"But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail. Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman who is divorced from a husband commits adultery. The Law and the Prophets were until John; since that time the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone is forcing his way into it."
Good Morning my beloved,
We welcome you to worship today in the name of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for joining us today, whether it's your first time or you are a faithful member of our family in Christ, your presence is acknowledged and truly appreciated. If you're not certain about whether or not you want to embrace Jesus Christ, I pray there will be something in our message today that will point you toward Christ.
Sin doesn't just happen all of the sudden, but happens as a slow progression, as the result of an unconscious slipping away from your walk with God, being distracted by the world. After Jesus healed the man at the pool of Bethesda who had been "sick" for thirty-eight years, when He later found him in the temple and said to him, "Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you."
While not every sickness is a direct punishment from God's disciplinary action, designed to bring an individual to repentance, sin is a sickness, a disease, and decay. Sin is the reason sickness exists, therefore, physical sickness is often the result of the natural consequences of sin. The Christian life is far more than just abstaining from sinful practices , it is habitual practice of adding new, godly ones behaviors, consistent with the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.
While Scripture is often read devotionally, its layers reveal a deeper theological lesson rooted in biblical wisdom. You should be mourning and grieving over the sin that exists in your life, rather than being arrogant and continually making excuses to justify it when someone lovingly points it out. But, sin is like that, isn't it? For any Christian to consider his own view of sin as superior to God's is the epitome of arrogance and is guilty of hubris! Putting himself in a very dangerous position with the Lord. In Matthew 23:12, Jesus clearly states that "whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
Signs of an unconverted heart are the unwillingness to change, ultimately denying God's power to transform one's life while holding tightly to old sinful lifestyles, while professing to "follow Christ," which according to Scripture, is impossible, since the two are diametrically opposed to one another. True conversion requires a radical change of heart and manifests a life of obedience. Given the magnitude our sin, and an understanding of His perfect Holiness, it is unthinkable that God would be willing to reconcile sinners with Himself, that we might enter into heaven and enjoy a loving relationship with Him, the Creator of the entire universe! Oh, the arrogance of those who unwilling to obey Him! Matthew 5:3, "Blessed are those who mourn,—the wickedness of their own hearts— for they shall be comforted" Godly sorrow leads to repentance, which results in the promise of comfort through the forgiveness of sins. A heart that accepts Jesus as Savior but rejects the Authority of His Lordship is described as possessing "dead faith" that does not result in salvation. Anyone who remains in willful, unrepentant sin has not wholly surrendered to Christ.
A life truly rooted in Christ shows transformation and repentance rather than settled lawlessness. Those who claim to be saved but live in consistent unrepentant sin are likely not truly saved, but self-deceived and according to 1 Corinthians 6:9–10 and Galatians 5:21, will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Ezekiel 36:26-27, "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to do My judgments." There are a lot of people who want to go to heaven, but clearly they want to enter on their own terms. No one will enter heaven based on their own merit, good works, or religious affiliation. Entrance requires faith in Christ alone, genuine repentance and coming by way of the narrow road, there's no room for clinging to your "cherished pet sin." There will be multitudes of people who will one day discover they have poured their whole lives into following the wrong Jesus down the wrong path, only to be told, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness." For them, the most frightening passage in Scripture will become a harsh reality. It's going to be a deeply shocking reality for many of those who have been long thought to be some of the most prominent, highly esteemed representatives of God who will face God's most severe judgment for neglecting the most vulnerable, and abuse of power, while they continued to live a life of hypocrisy that contradicts their profession, or according to 1 John 1:6, "they were living a lie and do not do the truth." 1 John 3:9 makes it clear, "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning," they're merely in a state of self-deception.
Many profess Him with their lips, yet deny Him with their lives, living in disobedience to God's will. Jesus expressly stated not everyone who says "Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom," but "the ones who obey the will of the Father." I believe that really says something about the way the church today brings somebody to Christ. "Just fill out this card, say this prayer, get baptized, join the church and serve, then you're good to go! You're in the family of Christ." Discipleship has been reduced to a series of religious "checkboxes." Nowhere does Scripture say anything like that!
They have no idea what's all that’s involved in becoming a true disciple of Christ. The implication is you just add Jesus to your existing life, sin and all. If you're still walking in darkness, continuing to live in disobedience, you have not yet come to the point of genuine conversion. The New Testament presents discipleship as a radical reorientation of life. Baptism is not merely symbolic, it is appeal to God for a good conscience and a participation in Christ’s death and resurrection, therefore, directly linking our new life directly to Christ's, not just part of a local congregation. Obedience is an integral part of the discipleship process.
A truly repentant heart is marked by a pursuit of the Holy Spirit's fruit; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. If you are a true Christian the greatest change that will ever happen to you in your life has already happened, through salvation you became a new creation, the old self has passed away. If God is love and He is, and if the Spirit of God lives in you and He does, then for you to love one another is a very reasonable command. Because Himself God is love. And, if you abide in Christ, then you had ought to walk as He walked, living by the same principles that He did, patiently enduring suffering and doing His Father's will, even to the point of laying down one's life. Just as sin doesn't just happen all of the sudden, nor does breaking free from sin. It starts with a choice to resist and then requires constant effort, prayer, and reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit, rather than human strength alone. And, even then, as the apostle Paul noted in Romans 7:15-19, it's a daily struggle, that while the desire to do what is good is present, the power to carry it out is often lacking. This process of sanctification is not instant, nor is it without temptation, it's a life-long process, and requires a daily surrender to the will of God and constant the renewing of one's mind. When faithfulness and obedience is the ultimate goal, I believe it's worth mentioning that the direction of our walk, consistent forward movement toward Christ-likeness and spiritual maturity, is more significant than the speed of our progress. Proverbs 2:6 says "For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding." From the moment of salvation, God graciously imparts the wisdom to comprehend His divine principle and the supernaturally empowers us to live them out. The problem is according to Proverbs 1:7, a fool—being wise in his own eyes— hates wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 26:1-11 teaches us that whenever a fool is faced with wisdom and instruction, he will reject it—being wise in his own eyes. Friends, it is the unteachable spirit, that is sure to suffer from strife.
Make no mistake, God judges nations, a church and a society as a direct result of disobeying His voice. And, we wonder what is going on in the world today? One of the first signs a nation is under the judgment of God is the increase of false pastors and teachers, followed by the normalization of sin and sexual immorality, which is described in Romans 1 as God "giving them over" to their sinful desires, where essentially anything goes, doing what is right in their own eyes. Finally, a nation divided, evident in the societal breakdown, increased lawlessness, discord among people and the inability to see the other side. Scripture says parents will be against children, children will be against parents and families will be split apart because of their opposing beliefs and ideologies, when this happens they will turn on one another, all while nation is being destroyed around them. And finally, a nation will face the lack of resources.
A nation’s prosperity or poverty is the direct result of its obedience to the Lord. We're not just talking about financial prosperity or poverty. But, do not fear, all is not lost, 2 Chronicles 7:14 says "And My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land." Persecution rarely arises from a single ideology. It typically erupts at the fault line where two fundamentally irreconcilable understandings of the truth collide, threatening the legitimacy of the other's beliefs, principals and moral convictions.
The Apostle Paul, in Ephesians 4, reminds us to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through diligence and intentional effort in humility, speaking the truth in gentleness and love. We all understand that God demands in Deuteronomy 6:5
that every person love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and honor Him with undivided devotion. Borrowing the words from John the Baptizer who said, "I must decrease; He must increase." Unlike true Christians who are genuinely converted, who turn from sin and grow in righteousness, those in darkness persist in habitual sin, such sexual immorality, greed, and self-centeredness are false Christians, or as described in Scripture, "tares," because they continue in the same sin as a way of life. There's no genuine repentance, desire for righteousness resulting in a decreasing pattern of sin.
If impersonating a Christian were a crime, I'm afraid there'd be a lot of people arrested in the church today. They might be outwardly walking around in Christianity, but inwardly, they're the same rotted flesh they were before, ultimately proving their faith is not genuine. They're what some theologians call carnal Christians. Which, by the way, Scripture knows nothing about. The Bible teaches you're either a true Christian or you're not. According to what the Word of God says, if your life doesn't demonstrate the signs of spiritual transformation, you're self-deceived and not saved. How do you know? Because true salvation produces self-control. Do you struggle with sin but ultimately resist? Or when the urge to sin rears its ugly head, do you just give in and then claim grace? If it's the latter, you probably posses the faith that is "dead, it's the "non-saving faith" that leads to self-deception.
If that’s the case, won't you cry out to the Lord Jesus Christ and confess to Him you're life hasn't changed and you want to be a new creature in Christ. Ask Him sincerely from your heart to get rid of anything that standing in the way of genuine salvation that leads to eternal life. I promise you He will. It might not happen all at once, but it will happen. As your new life start taking root, and you begin to change on the inside, old people and sinful habits will begin to start falling away. Transformation isn't passive, it's not just "Let go, let God," it requires active consistent effort to achieve victory over sin. Sanctification is a regular, routine and daily occurrence in your Christian experience. It all starts with putting off the old self, the renewing of the mind through Scripture, and then putting on the new self.
In 1 Peter 4:17, Peter says, "For it is time for judgment to begin with the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?" Judgment Begins with the House of God! I believe the church must repent now for violating God's Word, bringing the world's values into the church, and failing to obey God's voice. In Luke 15:7 Jesus says, "I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance."
If you prioritize church attendance and showing up at social events more than loving people, then you don’t understand Christ. Because Jesus Christ is inseparable from love for His people. I'm not talking about a sentimental love, biblical is defined by action and truth. It's the self-sacrificial kind of love that only the Spirit of God can produce in your life that says "Here, take what is mine. Because I’d rather do without than have you do without." In 1 Corinthians 13:4-5, Paul says "Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered."
Does that describe the way you love others? If not, then you don't understand the love of Christ. Because when you understand it and you possess it, you're compelled to live it, even unto death.
Let's pray
Heavenly Father,
Father, thank You for Your precious Word, may our hearts be encouraged so that we might rejoice because we have nothing to fear. Thank You for the gift of Your Son, mere words cannot not express the gratitude in our hearts. Lord, even today, by the power of Your Spirit, work in the hearts of those who dismiss Christ and draw them to Yourself. Make those of us who claim Christ to be submissive and live obedient lives that the world might see Christ in us and how Your Spirit works in us so beautifully. Lord, forgive us for those times when we are not and continue to increase our love in hearing the Word, because we know that in it You speak to our hearts and help us to make application of what we learn. Break our hearts for what breaks Yours, in our lives and in the world around us, so that we might see ourselves and others, through Your eyes. We ask and pray these things in Christ's name, for His sake and for Your glory.
Amen.
Today's Message: Following Christ In A Confused Culture
The heart and soul of New Testament teaching is that Jesus Chris came to seek and save the lost, demonstrating that no sinner is too far gone for reconciliation with God, even the most marginalized like tax collectors and prostitutes. He knew from the beginning that the cross was part of the divine plan, but the religious leaders didn't understand Jesus, they made no effort to seek understanding, so the Truth remained hidden from them, confirming their spiritual blindness. You see, God is always at work, His greatness isn’t just in the highs—it’s in the lows as well. The key is we must learn to pay attention when He speaks, even when it's not what we want to hear or when He's doing something in our lives we don't understand. We have to learn to trust Him, regardless of how things might look in the moment, know that all things work together for our good and His glory — including suffering and evil. This can be seem in the case of Joseph, when brothers acted out of jealousy and hatred, intending evil by selling him as a slave. But God—I love that—in His Sovereignty, took that intended evil and used it to accomplish good, preserving the lives of many, who would have otherwise perished from starvation.
God is not surprised by the evil in this world but uses it as part of His greater plan to save His people. There is nowhere can be seen more clearly than at the cross of Christ, where the morally reprehensible actions of evil men was used to accomplished only what God can, reconciling sinners like you and me to Himself. Today, Christ still extends His hands toward the lost, the hurting and the broken. He is pouring out His grace, offering His mercy to all who are willing come to Him in humility!
The problem is natural man is incapable of understanding or accepting the things of God on his own. In fact, according to 1 Corinthians 2:14, spiritual truths appear as foolishness to him, because he lacks the spiritual discernment necessary to perceive spiritual Truth and divine Wisdom. It is only through the Holy Spirit's illumination can man's spiritual blindness be remedied. The problem with the natural man is, because of intellectual pride, he thinks he already knows it all. To borrow a quote from Epictetus, the ancient Stoic Greek philosopher, which appears in his work Discourses in Book II, Chapter 17, "It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows." True freedom is not as the absence of constraints, but comes only from desiring for what is in alignment with God will, in order to avoid suffering often caused by attachment to things outside our control, like health and wealth. As we learned in our previous messages, the Pharisees were lovers of money, mockers of Christ, God incarnate, openly and publicly deriding Him in every way possible to shame Him. In verse 15, Jesus said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts, for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God." Detestable in the sight of God. Friends, this is God's attitude towards false religion, it is detestable to Him. As Christians, we can work with unbelievers on shared civic issues, such as public safety, environmental issues such as access to safe water, however, we must not enter spiritual partnership, worship or in any way form alliances with false religion, whether it be Islam, Buddhism, Judaism or Mormonism. In 2 Corinthians 6:14, Paul poses the question, "What fellowship can light have with darkness or what harmony has Christ with Belial?" emphasizing that we are commanded not to be unequally yoked with those who are not spiritually incompatible, asserting that light and darkness cannot coexist together.
In 1 John 4, John explicitly warns that many false prophets have gone out into the world, so he exhorts us to test the spirits to discern whether or not they are from God. And, at the same time, Jesus commanded to love our neighbors, love our enemies, and even pray for those who persecute us, challenging us to reflect God’s impartial mercy, speaking the truth in love with humility, and bearing witness to Christ without compromise. Demonstrating God's radical love towards others is an act of will rather than merely an emotional response, emphasizing that true "neighborly" love is indiscriminate, loving both the just and the unjust, extending well beyond our personal comfort zones, transcending racial, cultural and societal divisions, thereby resolving differences through a selfless approach, as illustrated in Luke 10:25-37, by the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The issue is not really a matter of neighborly kindness, but whether Christians can share in spiritual harmony with those whose beliefs deny the Gospel’s central claims, the Trinity and the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We are to avoid partnerships that require us to set aside the Gospel, whether wholly or in part, for the sake of harmony. Because when man rejects the truth, suppresses the truth in unrighteousness and develops a religion of his own and thinks himself to be wise, he is in fact a fool, subject to the wrath of God. An alliance, as used in this context, means something more significant than casual social contact, it's referring to shared spiritual partnership. The New Testament language in John 14:6 is clear, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me." No one comes to the Father but through Me, means, as followers of Christ, we cannot not treat all religions as equal paths to God. While salvation is a free gift from God, accepting it commits the recipient to a lifelong to discipleship, which requires self-sacrifice, obedience, and the willingness to bear the cross, which is distinct from the transaction of salvation. The path of true discipleship is costly, and cannot be obtained at a bargain. Which is why I believe we must encourage perspective followers of Christ to carefully consider the high price of obedience before committing to "follow Him," just as Jesus Himself did, rather than impulsively making a "decision for Christ" based on a temporary emotional experience.
True discipleship is a deliberate, rational assessment of the sacrifices required, ensuring a lifelong commitment is based on costly allegiance. Conventional wisdom would suggest that anyone who names the name of Christ is a Christian, that if someone says they "believe," that is enough to qualify them as a "Christian." I want to illustrate to you that the Word of God does not measure Christianity by what we say, but what we do, what we are willing to surrender. I am convinced that our text today commands a true Christian to depart from iniquity. I believe that Jesus is saying, with intensity, that many people are wanting to enter the kingdom—however, not always on God’s terms, they are forcing their way in. In other words, God's standard of holiness remains unchanged and cannot be altered to accommodate human desire. Truth does not bend just because sinful people want easier access to the kingdom. And those who fail to speak the Truth, proclaiming salvation without surrender, grace without genuine repentance and turning away from sin, claiming to offer Christ apart from possessing the nature of Christ, lacking the transformative reality of a life devoted to Him, will stand before Christ to give an account for their actions, where there will be no excuse for suppressing the Truth. Scripture is clear—naming Christ is not the same as knowing Christ as beloved child of God, characterized by intimacy through transparency and obedience, in alignment with His character and will, glorifying Him rather than dishonoring His name. 2 Timothy 2:19 tells us, "Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to depart from wickedness." Paul is emphasizing the importance of feeding on the established truths of God that remains unshakable, despite the destructive influences of "savage wolves" who distort the truth, equipping ourselves to confront false teachers sharply and silence those who spread destructive errors. Trusting that the Lord recognizes and preserves those who are His, while asserting the greatest evidence of truly belonging to God is a holy life, separated from sin. A genuine confession of Christ is incompatible with a life marked by unrepentant ongoing sin and the lack of transformation.
It is such a tremendous a privilege for us to come together to praise Christ and to hear Christ praised. So, please open your Bibles with me if you would to the Gospel of Luke. Luke chapter 16, verses 16 through 18. I realize that it has taken us several weeks to work our way through this portion of Scripture about the Unrighteous Steward, that's because I believe it raises a number of issues of significance that need to be addressed. I would like to encourage you to follow along in your Bible with an open heart and an open mind as I read these verses to you. Listen for the voice of our Lord. Luke 16:16-18.
Let's begin by looking at verse 16, "The Law and the Prophets were until John; since that time the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone is forcing his way into it." Throughout history, there are moments when everything changes—when one era closes and another begins. We've already learned in verse 14, that the Pharisees, the religious leaders of Israel were lovers of money. This is always the case with those entangled in false religion. That's why in Matthew 6, Jesus emphatically declared "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other," as both demand exclusive devotion. And then at the end of verse 24, He boldly states that "You cannot serve God and wealth." They resisted everything Jesus said, that's the reason they had been scoffing at Him, they were listening to all these things He was saying about money. The Law and the Prophets represents the entire Old Testament, encompassing everything God had spoken through His written Word and the prophets leading up to John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament prophets and the forerunner who announced the long awaited arrival of Israel's Messiah. Together, these pointed forward—to something much greater, the Messiah and coming Kingdom of Heaven. John the Baptist stood at the intersection of these two significant eras, bridging the gap between the Old Testament Covenant and the Kingdom of Heaven. In Matthew 11, Jesus Himself affirmed John’s unique status saying "Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."
The problem was, the Pharisees couldn't understand, they were spiritually blinded and their ears were deafened because their hearts were corrupted. That's why Jesus said in John 5:24, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life." The only way to form an alliance, to make nice with false religionists and Omnists, is to withhold the Truth, as it is the Truth that offends them. Omnists, hold the view that there are different pathways to a common universal truth since all religions contain "some degree of truth." Consequently, many Christian Omnists often engage in personal research and subjective experience, integrating Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and even indigenous traditions, along secular philosophies, to form their own "comprehensive spiritual worldview," which most generally includes tolerance, and continuous learning, in order not to offend anyone. All false religious systems have some self-justifying element to them, whether it's righteous deeds, religious ceremonies or human goodness. So here is the tension we as Christians must wrestle with: If someone claims Christ but continues to comfortably and habitually sin, what does that claim really mean? According to the Word of God, that person is living in a state of self-deception. Living in unrepentant, willful sin is incompatible with a new life in Christ. Their continued unrepentant sin shows no change in their sinful patterns, indicating that no regenerative work of the Spirit has taken place. In other words, it's very likely they were not genuinely saved to begin with and they are a liar. While Christians may still struggle with and may even occasionally commit sin, they cannot remain comfortable in doing it, there's an internal conflict and conviction against sin, driving them toward holiness. Jesus did not come simply to improve our Sunday Christian vocabulary. Nor did He did not die so that we could wear His name like a label. He died so that our lives would be transformed to bear His image in our daily lives.
Notice at the end of the verse, Jesus immediately reminds us that His standards haves not changed, "everyone is forcing his way into it." It means that people are seeking to enter the Kingdom of Heaven not through physical violence, but through intense zeal, determined effort rather than entering by faith. Similarly, in Matthew 11:12, He said "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force." People want in but have no interest in entering according to God's standards, it's too difficult for them and the price is too high. It is a struggle for everyone who enters the Kingdom, because it won't happen apart from "Denying yourself." Complete abandonment of all your own wants, dreams and desires. You must be willing to die to self daily. You must come to the end of yourself and the end of your own will. You have to recognize your own wretchedness with a broken and contrite heart. You have to come like the tax collector in Luke 18, who was beating his chest, saying, "‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’" That's an extremely tremendous struggle for prideful, self-righteous religious people like the Pharisees to do because they reject the idea of being classified as a wretched sinner and are motivated by a self-justifying spirit just don't get it. God sees right through a heart full of pride and a false sense of humility. This is an issue that many Christians have wrestled with since the early days of the Church. To enter the Kingdom of Heaven requires humility, complete surrender and genuine repentance, and changing the direction of our lives, leaving sin behind, which often treated casually in today's church. When a person truly understands the worth of the kingdom, everything else will become secondary. I believe that we first need to recover spiritual urgency and that calls for repentance and transformation. As I've stated numerous times, we don't get to set the terms of salvation. We either accept it or reject it. This verse is both a warning and an invitation. The window of opportunity still open but it's closing as we draw nearer to the end of the age. Isaiah 55:6 reminds us to "Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near."
Verse 17, "But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail." We live in a world where the lines between right and wrong are being blurred before our very eyes. What was morally right yesterday is questioned today and more often than not, rejected tomorrow. This shift is happening all around us, not all at once, but slowly, little by little through casual conversations, , subtle changes in main stream media, and in our education system. Cultural and societal pressures collide with Truth at the intersections of tolerance and inclusion, social awareness, and equality and justice. Pressure to compromise, pressure to remain silent about what Scripture clearly says. We start to hear things that are reshaping our lives and the way we think, like "Truth is different for everyone, we need to dismantle these divisive barriers. God's Word is not the Authority over me or my life. American is not a Christian nation, faith is optional, not mandatory. You don't get to tell me what to believe!" And if we are not being careful, the world in which we live will soon become completely unrecognizable without us even realizing it and we will start absorb those changes. But the greater danger is not just what happens in the world around us, but is happens in our hearts, as it slowly becomes hardened, not outwardly but internally, before we know it, we become in different to what God declares as sin, redefining timeless Truths to become "allies" with Satan and his agenda, as our hearts drift further and further from the God of the Bible and toward the one we've created for ourselves.
The issue is God's Word does not change with shifting cultures, it stands firm.
Scripture is clear, those who are indifferent to their sin will remain outside Kingdom of God. But this isn't merely about Scripture, this is about God Himself, Who is perfectly Righteous and Holy, from which His moral standard flows! His character, nature, and promises are unchanging, deeply rooted in Psalm 119:89 which says: "Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven." Isaiah 40:8 adds:
"The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever." I believe the message is clear, what He has called sin in the past remains sin today. Christ came to take away the sins of the world, not merely to redefine them. Therefore, we can have confidence that He will fulfill His promises. to judge the unrighteous, ensuring that the wicked are condemned. God defines sin as anything contrary to His divine nature and attributes and a failure to glorify Him.
If holiness is not your standard then Jesus is not your Lord. And, if He is not your Lord, He is not your Savior. He must be both as the two are inseparably linked. In 1 Corinthians 1:13, the Apostle Paul poses the rhetorical question, "Is Christ divided?" And in verse 18, he writes "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God."
To believe that somehow the eternally immutable God has suddenly decided to change His mind about your coveted sin is inconsistent with what He says about Himself and is nothing more that damning self-deception. Any apparent changes in God's thoughts or actions regarding sin stem from the response of corrupt human heart, which are inconsistent with divine Truth. God is never content to leave us where we are, He always calls us to become something greater—Christ-likeness.
If not one stroke of a letter of the Law will fail then preaching must be rooted in the Truth found in Scripture rather than human opinion or personal feelings. In 2 Timothy 4:2–3 Paul warned "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths." That time is no longer coming, it's here! The church cannot afford remain neutral. We must choose to boldly stand firm on the unchanging Word of God. A church cannot rise higher than it's leadership. We need to do better!
That's brings us to verse 18, "Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman who is divorced from a husband commits adultery." This verse almost seems to appear out of nowhere without warning, with no apparent connection to what He has been saying, doesn't it? Consequently, it actually has a very strong connection to everything He has been saying. Jesus offended the Pharisees because He embraced sinners. A Pharisee wouldn't go near one of these degenerate people, much less sit down and eat with them. They were thought to be the scum of the earth, a disgrace to society, who couldn't even go to the synagogue. They couldn't imagine anyone claiming to represent God defiling themselves with these vile people.
There are times when Jesus' words comfort us—and others times when His words really sting, that expose our idolatrousness and self-deception, confronting our own sinful hearts. I believe this is one to be the latter. Jesus lovingly strips away our self- delusions so we may truly receive His grace and enter into eternal life by equating hatred hidden in the heart characterizes someone who we know has not eternal life abiding in him and is still living in spiritual darkness. The Pharisees loved money but they hated people who they thought to be inferior to them. Jesus commands those of us who claim to belong to Him to mirror the Heavenly Father, to love impartially, to love even our enemies through the power of the Holy Spirit rather than just human emotion. We are never more like Christ than we love those who hate us, curse us and persecute us, even to death. James says in chapter 1 verse 22, "But become doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves." And, Paul writes in Romans 5:8," But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Love, which comes from God, serves as the defining mark of a true Christian and is intended to overcome evil. Examine your own heart, what kind of love does it produce? Godly love driven by a deep commitment to serve others and seeks their best interest regardless of your perceived "worthiness" or worldly love, motivated by self-interest, usability, and the expectation of getting something in return, that loves only those who love you? Scripture teaches us in Galatians 6:7–9 that it’s the law of sowing and reaping. Hypocrites are usually pretty careful about how they select their modus operandi or M.O. and these guys were no different. Being a legalist can be pretty difficult, so, Jesus chose to one of their most cherished Old Testament commands to disregard. He's calling them a bunch of adulterers, saying "Who are you to tell Me that I am derogating the Law?" Derogating is a term that when used in a legal context refers to the partial repealing or impairing the effectiveness of a law. These self-righteous religious hypocrites didn't actually commit adultery, they knew the law. Believe me, they knew it very well. They knew the penalty of adultery was death, that's why they carefully devised a plan to keep from violating the law. When they didn't want their current wives any longer, they just wrote her a certificate of divorce, put her out and took up with the woman they preferred more. And, when they didn't prefer the new woman any longer, they just repeated the process, writing her a certificate of divorce and putting her out, moving on to the next one. Not because of adultery, just because he didn't like her anymore. You wouldn't believe the reason he could use. These are some of the causes for divorce according to Rabbi Hillel. You could write a certificate of divorce is she burned your dinner! Yes, lousy food was a reason for a divorce. You could divorce her if she said something unkind about your mother or letting down her hair or if she was infertile, unable to give you a son. You get the picture, right? You could pretty much fill in the blank with any excuse you wanted. Because false religion cannot restrain the flesh. When you go around remarrying, you're committing adultery, distorting the picture of the sacred covenant between God and His people.
By the way, for the record, God does not condone divorce. In fact, He hates it but He does provides an exception that serves as grounds for it due to human sin and hardness of heart. And that exception is any sexual sin outside of marriage, which breaks the "one flesh" union. And, if she goes out and marries again, which the law provided for, the former husband who first sent her away, is not allowed to take her back again; because she's been defiled. Whoever marries her, which is inevitable, he makes her guilty of adultery. So, what you end up having a bunch of people running around proliferating adulteries all over the place. There is other reason for divorce, and that is if an unbelieving spouse chooses to leave the marriage, and in that case, she is free from the marital bond.
You see, marriage is more than just two people entering into a legal contract with each other, it's a binding, spiritual agreement initiated by God, characterized by a reciprocal bond of love, devotion, and obedience between Christ and His Church. When God's people fail Him, He doesn't just "file for divorce." Instead, He pursues pursues them. Remember the parable of the lost sheep in the last chapter? And, let's not forget Hosea 3, where shows God commanding Hosea to love an unfaithful wife as a picture of His love for Israel, even as they were committing spiritual is an adultery by turning to other gods. In most cases, divorce is essentially self-centeredness. Marriage is covenant faithfulness, teaching us what God is like. Today's culture asks God, "What is permissible?" God answers His people, "What is faithful?" Truth without grace becomes mean. Grace without truth becomes meaningless. I believe the church must hold them both together.
If you or someone you know has personally experienced adultery or divorce, and many in today's culture has, please bear in mind, that no one is beyond redemption. Even though God's standards are high, because of His grace, He is willing to graciously meet us where we are. So, rather than running away from God, run towards your Heavenly Father Who loves you unconditionally.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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