King David wrote often and with great detail about sin. About its wear and tear on the soul, on the body as well.
Spurgeon wrote for this morning about Peter's denial of Christ and how gut wrenching it must have been all his days even after being restored by His Savior.
Blackaby writes "If you allow sin to creep into your life, if you refuse to obey your Lord, if you do not reconcile with those who have hurt you, your spiritual vitality is waning. You may assume everything is fine, but when you pray, answers do not come as they once did. You once had a positive effect on those around you, but now your influence is negligible or even harmful. Your life once brought reconciliation, but now you experience problems in your relationships. Those around you who have relied upon your strength are discovering that you are not as helpful to them as you once were. Your lack of spiritual power is not crying out for attention; but you are seeing subtle changes in your spirit and in your relationship with God. How can you stop this spiritual decline? You must regularly repent of any sin. You must invite God to search your life to see if there are attitudes, relationships, or activities that need to be removed. You must fervently obey His will. If you walk with God in this manner, you will grow in spiritual strength and be used mightily by Him."
Think about it. As the Daily Bread for today wrote, quoting C.S. Lewis's work "The Screwtape Letters"...temptation begins with us as it did with Adam and Eve. Something forbidden by God that begins with "did He really say..."
Sin is why this world is perishing. It's not global warming. It's not going to be cured by making everyone accept everyone regardless of what they believe. It's not going to be cured through medical research. It's not going to be some utopia like is written about in science fiction.
It's not going to be brought about by any agency of mankind. Not going to happen.
What is going to happen is that sin WILL be dealt with. There's a significant day coming whereas Jesus Christ is coming back to bring an end to it.
What's happening in this world isn't global warming. It's the world being made ready for the events in Revelation and other passages in the Bible. Jesus said that though no man knows the day nor the hour, he WOULD see the signs. Just as you can look at the sky in the morning and can interpret whether it's going to be a scorcher or a rainy day.
Sin is what we are born with. But sin doesn't have to be master over us. There's freedom in Christ.
We are thinking beings. Regardless of how it comes out of our mouths we were born to be thinking beings. Adam was born a perfect man. Brain power was to be unrivaled until Eve was created. The only other born with a whole, perfect brain was Jesus. Adam was able to name everything that's on this planet. Everything. Every tree, every animal, even every insect. Nothing was dangerous to him. He was able to touch and see everything that God created that was good. Every insect wasn't out to bite him. None of them did. A bee, a yellow jacket, a wasp or mosquito could land on him as a butterfly might. A cobra could sleep beside him with ease. All the animals we fear today were of no threat back then.
Sin wasn't in the picture.
Eve was born and Adam enjoyed sharing this world with her. They were able to see and enjoy God's perfection in creation. There was no doubts about anything. There was no ridiculous ideas about evolution. There was no talk about a flat Earth. No strife. No protests. No shaking a fist at God to tell Him that His rules were wrong and unfair.
Then Satan did his thing and as you read in Genesis, the fall of man came because of "Did God really say..." sin was born, the world was cursed. It twisted and messed up all the perfect world. Even then this world longed for the day when Christ would come. Jesus said of His entry that if those whom rejoiced be silent the rocks would cry out. This world wants sin to end.
Sin is why we have diseases. Sin is why we have strife. Sin is why hate exists. Sin is why there is a separation between God and man.
Sin is why you ache every morning. Sin is why you must toil each day. God said that you would. It's in Genesis as part of the curse.
Sin is why there's animosity between man and woman. Sin is why relationships fail.
Sin is why your heart breaks at seeing injustice. Sin is why marriages break in two. Sin is in every part of your world.
But there's hope.
The hope is only found in Christ.
He made a way when there was no way.
He lived a sinless life.
He even prayed for you!
He died a horrendous death on a cross to pay the penalty for the sins of mankind.
He still prayed for you!
He took all the punishment meant for you upon Himself.
Then 3 days later arose from the dead to claim His glory, to claim that which He lay aside to go through all of that...to be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
He still prays for you.
He isn't willing that any should perish but that all would receive His free gift.
That's why the Day of Judgement isn't here yet. It's coming but it's not here yet because He loves you that much. He doesn't want you to go to Hell. But the choice is left in your hands. He prays but will not force His Salvation upon you. The choice is yours.
The consequences of sin hurt. It hurt Peter all his life. I can't imagine what he lived with. But at the same time I can't imagine what he lived with concerning how greatly he was used of God. God's Grace brought Him through.
Sin sours everything, everywhere.
Think about your choices today.
Think about what it is you do.
Satan would have you believe "Oh that's not that bad. Oh, come on, it'll be ok. It'll be fun! You want to be accepted don't you? You want people to think you're weird? You want people to..."
It always starts with something small. A little compromise here. A little there. It won't hurt anyone. Next thing you know your house is full of idols. Your passion and enthusiasm isn't for God. It's for things or even people in a way that God never intended. You will look back and not even realize how subtle the changes were that brought you here today.
But consider this, you can go to the head of a river. Where it begins. Take a load of small rocks. Start making a new path, one small rock next to the other. Draw a new line with them. Keep on going with this. On both sides. Before long you have redirected the entire river downstream. Look back at the beginning. You probably won't see where you began because of being so focused on the rocks you were putting down.
That's sin and temptation.
But how do you get back to where the river was going right?
On your own, you can't.
God can make a way and did!
Jesus is the way to Salvation. He is the only way. Not Allah not Mohammed, not Buddha. Only in Christ is Salvation.
Sin pollutes and destroys. Forgiveness is available only in Christ. Only in Christ are you able to resist temptation. Only Jesus can deliver you. He can restore broken relationships. He can heal lives. That's Resurrection power.
Are you at the end of yourself yet?
A believer or not, sin will be dealt with.
Every man and woman will give an account of their lives before Jesus.
Nobody escapes that. The chief question is why should He let you into His Heaven?
He is the only way, being good or having lived a good life isn't enough. You were born into sin. Only through Jesus can that sin be washed away. Righr now it's in your DNA.
Search online for the Romans Road. Look for it. Read it. It's time to stop running.
It's time to realize that you have a God shaped hole in your heart that everything in this world can't fill. It's time to truly be loved for the first time in your life.
It's not a get out of Hell free card. It's going to transform your life. It's a new relationship unlike any other with Jesus.
It's not for you to keep on living your life the same old way. It's about what Jesus wants to do with you.
You need to choose.
Nobody can choose for you.
It can't help you after you are dead.
Nobody can save you once you are gone.
You were not promised a today.
You were given a today.
You were granted a today in order to make things right between you and your God.
Choose wisely.
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