THE CONSEQUENCES OF REJECTING GOD

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”

Romans 1:28-32

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Every person has a choice to make. They can accept God into their lives and allow His will to lead and guide them or they can reject God and chase after their own desires. It’s really as simple as that.

Receiving God in one’s life leads to right and righteous living. It also leads one to salvation because God will always direct a believer to His Son Jesus and the salvation He offers through Him. Surrendering to God places a spotlight on a person’s utter depravity before Him and reveals the need for a Savior.

Conversely, anyone who ignores God and decides to follow their own ways will immerse themselves in sinful ways. As we saw in yesterday’s message, they live with the false impression that they are wise as they worship and revere created things instead of the God who created them. It was true in New Testament days as Paul wrote to the people in Rome and unfortunately it’s still true today.

So what does God do in the case of the latter?

He allows people to suffer the consequences that come with turning away from Him.

As we read from the scriptures yesterday, one of the sins born from a godless life was (and still is) sexual immorality. The example Paul used, and it’s obvious this was happening in Rome, was women and men having sexual relations with the same sex. Women entered into what the Bible calls “unnatural” sexual trysts with other women. The men followed suit with each other. The Bible calls such behavior shameful and promises judgment on the perpetrators saying they will receive “the due penalty for their error”.

Well, sexual immorality was just one of the byproducts of living a life minus God. As we see in today’s passage, there were plenty of other iniquities associated with refusing to receive the knowledge of God, a decision that leads to a person developing a “depraved mind”. This results in a person doing what shouldn’t be done which is code of saying they sin and as we look back to our passage for today, there is a laundry list of transgressions connected to godlessness:

“They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.” Romans 1:29-31

All these acts are evil and wicked by nature because they defy God’s commandments. Sin leads a person down the road of depravity, the wide pathway that Jesus talked about, the pathway that leads to destruction. Paul puts more definition on actions that indicate someone is on the wrong path.

If you’re greedy or envious of others, you’re going the wrong way.

If you’re one who causes likes to cause strife which includes slandering and gossiping about others, then you’re on the wrong path.

If you deceive others, you’re walking a way separate from God.

If you’re insolent, arrogant, and boastful, turn around because you’re far from the humble state God expects.

If you’re disobedient to your parents, you’re violating God’s command to honor them.

And if you hate God or commit murder, you’re definitely far off the course God wants you on.

All this should tell you that it’s not heard to recognize a godless person. There are plenty of wicked indications and even the ones mentioned aren’t enough because the scriptures tell us that sinners are always inventing new ways to be evil. Ultimately, they lack fidelity, understanding, love, and mercy.

Why?

Because they lack God and we see in the scriptures that there are consequences when this happens. Godlessness begets wickedness. It was true in biblical times and it’s still true here in present days.

And so the question is this:

Do your behaviors match up with any of these indicators of depravity?

If so, it’s time to come back to God, confess your sins, and let Him lead you back to where He wants you to be, to a place far from sin and iniquity, to a narrow path that will lead you to a godly life now and forever.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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THE FOOLISHNESS IN REJECTING GOD

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In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.”

“Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.”

“Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.”

Romans 1:21-27

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Every single person has a choice to make in life and the way their life will go completely hinges on the decision. This is why it is the most important and critical determination anyone will undertake.

Simply put, it’s a matter of either accepting or rejecting God, the God who has made Himself evident to everyone as we saw in our message yesterday. No one can say that God isn’t real, doesn’t exist, or hasn’t revealed Himself.

Given this, it’s easy to see how it would be absolute foolishness to not acknowledge or accept God into one’s life. And yet, millions upon millions do. They know God but they neither glorify nor give thanks to Him. Many who fall into this category see themselves as wise, at least in their own eyes. They revel in their futile thinking and allow their foolish hearts to be darkened because they refuse to receive the light of the Lord. They exchange the immortal God for the ways of the world and in Paul’s day, fashioned images of human beings, birds, animals, and reptiles. They placed more of their worship on created things instead of the Creator.

So what did God do?

Well, He didn’t force them to believe in Him, that’s for sure. Since they willingly chose to snub Him, He let them have their way and “gave them over” to “the sinful desires of their hearts”. One of the results of this was that the ungodly turned “to sexual impurity” and “the degrading of their bodies with one another” all because “they exchanged the truth about God for a lie”.

What did that sinful immorality look like?

God’s word tells us in verses 26 and 27.

“Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.”

This is a snapshot of what we refer to as homosexuality today. The Bible, God’s holy and divine Word, makes it totally clear that this kind of sexual immortality is nothing but shameful lust, wicked behavior that totally violates intimacy within personal relationships the way God designed it. He created man and woman with the intent that they would join together as one flesh, sharing sexual relations as a consummation of their marital commitment to one another. Further, a married couple was given the privilege and blessing to procreate and produce offspring for the God who gave them the ability to do so.

This was God’s will for His people.

But as we have seen after the fall in the Garden of Eden, sin has entered into the picture and changed everything. Ever since Adam and Eve made the fateful decision to follow their own desire and eat the forbidden fruit, men and women have followed their lead and violated God’s commands and demands. The matter of sexual immortality isn’t a 21st century phenomenon. It’s obvious that people were engaging in homosexual behavior back in New Testament times, especially in Rome since this is where the letter is sent.

Women “exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones” which means they engaged in sex with one another. The scriptures tell us that “men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another, committing “shameful acts with other men”.

Neither behavior would find any favor with God but rather place the sexually immoral perpetrators in the crosshairs of God’s wrath and judgment which was “the due penalty for their error.”

Did I mention that it was foolish to reject God?

Well, sexual immortality wasn’t the only possible negative outcome for choosing to ignore God in life. Tomorrow, we’ll look at a wide variety of other resultant transgressions.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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NO EXCUSE

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In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

Romans 1:20

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Some people don’t know God in their life. Even worse, a segment of these people don’t even believe God exists, the God who sent His only Son Jesus to die for them and bear the very sins they commit by rejecting and denying Him.

I often wonder what these people are going to say when God sends His Son one last time to judge all those on earth. As they stand before God to be held accountable for how they lived their lives, I’m sure there will be more than a few excuses cast out.

“God, how could I know you were real if I’ve never really seen you?”

“Others told me you didn’t exist and I made a mistake by believing them.”

“My family would have turned away from me if I said you existed and I believed in you.”

I could go on and on and on. For it seems to be a part of the human condition to try and explain away our transgressions rather than come clean and assume responsibility and accountability for our actions.

But here’s the thing. The Bible makes it clear that no one can say God doesn’t exist for He has made Himself fully evident since the dawn of all creation. Look at these words from Paul in today’s passage:

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”  Romans 1:20

Go back to the very first chapter of the Bible, Genesis 1, and you see God’s eternal power and divine nature on full display. His invisible qualities have been revealed through what He has made and continues to make.

Think about a creation event that happens every day. It’s estimated that just less than 400,000 babies are born every single day in the world. Every child began as a single cell and developed into a human being. This is far beyond mere science. There had to be a grand designer of a human being and that Designer was God who fashioned the first man and woman in such a way that they could produce people and populate God’s creation. Everyone’s genealogy traces back to Adam and Eve, and the God who made them both.

Of course, we can marvel at the sun rising and falling in its orbit, the bright moon lighting up the darkness while surrounded by millions of stars, the vast power contained in lighting and thunder, the seemingly infinite variety of flora and fauna that constantly amaze us, and so many other things, too many to list in this message but you get the point. God has never ceased showing us He is always at work through His creation.

So if you haven’t believed in God up to now, today is the day to change that. You can realize how God has revealed Himself to you in so many ways and yet you never gave Him the credit. You can confess your sins before Him and ask for His forgiveness. You can accept His Son Jesus as Savior and find yourself justified (made just as if you had never sinned). And you can find yourself in God’s favor and on your way to live with Him forever when this life is over.

Or, you could just continue to ignore Him and take your chances. Just remember that if you do, you will have no excuse when You face Him with your life hanging in the balance between salvation and damnation.

And there will be a day when you will face Him, rest assured of that.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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ALL ARE AT RISK

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In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.”

Romans 1:18-19

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

God so loved the world that He provided a way for all to gain salvation through His one and only Son Jesus. All they have to do is believe in Him as Savior.

That truth is at the heart of the Gospel.

Indeed, God’s love is unconditional and extended to everyone but in regard to the gift of eternal life, one has to believe in Jesus in order to gain it. In other words, there is a condition attached.

This means that we find two classes of people in the world: those who have been saved and those who haven’t. Millions upon millions of people in the world fall into the latter category.

Indeed, there is a large segment of our world’s population that seems to show no concern that they are destined for eternal damnation and torment. And yes, this is just as real as the everlasting life promised by God through His Son. To validate this fact, we turn to Romans 1 as we continue to look at Paul’s letter to all the people in Rome. Look at the verses that serve as the framework for today’s message:

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.” Romans 1:18-19

God has made it plain to all people that He is real, alive, and reigns supreme over all He has made. Since the very advent of creation, God was present. He blesses and He punishes according to the behavior of His people. No one can question His existence or His unsurpassed power.

Yes, God is a God of love but He also is a God of judgment. Study the scriptures enough and you’ll see many instances when God has to reveal His wrath from the heavens and levy consequences “against all the godlessness and wickedness of people”. No one is immune from His correction. All are at risk of His experiencing His indignation.

This was the point Paul wanted the Romans to know. He was writing to all the people in Rome, those who had committed to Christianity and those who had rejected Jesus as Savior. While the Gospel and salvation was available to everyone, so too was God’s anger if they turned down His offer made from the purest love possible.

Today, the same two options are in play for God’s people. Nothing has changed.

All have the opportunity for salvation if they so choose to believe in Jesus as Savior.

And all run the risk of falling into disfavor with God, standing firmly in the crosshairs of His almighty retribution.

Where do you stand today?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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