Worship - Sunday at 10:30AM
Bible Study - Wednesday at 6:30PM
2007-01-21 Communion Dedication - Baldwin Christian Church
FED UP AND TEMPTED
Malachi 3:13-18
13. Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?
14. Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
15. And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
16. Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
17. And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
18. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.
One of the biggest mistakes we make in our walk of faith is when we confuse the longsuffering of God with acceptance.
Puffed-up, prideful people continue flaunting their wealth, health, and happiness, but God does not humble them. Ungodly people seem to be the ones set up as role models in the world today, but God does not strike them down. People are doing many evil things in this world, practically shaking their fist in God's face while they do it, but He does nothing.
We don't see any punishment for this obvious wickedness, and we are tempted. We are tempted to envy, to emulate the people who seem to be getting away with wicked behavior. We are tempted to think God will not judge like He says He will. When we see the wicked set up on a pedestal, we are tempted to believe God is in favor of their behavior.
In talking about delayed judgment, Peter mentioned the story of Abraham's nephew Lot (2 Peter 2:7-9), and how Lot was vexed with the behavior of those in the city where he lived, Sodom. Lot was sick of all the immorality and wickedness around him, but when angels of the LORD told him to hurry up and get away because the destruction of Sodom was imminent, Lot hesitated, and the angels had to carry him out (Genesis 19:15-16).
Oh, how much are we like poor old Lot? We are so fed up with the wickedness on TV these days, but we linger in front of it while the clouds of fire and brimstone are gathering.
Revelation 18:4-5
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that
ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her
sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Our God remembers; we should never mistake his longsuffering with acceptance. Jesus died that the Comforter might come and live with us. He is the Holy Spirit; His voice reaches from heaven to our ears, and He is pleading with us today...
Come out of this confusion, my people, for my judgment is coming.
Scripture references:
2 Peter 2:7-9
And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his
righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) The Lord knoweth
how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the
day of judgment to be punished:
Genesis 19:15-16
And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise,
take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in
the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon
his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters;
the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without
the city.