denominator. Those worldly ones do not like non-conformists. They like those who are worse than they are, so they can assuage their consciences with, “See, I’m not as bad as she (or he) is!”
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, (Philippians 2:5)
The world, is not us, so we have that advantage. Further, we have been redeemed. That puts a separation between us and the world. We can always come back to Jeshua, “I belong to You, my Lord. I do not belong to the world.
Tempted by the Flesh
Third, the hardest battle is with our own flesh. It is material, but not spiritual. It has appetites that must be satisfied, but not indulged. It takes both willpower and “WON’T POWER”.
Paul put up a fierce struggle against both what his flesh insisted on doing and what his flesh fiercely resisted doing.
“For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
So, I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:15-24)
The flesh belongs to us, so, in this life, there can be no actual separation. The flesh must be disciplined into submission to our born-again spirits. When our flesh is undisciplined it leads to all manner of evil.
The Children of Israel submitted to fleshly fears put upon them time after time by the enemy.
- They feared running out of water
- They feared running out of food
- They got sick of God’s miraculously supplied manna and demanded flesh
- They questioned Moses’ authority
- The questioned Aaron’s authority
- Aaron and Miriam questioned Moses’ authority
- The young men fornicated with wanton Moabite women, who led them into idolatry
- They feared the Giants in the Land of Promise and refused to go in
If your spirits are surrendered to Jeshua, they are built up and become strong, both to keep our flesh under control, and to stand fast against the influence of the evil one and his demons.
God Loves You and Keeps You from Temptation
Saul the Benjaminite was God’s choice to be the king of Israel. The prophet-priest Samuel anointed him and by lot the People chose him. He began to reign under God’s favor. Tragically, he allowed his flesh to dictate. First when Saul was preparing for battle, he called Samuel to make a propitiating sacrifice to seek God’s favor in the battle. When Samuel was delayed, Saul usurped the priest’s role and sacrificed the lamb.
Later when God pronounced a ban on the Amalekites consigning every man, woman and child and all their animals to be killed off, king Saul disobeyed, He saved alive their king and the choicest animals. These sins opened a passage for the enemy of our souls to insert a demon who plagued Saul.
David’s music soothed Saul, because David played his music, not to entertain the king, but to glorify God. David’s godly influence was enough to keep Saul from wholly surrendering to the demon, until Saul, motivated by the demon sought to kill David.
David, a man after God’s heart, also opened a passage for the enemy by his sin with Bathsheba, which began with adultery, and proceeded through deceit, and conspiracy, to murder.
But GOD! David’s heart was so tender toward God that when he was confronted by Nathan, he immediately acknowledged his sin and sought forgiveness.
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. (Psalms 51:3-4)
His turning to God in repentance blessed God and by grace He covered David’s sin and sealed the passage that sin had opened. That excluded any demonic influence.
Jesus Took the Blame and Punishment
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These two examples, one negative and one positive, speak to us today. Brothers and sisters, Isaiah in the Song of the Suffering Servant declared the tragic truth,
But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:5-6)
Yes, Jeshua has borne our transgressions, but the tragic point is that we, each one of us has violated God’s will in our lives. Each one of us has in one way or others, sinned against the righteousness of our Righteous Father, burdened His Son, and offended the Holy Spirit.
Yes, we have the blood of Christ to cleanse us. Nevertheless, Paul that great Old Testament scholar, has this to say to us today,
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? (Romans 6:1-2).
Yes, God forbid that we in our respectability and our Christian maturity countenance sin in our lives, because we know Jesus blood cleanses us. That is a subterfuge of the enemy of our souls. Look in the mirror of Jeshua! See how your life stands up to His reflection. Be not kind to yourselves. Do not be a Saul who decides that some of these are too good to sacrifice.
Let me remind you of another of Paul’s teachings,
But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:20-32)
Stand Fast in God’s Liberty
My sisters and my brothers I adjure you (and Myself!) to pray these appeals of David, the man after God’s own heart:
Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! (Psalms 139:23-24)
In this way you will keep honest before God and you will close up those passageways of sin to prevent the enemy of your souls from making inroads into your soul.
Stand fast in the liberty where with God has made you free.
Please pray with me
My Lord and my God I appeal to you on behalf of these, your wonderful children. Have mercy on them for any besetting sins that have become so common they seem to be natural. Holy Spirit convince us all of the sins we have harbored because they are so much a part of our nature. Give us the awareness of anything in our lives that makes You uncomfortable, since You have taken up Your abode in our spirits.
Jeshuah ha Meshach, You have made us victors in this life, because You have won the victory over sin, death and Satan, and have turned that victory over to us. Grant us grace to live in that victory and to reflect Your Shekinah to all we contact, sharing the love and joy You have given us through Your dwelling in us.
Benediction:
The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us:
That he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers. (1 Kings 8:57-58)
