Archive for the ‘Under Gods Command’ Category


Under Gods Command

Romans 5:10-11 For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!  Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received reconciliation. 

God is holy, and he will not be associated with sin.  All people are sinful and so they are separated from God.  In addition, all sin deserves punishment.  Instead of punishing us with the death we deserve, however, Christ took our sins upon himself and took our punishment by dying on the cross.

 

Lets Bring it home: Now we can  “rejoice in God.” Through faith in Christ’s work, we become close to God (reconciled) rather than being enemies and outcast.

 


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 9:13-18 The woman Folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without knowledge.  She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, calling out to those who pass by, who go straight on their way.  “Let all who are simple come in here!” she says to those who lack judgment.  “Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!” But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave.  

 Something is hypnotic and intoxicating about wickedness.  One sin leads us to want more; sinful behavior seems more exciting than the Christian life.  That is why many people put aside all thought of Wisdom’s spectacular banquet in order to eat the stolen food of Folly. Don’t be deceived, sin is dangerous.  Before reaching for forbidden frit, take a long look at what happens to those who eat it.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 8:05 – You who are simple, gain prudence; you who are foolish, gain understanding. 

Are people willing to take the position to admit that they are not adequate, to say I am a sinner and that I really don’t have intellectual problems?  Sometimes I think it is a joke to listen to folk with “intellectual” problems. How many times do we hear people say, “I have intellectual problems about the Bible?”  What they really have is a sin problem, and he didn’t want to give up his sin.  I have discovered that if a person has a sin problem and will turn to Christ with that problem, it is amazing how often the intellectual problems will be solved.

 


Under Gods Command

Romans 5:9-10 – Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 

The love that caused Christ to die is the same love that sends the Holy Spirit to live in us and guide us every day. The power that raised Christ from the dead is the same power that saved you and is available to you in your daily life.

 

Lets Bring it home: Be assured that, having begun a life with Christ, you have a reserve of power and love to call on each day, for help to meet every challenged or trial.  You can pray for God’s power and love, as you need it.

 


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 7:27 Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.

 What is casual sex? It is the way to hell! It will take you down to death! There is nothing casual about dying early and going to hell! Someone is lying to you about a fatal danger.

Why do they call it casual sex? Because they do it like hyenas without the love, morality, and commitment of marriage. Inferior to prostitution, it even lacks money compensation!

Why do they call it playing, partying, or having an affair? They feel euphemisms make their sins more acceptable. They hate real words with defined meanings like adultery, fornication, sodomy, or whoremonger, Bible words found in laws of civilized nations.

How casual are death and hell? They are man’s worst nightmares! Reader, the whole world is lying to you about the consequences of sex outside of marriage. Hate their lies! Hate their lifestyles! Hate their movies and music! God and Solomon have warned you.

The feminine pronoun “her” is the strange woman, the adulteress and whore of the parable here (Pr 7:6-23). After introducing the subject of sexual sins to his son (Pr 7:1-5), Solomon described at length a young man seduced into adultery by a cunning woman. He then concluded by begging his children to consider the terrible danger (Pr 7:24-27).

He warned his children that whorish women have wounded many men and destroyed many strong men (Pr 7:26). Think Samson and his horrible end. Think David and the painful consequences for adultery with Bathsheba. Think Solomon! Only the strongest men, like Joseph, can resist the powerful seduction of the adulteress (Pr 23:27-28).

What is the cure? Do not think about her (Pr 7:25)! Do not go near her (Pr 7:25)! Sexual sins begin with the eyes (Pr 6:25; Matt 5:28), form a plan in the mind (Job 31:1; II Sam 13:1-2), and then pursue the action (Pr 5:8; 7:8). All sin works this way (Jas 1:13-16). The adulteress cannot entice or hurt you, if you never think about her or get near her.

Can adultery kill you? Yes! Think capital punishment (in a moral nation), her jealous spouse, your jealous spouse, sexual diseases, blinded judgment, suicide from guilt, etc.

Can adultery kill you? Yes! There are other ways to die. Think of a destroyed soul, ruined reputation, lost job, wasted money, violated marriage, offended children, illegitimate children, painful guilt, sexual bondage, hated memories, and other living deaths! Even the world knows to blame the wasted and worn-out look of sinners on their hard living!

Can adultery take you to hell? Yes! If hell is the grave, the place where the dead are buried, it can take you there, as you just read (Ps 16:10; 18:5; 55:15; 86:13; 116:3).

Can adultery take you to hell? Yes! If hell is the lake of fire, the place of eternal torment, adultery can take you there as well (I Cor 6:9-10; Gal 5:19-21; Eph 5:3-7; Rev 21:8).

If casual sex is this dangerous, why no public warning about the death and hell behind the eyes, smiles, kisses, and embrace of a seductive woman? Because the devil and the world have conspired together to lie to you, and your sin nature loves to believe their lies.

Why no warning in the news? In the schools? In the military? Because it is not popular in a sin-obsessed and sex-addicted generation, and the guiding principles that now reign are popular approval, political correctness, serving pleasure, and rejecting God and the Bible.

But why no strong warnings in the large popular churches? For the same reasons above, for these worldly churches operate by the same principles – popular approval to keep the crowd coming, political correctness, serving pleasure, and rejecting the God of the Bible.

There is a warning! You are reading it. God and Solomon warned four times in Proverbs about death and hell for casual sex (Pr 2:18-19; 5:5; 7:27; 9:18). Get away from any whorish woman, and stay away from her. And the same applies to male whoremongers.

Does casual sex have pleasure? Sin has pleasure, and the Bible admits it – short pleasure for only a season (Heb 11:24-26; Job 20:5). The pleasure of casual sex lasts seconds, minutes, or hours; but the consequences last years, the rest of your life, or all eternity. There is no comparison. Samson’s minutes with a conniving and gold digging Delilah were not worth his years blind and grinding for the Philistines before committing suicide.

The best sexual pleasure is for a Christian husband and wife following the wisdom of Proverbs and the rest of the Bible. Their God created the male and female bodies, invented sex, and wrote the manual for its ultimate pleasure. If you doubt this, read Solomon’s love song in the Bible. If you have not experienced it yourself, read it again!

Parent, do you warn your children about sexual sins as boldly and plainly as Solomon did his children? Or are you too spiritually minded, puritanical, fearful, or naïve to line up with God and His word, missing the fact that the world hits them harder than any previous generation? If you are a mother, get real like godly women (Pr 6:20-26; 31:1-3).

There is another kind of whore. False churches are called whores in the Bible, and joining their worship is spiritual adultery and fornication (Ex 34:15-16; II Cor 11:1-4; Jas 4:4; Rev 2:20-22; 17:1-6). Get away from them, and stay away, for those that join them end up in the congregation of the dead and then hellfire forever (Pr 21:16; Rev 3:1; 14:9-11).

If your church and pastor do not preach hard against sexual sins, then you need a new church or pastor (Is 58:1; Jer 23:28-29; II Tim 4:3-4; Heb 13:4). It is a sign of the perilous times of the last days that Christians live and sound like the world (II Tim 3:1-5). If your pastor does preach like he should, then encourage him and pray for him.


Under Gods Command

Romans 5:7-8 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 

“While we were still sinners”- these are amazing words.  God sent Jesus Christ to die for us, not because we were good enough but because he loved us.  Whenever you feel uncertain about God’s love for you, remember that he loved you even before you turned to him.

 

Lets Bring it home: If God loved you when you were a rebel, he can surely strengthen you, now that you love him in return.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 4:5-7  Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them.  Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; lover her, and she will watch over you.  Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.  Though it cost all you have, get understanding.  

If you want wisdom, you must decide to go after it.  This will take resolve-a determination not to abandon the search once you begin no matter how difficult the road may become. This is not a once-in-a-lifetime step, but a daily process of choosing between two paths-the wicked (Proverbs 4:14-17, 19) and the righteous (Proverbs 4:18).  Nothing else is more important or more valuable.


Under Gods Command

Romans 5:5-6  (5) And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.  (6) You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the un-godly.    

All there members of the Trinity are involved in salvation.  The Father loved us so much that he sent his Son to bridge the gap between us (John 3:16).  The Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit to fill our lives with love and to enable us to live by his power (Acts 1:8).  We were weak and helpless because we could do nothing on our own to save ourselves.  Someone had to come and rescue us.  Not only did Christ come at a good time in history, he came at exactly the right time according to God’s own schedule.  God controls all history, and he controlled the timing, methods, and results of Jesus’s death,

 

Lets Bring it home: With all this loving care, how can we do less than serve him completely!


Under Gods Command

 Romans 5:1-5  (1) Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, (2) through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.  And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

(3) Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance.  (4) Perseverance, character, and character, hope.  

 Paul tells us that in the future we will become, but until then we must overcome.  This means we will experience difficulties that help us grow.  We rejoice in suffering not because we like pain or deny its tragedy, but because we know God is using life’s difficulties and Satan’s attacks to build our character.  The Problems that we run into will develop our perseverance, which in turn will strengthen our character, deepen our trust in God, and give us greater confidence about the future.  You probably find your patience tested in some way every day.  Thank God for those opportunities to grow and deal with them in his strength.

(5) And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.     

These verses introduce a section that contains some difficult concepts.  To understand the next four chapters, it helps to keep in mind the two –sided reality of the Christian life.  On the one hand, we are complete in Christ (our acceptance with him is secure).  On the other hand, we are growing in Christ (we are becoming more and more like him).  At one and the same time we have the status of kings and the duties of slaves.  We feel both the presence of Christ and the pressure of sin.

Lets Bring it home: If we remember these two sides of the Christian life, we will not grow discouraged as we face temptations and problems.  Instead, we will learn to depend on the power available to us from Christ, who lives in us by the Holy Spirit.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 3:5-6   Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.  

Leaning has the sense of putting your whole weight on something, resting on and trusting in that person or thing.  When we have an important decision to make, we sometimes feel that we can’t trust anyone-not even God.  But God knows what is best for us.  He is a better judge of what we want than even we! We must trust him completely in every choice we make.  We should not omit careful thinking or belittle our God-given ability to reason; but we should not trust our own ideas to the exclusion of all others.  We must not be wise in our own eyes.  We should always be willing to listen to and be corrected by God’s Word and wise counselors.  Bring your decisions to God in prayer, use the Bible as your guide; and then follow God’s leading.  He will make your paths straight by both guiding and protecting you.