Deadly Sins
Well, I can see last week’s sermon about kindness and respect was mostly ignored, so you probably aren’t going to like God’s message this week. However, ignoring The Truth of God’s Word doesn’t make it go away, so I write in confidence that some of you understand you NEED to learn what your human nature rebels against knowing. I am definitely not that “feel good, anything goes” type of pastor. God tells me I will be judged more harshly than other people. He expects me to be truthful, and straightforward, and quote only His Word in the proper context when sending His messages throughout the world. He has warned me!
James 3:1 “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”
2 Timothy 2:15 “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”
Jeremiah 23:1 “Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord.”
As you can see with your own eyes, I MUST take the Word of the Lord seriously and without my own false interpretations! When God says WOE BE UNTO, any person He is referring to has their eternal salvation at stake. It is a grave warning!!
I take those warnings seriously, so if you are looking for someone to falsely lead you into believing God tolerates whatever you choose to do, whatever you choose to believe, and that He rewards all behavior, then you probably are not going to like what I teach. They say the truth hurts, but ignoring the truth can be eternal and life-threatening!
God has high expectations of us all, but pastors even more so:
1 Timothy 3:1-7 “Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife/husband, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He/she must manage his/her own family well and see that his/her children obey him/her, and he/she must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his/her own family, how can he/she be trusted to take care of God’s church?) He/she must not be a recent convert, or he/she may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders so that he/she will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.”
Do you read what is written above with the same ominous warning as I do? If I do not do this right, in accordance with only God’s Word, discussed in the correct context God wrote it, then MY SALVATION is at risk. When I first became a pastor I thought this was unfair. I sacrifice my earthly life to Him and I may be the one who ends up in hell…then one day I understood:
If I mislead YOU, then I have destroyed two souls instead of just my own. If I mislead an entire flock, the far-reaching effects can be catastrophic and I must pay for each soul misled. I have NO intention of spending eternity in hell, so here are YOUR deadly sins:
Ephesians 4:30-31 “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.”
*Matthew 12:30-32 “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”
Matthew 18:5-9 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.” (YIKES!!)
Hebrews 10:26 “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins”
Proverbs 6:17-19 “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.”
There are more scripture verses, but this is plenty to discuss today. May it serve as a WARNING to you that the truth of God’s Word should NEVER be ignored!!!
Now I will discuss the meaning of the scripture I chose for you to SEE today. Matthew 12 has an asterisk * in front of it because it is known worldwide as an unforgivable sin, but what does grieving the Holy Spirit entail? The Holy Spirit lives inside of us to lead, comfort, pray for us when we cannot express our sorrow in words, and most importantly teach us all things we need to learn from God. If we fail to listen to the Holy Spirit and follow His lead in our lives, then He will be grieved. It’s simple and complex all at the same time. Basically, if we knowingly go against what the Holy Spirit teaches us, ignore Him pushing us away from harm and sinning, and then continue sinning knowing it is wrong, we are grieving Him, and therefore for those sins, there is no sacrificial blood. We lose our salvation because we are knowingly and purposely rebelling against God!
Galatians 5:22-23 “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”
As you can see from Galatians 5:22-23, the Holy Spirit is sent to HELP us. God has given us all needed provisions to do well and know what we need to do to live the best life He has planned for us. We can sin and He has carved a path to receive forgiveness, however, continued refusal to accept His free gift and sinning despite knowing what we are doing is wrong has consequences. Some of those sins have DIRE consequences!
In Matthew 18:5-9, Jesus is talking about the fate of anyone who causes children to do wrong. If you do ANYTHING to cause a child harm, promote disobedience, or fail to teach him/her God’s promises, truth, and sacrificial life, then you are told in no uncertain terms that it is better for you not to have ever lived. The word WOE is used again. Woe’s synonyms are anguish, grief, affliction, wretchedness, misery, and distress. When God uses WOE it does not end well for those He is referring to… God PROMISES “WOE” to anyone who causes even one child to stumble or fall. You probably don’t want to fall into the “woe to you” category. God continues by telling us it is better to remove from our body anything that might cause us to commit this sin. He says it is better to live without the ability to perpetrate these types of sins than to live with the ramifications of His judgment if we do. I believe Him!
Hebrews 10:26 speaks for itself. If you sin after you have been taught what constitutes sinning, then the sacrifice made for the world no longer applies to you! Repentance is important. Understanding that God will not tolerate you repeating the same sins day after day is critical to your eternal salvation.
Last (for this sermon) but definitely not least is Proverbs 6. God is telling you 6 things He HATES and 7 things that are DETESTABLE to Him. Included in His short list of things that are (the most) detestable to Him is the “shedding of innocent blood.” Since most of you ignored my discussion about abortion, supporting people who abort children and standing with groups who fund abortion you need to understand your support of an act is the same as committing the act. Causing harm to children and shedding innocent blood is DETESTABLE to God. Woe refers to you if you behave in the aforementioned ways.
This is something from which you must repent and then NEVER repeat any of these sins. Since you now know His Word in regard to this subject, you are fully knowledgeable and will be held accountable for any further acts that go against His teachings and commands. Knowing God’s position on this subject changed my position from apathy and doing whatever you want, to being an anti-abortionist. Although I tell anyone asking me about having an abortion that it is between them and God, (I do not advise on such things other than to tell them what I am telling you) my personal position is biblical and unwavering. God considers it murder!
Although unpopular, living by God’s rules and teachings is required. When He writes “woe” to those who perpetrate such things that He says He hates and detests, your salvation is at risk. The Bible is clear that people who know it is wrong and continue to do it are the ones targeted by His strong wording and comments. We aren’t expected to be all-knowing, but once we know, we are expected to obey.
I am not warning you about these things from an elevated position. I am human and have made many mistakes in my life for which God has forgiven me. He has forgiven you too, However, I would be remiss and risking my own position of being covered under the blood of the lamb if I did not warn you about things God says will remove Jesus’s blood sacrifice from your life. I have pinpointed those things He especially detests and is teaching you to pay close attention every time you see the word WOE in the Bible. WOE is a WARNING; a RED LIGHT telling you to stop, repent, and turn away from that sin.
May your enlightenment save your soul. And the souls of others. AMEN! ><>
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