Now the works of the flesh are clearly revealed, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, fightings, jealousies, angers, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkennesses, revelings, and things like these; of which I tell you before, as I also said before, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)
Every one of us is an omelet, there is a lot of good in us … well most of us (don’t look around) …but there is some bad in us too and that makes us unfit for the presence of The Supreme Being.
But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all your conduct; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. (1st Peter 1:15-16)
“It is not a little dislike, but thorough hatred which God bears to workers of iniquity. To be hated of God is an awful thing. O let us be very faithful in warning the wicked around us, for it will be a terrible thing for them to fall into the hands of an angry God” — C. H. Spurgeon. Light cannot have communion (commingle) with darkness, they are totally incompatible.
Therefore if you are not a Christian at this point in time you’ve got a serious problem according to God’s Word, the Holy Bible; but the remedy is available – commit yourself to Jesus. It is simpler than most folk realize.
I say, then, Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (Romans 12:1)
But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)
Fallen man has come under the wrath of God but that is not what we were created for. We were created for fellowship with Him and that is what He still longs for and the reason He made the way for us to be reconciled to Him. “The Lord is not slow concerning His promise, as some count slowness, but is long-suffering toward us, not purposing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2nd Peter 3:9)
Those who fail to heed God’s commands and are not actively abiding in Christ Jesus prior to their departure from this world will hear “Depart from Me you cursed into everlasting fire” (Matt 25:41) What is usually not realized is that this will be spoken from a broken heart for God Himself has stated that He has no delight in the death of the wicked and longs to be able to welcome you into His heaven but, you see, His Justice, coupled with His other divine attributes, prevents those who have not been reconciled through His Son to gain entrance into that holy place.
Perhaps this illustration will help: God has a peanut allergy. For those of us who are not allergic to peanuts this may not make a whole lot of sense but bear with me. I enjoy a good PB&J sandwich occasionally and I’ve eaten one in the presence of someone who was allergic to peanuts and he sort of went flakey. For me, his reaction certainly seemed to me to be a little illogical, but for him he knows what ingesting only a little bit of peanut product will do to him and he wanted to put distance between himself and that “hazardous” substance. Now the Holy Bible tells me that there was at one time a “hazardous substance” in heaven. It was found in the heart of Lucifer and it cost God one-third of His angels. He is not going to permit Heaven to ever be polluted again. Now, we are, in essence, saturated through and through with peanut oil and the only cure, the only way to get rid of it, is Jesus. Buddha brand aspirin won’t work, pagan pepto stuff won’t work; nor will churchy chlorine sans Christ or anything else you can come up with. Jesus is the only cleansing/purifying agent who can remove all the impurities that are in us and make us fit for heaven.
The third chapter of Genesis explains why human history is written in the ink of blood and tears. This should not be confused with the idea that we are being punished for Adam’s sin (if considering him as a private person) we suffer for our own sins but Adam was the federal head of the human race. Adam acted, not for himself alone, but for all who were to spring from him, so that his act was, judicially constituted, our act.
The corruption of the nature of all the offspring of Adam is referred to as original sin, or depravity, and demonstrates itself in a tendency towards evil, and that continually. That tendency remains in the person who has decided and is following Christ Jesus until cleansing is provided by baptism through God’s Holy Spirit. Some refer to it as pursuing purity, others as Christian maturity, still others prefer to state it as entire sanctification. Keeping the concept simple; when a person becomes a Christ Follower they proclaim that “Jesus is my co-pilot” whereas the fully committed Christian humbly acknowledges Jesus as “The Pilot”.
By his act of disobedience in Eden man had effectively declared unbelief in the trustworthiness of the Word of God and decided to take control of his own destiny. Only later did he realize that he had unwittingly submitted to the enemy of his soul rather than maintaining his trust in the One who loved him. Sin broke the happy relationship which originally existed between man and his rightful lord. The fact that we continue disobeying the law of God demonstrates our oneness with Adam. Our complicity with Adam in his rebellion is evidenced every time we personally sin against God.
Actual sin or personal sin is a voluntary violation of a known law of God by a morally responsible person. This should not be confused with involuntary shortcomings, infirmities, faults, mistakes, failures or other deviations from a standard of perfect conduct that are the residual effects of the fall. However, such innocent effects do not include attitudes or responses contrary to the spirit of Christ, which may be properly called sins of the spirit.
Thankfully, for every one of us, God sets the rules, not we. See Matthew 18:23-35 in His guidebook, the Holy Bible, also known as the Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.
Unfortunately for fallen, unreconciled man, physical death is the separation of the soul from the body, expulsion from the earth, not annihilation.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endures forever. (Psalm 111:10)
Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord, since they would not accept my advice and spurned My rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to Me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm. (Proverbs 1:29-33)
You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell. The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong. (Psalm 5:4-5)
“For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” (Psalm 1:6)
One of the really disturbing sayings among those not actively following the ways and teachings of Jesus is that they will be with all their friends in hell but the children of light, those who have placed their faith in Jesus and are actively obeying Him, are aware that no soul in the place of torment will have any friends due to the fact that they will be blaming each other for their own failure to appropriate Christ Jesus as their own personal Savior and vehicle of reconciliation to God.
The ancient Rabbins held that the law we find delineated for us in Deuteronomy 22:6 was the least of God’s laws and the violation of even that one law results in a person being counted guilty as if violating the whole Law. After all, a careful study of the Holy Scripture reveals no Biblical authority for believing there is any such thing as a little sin; an insignificant sin. It is the solemn declaration that those who have despised God’s authority and trampled His commandments beneath their feet are exposed to the Divine displeasure and to the well deserved and completely appropriate punishment as the expression of that displeasure.
“For whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. (James 2:10)
Did you catch that? One single transgression against the law of God is all that it takes to establish a person in the category of the wicked. Some folks think, or are hoping that, if their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds they’ll be okay. That is not the way God does things.
God sets the rules, not mankind. God does not grade on a curve. The first six chapters of Romans in the Holy Bible lays out clearly and concisely that every person on the face of this planet, whether Jew or Gentile [the Biblical way of saying “all races, all people groups”], prior to reconciliation with God through His divinely provided remedy is categorized for eternal separation from the One, True, Holy God. We all love to quote John 3:16, and that’s good, but we must not overlook the verses immediately following:
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes on Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the Light, because their deeds were evil.
For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who practices truth comes to the Light so that his works may be revealed, that they exist, having been worked in God. (John 3:17-21)
In this day and age most of society implicitly and/or explicitly rejects the premise which has been clearly set forth in the Holy Bible that “all have sinned.” Rather most folk seem to prefer to meander towards the tendency to want to believe that some people are naturally good and others have, probably through no fault of their own, unfortunately been influenced to be bad. We use “science” today to say the fault probably lies in our genes. However the human race is suffering as a result of the sin of Adam, or it is suffering for no reason at all.
In the 2,000 years of church history following the time of Jesus’ physical presence in this world many theologians and scholars have set forth their thoughts in an attempt to define sin. Some have defined it quite broadly making it out that practically everything that a human being does which is not specifically an act of devotion toward God is sin. The problem with that definition is that it degrades the problem of sin which is, God is holy and He will not permit those who are hostile to Him and offensive to His absolute purity to dwell in His presence.
I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. (John 8:24)
God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment (2nd Peter 2:4)
An overly broad definition of sin can also cause those who are trying to trust and obey Christ Jesus to feel very insecure in their faith walk. Another definition, which was offered by the renowned theologian John Wesley: “Sin is a willful transgression of a known law of God.” This is a far more scripturally sound explanation of what sin is even if, perhaps, a bit too narrow a description. Temptation is not sin, it can lead to sin, but it is not in and of itself sin.
Sin came into the world through the disobedience of our first parents, and spiritual death by sin. The enormity of such an offense is nearly impossible for us to truly comprehend. Consider the fact that we are told that Adam was able to converse with his creator on a regular basis and then he chose to disobey a plainly articulated command with concise consequences. Man lost the favor and friendship of God and incurred His holy displeasure and righteous indignation. Fallen man became separated from God. It is easy to write or read those words, but who is competent to fathom their fearful import!
The concept of Adam as the head of the human race and that his actions determined the natural direction for all his posterity is clearly taught in the Holy Bible. Sin, the willful disobedience, snapped the golden cord which had united man to his maker. Even as God confronted Adam regarding his disobedience He began articulating the methodology of the remedy He had predetermined that He would use before He had ever begun His creative work. If we follow Adam’s path we will experience eternal separation from God; if we follow Jesus’ path we may experience eternal companionship with God on a superior basis to even that which Adam enjoyed before the fall.
Therefore, even as through one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed on all men inasmuch as all sinned:
Therefore as by one offense sentence came on all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of One the free gift came to all men to justification of life.
For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous. (Romans 5:12, 18-19)
Such repetition and emphasis intimates the basic importance of the truth here revealed and also hints at our slowness or rather reluctance to receive the same. Interestingly enough, the meaning of these declarations too plain for any unprejudiced mind to misunderstand. “In Adam all die.” (1st Cor 15:22) Every member of the human race enters into this world a guilty sinner, alienated from The Supreme Being before he ever commits a single transgression on his own.
Yes, dear reader, it is a bleak picture being painted thus far and we still have more groundwork to be laid out before we can truly get to the bright colors of hope and victory which are coming our way if we allow the confusing clutter to be cleared from our pathway by this bleak portion. From whence came this clutter? The enemy of our soul who has been seeking to work us woe from way back at the beginning of human history.
D’oh
“sIn”
“If a man possesses a repentant spirit his sins will disappear, but if he has an unrepentant spirit his sins will continue and condemn him for their sake forever.” – Buddha
“The first sin in the Universe was Lucifer’s self-conceit.” – Thomas Carlyle
“Sin is not hurtful because it is forbidden, but it is forbidden because it is hurtful” – Benjamin Franklin
Sin exists. Sin separates man from God. What is sin anyway? Mr. Franklin’s little statement quoted above can take us a long way toward understanding the Ten Commandments: The “Thou Shalt” and “Thou Shalt Nots” thingy, and the purpose behind them; obey them and have a better life, ignore them and things just won’t go as well.
Sin is not a word we hear much outside of religious circles. The main reason for that is due to the fact that our world, meaning primarily western culture, has replaced the word with many others in an effort to describe behavior which it does not consider to be currently socially acceptable. Unfortunately, changing the name does not change the reality of the concept; a skunk by any other name is just as smelly. Some behaviors are not right, regardless of society’s fungible norms or the words used to describe them.
In this day and age most of society implicitly and/or explicitly rejects the premise which has been clearly set forth in the Holy Bible that “all have sinned.” Rather most folk seem to prefer to meander towards the tendency to want to believe that some people are naturally good and others have, probably through no fault of their own, unfortunately been influenced to be bad. We use “science” today to say the fault probably lies in our genes. However the human race is suffering as a result of the sin of Adam, or it is suffering for no reason at all.
In the 2,000 years of church history following the time of Jesus’ physical presence in this world many theologians and scholars have set forth their thoughts in an attempt to define sin. Some have defined it quite broadly making it out that practically everything that a human being does which is not specifically an act of devotion toward God is sin. The problem with that definition is that it degrades the problem of sin which is, God is holy and He will not permit those who are hostile to Him and offensive to His absolute purity to dwell in His presence.
I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. (John 8:24)
– Pastor Ward Clinton
Islamophobe is a word crafted by Moslem leaders and clerics to be used against non-Moslems in order to silence them. It has also been added to the arsenal of the PC police to silence dissent that could lead to the awakening of the American people who are going about their personal business not really aware of the looming disaster that is stealthily approaching.
“It’s very simple ladies and gentlemen, Alexander the Great had a fantastic quote. And he said I would not fear an army of lions if they were led by sheep, but I would fear an army of sheep if they were to be led by a lion. This great nation is a nation of lions that is currently being led by the greatest of sheep that we have ever seen in our 239 years of existence. How dare Barack Obama, how dare John Kerry, how dare Valerie Jarrett, or any of these other charlatans that occupy Washington D.C., surrender this great constitutional republic to the Republic of Iran.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it was said in December 1775 by Thomas Payne that these are the times that try men’s souls. That the sunshine patriot and the summer soldier will shrink from his duties. But to those who will make a stand – those of you that are here in Times Square – you will deserve the love and admiration of all men and women.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s not over. You being here sends a message that the United States of America, I don’t care who is occupying the White House, we are not surrendering our liberty, our freedom, our way of life.
“I want President Barack Obama to know one thing. You may say that you have done something that no one else has ever done. You know why no one else has ever done it? Because it’s a damn stupid thing that you just did. And if people are upset because of what I’m saying, I really don’t care, because I had a father that stood in WWII. I had an older brother that stood and was wounded at Khe Sanh. I gave 22 years of my life to make sure that that great beacon of liberty, freedom and democracy continues to stand, and I have a nephew, I have friends that are still serving on the front lines. And my commitment is to the oath that I took on 31 July, 1982, to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies foreign and domestic and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same. It’s not to anybody’s historic event. It’s not for anyone to have some special exhibit in their presidential library. It’s to make sure that the enemies of America and the enemies of Israel are crushed and brought to their knees.
“God bless you all! God bless America! God bless Israel! Thank you.” – Allen West
One man awake awakens another,
The second awakens his next door neighbor,
And three awake can rouse the town,
and turn the whole place upside down.
And many awake can raise such a fuss,
That it finally awakens the rest of us.
One man up with dawn in his eyes – multiplies.
What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’ Mark 13:37
A word of encouragement to our pastors, who, now more than ever, are on the front lines of the culture war given the assault on marriage and religious liberty.
John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, a lesser-known hero of the War for Independence, was a pastor and a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. In 1775, he preached a sermon on Ecclesiastes 3:1 — “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.”
Pastor Muhlenberg closed his sermon with these words:
“In the language of Holy Writ, there is a time for all things. There is a time to preach and a time to fight. And now is the time to fight.”
He then removed his clerical robes and revealed to the congregation that he was wearing the uniform of an officer in the Continental Army.Pastor Muhlenberg’s example of a man of God fighting for our God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness should give increased fervor and devotion most especially to those who lead us in the fight for faith, family and freedom.
Like few times in our nation’s history, this is a time to fight for the values we cherish! — Gary Bauer
If anyone wonders whether the founding fathers thought the federal government should define marriage and not the states, and whether it should interfere with our religious beliefs, here is what Thomas Jefferson thought:
Thomas Jefferson letter to Samuel Miller
Date: January 23, 1808
I consider the government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution from inter-meddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises. This results not only from the provision that no law shall be made respecting the establishment or free exercise of religion, but from that also which reserves to the States the powers not delegated to the United States. Certainly, no power to prescribe any religious exercise or to assume authority in any religious discipline has been delegated to the General Government. It must then rest with the States.
It is times like this that we need to strengthen ourselves by reading the book most hated by liberals which was penned by their greatest enemy whom they can never defeat.
1 Peter 1: 19-21 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
pastorwardclinton 