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| Purposeful Sin |
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I had a discussion at work today and the content was that when Hitler did the things he did, he thought he was hearing from God and thought he was told to exterminate the Jews. After some discussion, it was asked that if everyone was doing what they thought they heard God tell them to do, what would be the penalty. Like a few years ago when this couple refused to take their critically ill child to the doctor because God told them He would heal the child. How about when people say," well God told me to stay home today and not go to church so i could spend the day with Him." That is contrary to what the bible says when it states," not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together... and so much more as you see the day approaching". God will not say something that is in direct opposition to His living and active word. Anybody can say anything and if i don't now the truth, i can fall for whatever someone says that they heard from God. That is why we have to be grounded in the word. 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me.
10:26For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins,
After we have received Jesus in our hearts and truly repented for our sins, we have the knowledge of the truth ( which is Jesus) if we sin willfully, we trample the blood of Jesus and everything it stands for. If we take the grace of God for granted and use it like a get-out-of-jail-free card, then the sacrifice for our sins no longer remains. Knowing that i have been saved, and using that as a right to do whatever I want is not how salvation works. When i am truly reborn, i am dead to the sinful nature and made alive in Christ. I will sin again because i am human, but to do it purposely because i know that i can ask forgiveness after i am done doing it is wrong. That is like saying God forgive me for killing this person and then shooting them in the head. Knowingly doing wrong because it will justify my feelings or make me feel better and then asking for forgiveness because it was wrong won't work. If we do that, we are satisfying the sinful nature and not the Christ nature that has been born in us.
We need to check our motives and listen to the voice of truth ( which is the Holy Spirit) and not the voice of popular thought or humanly wisdom.
Comment Back
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| To add a comment to "Purposeful Sin" |
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| December 02, 2008 |
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I really like this post. God bless, Len |
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| December 02, 2008 |
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Matt, a great subject at work. The idea of a license to sin because of the Grace of God is entirely contrary to the Gospel. See Romans 6. Paul obviously had the same discussion in his day as evidenced by this chapter. I like verse 6:12 "do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it's lust" NKJV. Basically he goes on to say we are what we obey. The Grace of God never leaves us without responsibility. After years of Pastoring, it is obvious everybody wants to go to heaven, but few want to encounter Jesus. (The broad and narrow way.) Also, in Ro 6:18 he describes the life of salvation as a "slave to righteousness." Yes you are right, we are human (the evil present with me) but by the Grace of God (not only undeserved mercy and pardon of our sins, but the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit) the sinful nature no longer has dominion over me. And yes there will be some battles, but in our salvation we are overcomers. In the Grace of God there is freedom from sin's dominion (not absence). If someone sees Grace as an excuse to sin, something is wrong. I would say that person still has sin as dominion over their lives. May we never forget, every knee shall bow and tongue confess Jesus Christ is Lord. PR
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| December 02, 2008 |
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Matt,
Good blog, but I do have one question (or maybe a couple...lol). Where do we know when to draw the line? The Crusades did some pretty aweful stuff in the name of Christianity. More recently, we have strongly religous folks (aka terrorists) who are killing in the name of their God. And on a slightly less life-threatening front, we have Christians attacking other Christians and non-Christians on the basis that they are following their interpretation of the Word of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Hitler may be easy to dismiss because most percieve he was a mental case. But many of the actions of others are more difficult to dismiss. At what point does a religous man become a religous zealot and then a terrorist? And at what point do we stop believing he is responding to the commands of his God?
When a devout Christian kills a doctor who does abortions, is he a hero or a sinner? What if he just hurts him? What if he just burns down the building without harming anyone?
pa |
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| December 02, 2008 |
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Thank you for your comment Pastor Rusty! Yet more to contemplate and chew on. You are right in that every knee will bow and every tounge confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Today is the day and now is the time.
Thank You Again
YPM |
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| December 02, 2008 |
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Thanks for the comment Patrick--
that is what is at the heart of this issue. Religion and what god they are following. i believe that there is only one true living God. i also believe that when the human representation of that God, Jesus Christ was on this earth, He responded with love. I believe that Jesus was confrontive but he was not hateful. If we attack anyone, we are in the wrong motive and it has become an issue of pride for us not furthering the kingdom of God. How many chances did He have to be hateful? Did he offer the prostitute wrath or forgiveness? The thief on the cross? We as human put value on sin, not God. A doctor who does abortions is no more worthy of wrath than someone who cheats on his taxes or commits bank fraud or steals something from the grocery store. Sin is sin, bottom line. Just because we may have emotional connection to the situation does not mean God does.
If we are responding to the commands of our God, 1) we will have no other Gods before Him & 2) we will love our neighbor as our-self, not judge them as we think they deserve, because we deserve the same punishment as they do.
thanks
ypm
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| December 02, 2008 |
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| Matt, I really like what this blog says. It is the issue of the day that I can live how I want, in sin, and because God is forgiving he will not hold me accountable. If that is the way it works, then Jesus died for nothing because if I can't be free from my sin, then what do I need Jesus for except for a get out of jail free card. The Bible says Repent, which means to turn away from your sin, confess that Jesus is Lord and you shall be saved. If Jesus is Lord, then he is King and ruler, and boss of my life and that means that I am following His leading. Since He is holy then I too must be holy in all that I do. We must once again begin to let people know that God hates sin and since the Bible says, Be imitators of God, we too must learn to hate sin. Great thoughts. Suzie |
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| December 02, 2008 |
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| YPM, Your response is perfect...that gets the star! |
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| December 02, 2008 |
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Thank You for the star and the vote of confidence.
YPM |
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| December 05, 2008 |
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| ya know what just because you can ask for forgiveness does not mean you get to go and redo everything that you have done wrong. and well people think that they can do what ever they want and then just ask for forgiveness in the end and that does not fly with me!! |
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| December 05, 2008 |
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We answer, to die by mercy, by the mercy and grace which they have despised. How dreadful is the case, when not only the justice of God, but his abused grace and mercy call for vengeance!
This is exactly what i was talking about when i said, saying God forgive me for killing this person and then shooting them in the head. Abusing the grace and mercy of God. Trampling everything it stands for and provoking the wrath of God. Sin is going to happen, but when i justify the sin i am committing or about to commit because it vindicates me, how does this happen. Like if someone hurts Jaime or the grandkids and revenge is the thing we want most (Romans 12:19). Just because someone took something from us does that give us the right to take something from them? Or do we let God handle it because, after-all, if we are living in the center of God's will, He knew it was going to happen anyway! Are we going to seek comfort in jacking somebody up, or finding peace and rest in God? If we seek revenge which is born out of anger, it will only lead to more sin! This is not only a topic for extreme situations. Saying that's how i am and letting that justify the lack of trying to be different than the world is the same thing. 2 Cor 10:3-6, Paul talks about bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience. Does this sound like letting lustful thoughts abound because we are human? No. It sounds like focusing in on the Creator and not the creation. Seeing God's creation how He sees it. With a PURE and wholesome love. Letting God captivate our thoughts, minds, hearts, emotions, and desires. Paul said that his spirit warred against the flesh. if we think it is going to be less than the same for us, we are wrong. We have to be willing to take up the fight and not let our nature decide what will be the reaction. Paul also said that he had to crucify his flesh daily. Are we willing to do the same, or let the flesh have free reign because that is all we know about ourselves?
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| December 05, 2008 |
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| I find it interesting when people claim to have had God speak directly to them, he always seems to say pretty much exactly what they want him to say. If we want to hear the voice of God speaking to us, we need to go to the place where we know we can hear him; namely, in the words of the Bible. It's there we know that we will hear the voice of God speaking directly to us. Furthermore, we know that the Bible will never lie to us or lead us away from the truth. The Bible is God's pure word, inerrant and infallible, and we can always trust that. God will never lie to us. So when we hear of someone having direct revelation from God, we need to keep such passages as: Hebrews 1:1ff; 1 John 4:1ff; and 2 Corinthians 11:3ff in mind. The first section of Matthew 24 is also appropriate. |
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| December 05, 2008 |
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Thank you RevDaniel Schroeder, I fully agree that we need to be grounded in the word of God. He gave it to us for a reason. I also agree that God will not say something that contradicts the Bible. I will admit that at some level, a red flag goes up when i hear somebody that God said this and God sais that. That is when i start looking for 2 or 3 witnesses.
I appreciate your comments
ypm |
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| December 05, 2008 |
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| I really believe that if we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind, which is the first commandment that we will not desire to sin because we will break our fellowship with Him. I'm not saying that I do this all the time, but the closer we get to God the less sin will have dominion over us. It is a life long struggle that we will have until we are with Him face to face, but we must continue to fight the fight of faith until we breath our last breath so that He can say, "Well done good and faithful servant." It is the motive of our heart that he is looking at, not keeping a score on how many sins. We must be focused on Him and His love for us and the sin issue will begin to fade as we go from glory to glory. Fall in love with Jesus! He is coming back for a Bride that is passionately in love with Him. Suzie |
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| December 06, 2008 |
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I agree with you Mrs. Suzie. The first step in this whole process is to fall in love with Jesus. If we can get close enough to Him, our mindset will change from legalistic obedience ( because we have to in order go to heaven ) to affection based obedience ( because we love Him and want nothing to be between us ). Thank You for being interested enough to comment.
Youth Pastor Matt
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| December 06, 2008 |
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hey matt last night we were talking about affection based obedience!!
haha i remember.
and i also remember what it means!
man im on a roll.
and i think i might have just talked a family friend into trying our church.
i dont think they are going to try it tomorrow but they are going to be over at our house a lot for now on so i will definetly remind them! |
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| December 08, 2008 |
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Sorry for all of those who read the comments... some of my responses are to comments that have been taken off the blog by the one's who originally posted them. I will leave them on though because some of it represents some thoughts not in the original blog.
Thank you
ypm |
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