This is a message of exhortation, including warning and rich truth. However, it is written for everyone, as I believe God is in a season of accelerating His promise in the world and in His people. But know Romans 8:28 “…God works all things together for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
—He will not bring you anything He has not prepared to benefit you.
Hebrews 3:12-16 “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
If you are someone who, like most of us, hates the evil happenings in the world, then you need to know how good and important God’s holiness is. God’s call to us to be a holy and righteous people is a calling that would heal the world from the corruption we see.
Knowing the truth, remaining in Christ, then continuing this sanctification—learning more truth and understanding—and believing and acting on the truth when we hear it, will be what grows us as a society.
God wants to expose a part of the “deceitfulness of sin” in two points today, so that the zeal of your heart would heed and aim for the life and prosperity in truth and righteousness.
1. Sowing And Reaping
The Burden of Shame
Romans 6:20-21 “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.”
- A part of knowing the truth of Christ, brings a newfound awareness to the futile nature of sinful living and the vanity of sowing in sin, as it doesn’t reap your place in God’s promised heaven or new earth. Nor does it reap righteouness in this current earthly kingdom.
- Sin bears fruit of shame and guilt in a good conscious. And these stagnant burdens are not productive to God’s purpose. But His mercies and redemption through Christ inclines us, that we do not have to stay in this state. Through the Holy Spirit, we can repent and be made new.
Romans 6 continued…. verse 22-25 “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The Law of Life
Galatians 6: 7-10 “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.”
- Because God is a Living God, and He’s written laws inside of our world, He brings about an unbreakable system of Sowing and Reaping.
I want to be intentional with this blog not to discourage you. It is only to share the living and active truth of Christ to help you navigate the world with more wisdom, because there is an established law. And not knowing this law can lead to undesired ends, reaping consequences where you could have lived and reaped blessing.
The wages of sin is death.
This blog will not detail what God has called sin. However, go and review Romans 1:18-32. I will touch only a few of it’s verses—God’s letters are a light on every topic in our world. (“Sinfulness” is exposed all throughout scripture. You may also like to specifically visit Galatians 5: 16-26 and to research the Ten Commandments.)
2. Exceeding Mercy – Given Over To A Reprobate Mind
“Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
- God is a just God who is full of mercy. He does not initiate irrevocable and brutal karma when we sin. Rather He takes into account our entire being, knowing our frame is like dust before Him (Psalm 103:13-22). He gives grace and discipline to gently guide our heart.
- But if we outright or continuously reject Him and righteousness, we will be sealed for His wrath.
Romans 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,”
Romans 1:24 “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,
Romans 1:28 “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;”
Revelation 2:21-22 “And I gave time to repent, and they did not repent. Indeed I will cast them into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.” (paraphrased to highlight the principle of God’s patience, anger, and call to repentance before destruction of sin)
- When Satan tempts, he glamorizes sin. He sells evil with a lie. In 2023, we live in special times where God has exposed a lot of the calamity and private devastation of sin. He has torn down many idols.
- Though it is horrible to witness someone’s world or the world itself unravel at the consequence of sin, it benefits us with an opportunity to make better choices that we may not have made if we had not been observers, and rather those baited by sin’s allure and cloak, not believing God.
— Have you learned from other’s mistakes before? - There are still many sinful lives under mercy, and many sins that are still dressed up. Whether or not we see the immediate danger of sin, we are to believe God’s word about it. He knows what we cannot. His word is bond and protection.
Here are a few take aways from this message:
Do not buy into the deceitfulness of sin, and find yourself on the other side of time regretting.
Overcome temptation. Overcome fear and the testing of your character through faith. Make no excuses for evil. But do repent and get up when you fall, and forgive others. Break cycles of condemnation for redemption.
Satan offers us sin hoping to completely destroy our lives. But we have a living hope and redeemer (1Peter1:3). > We are all God’s children, but some children of disobedience and others children of obedience. Obey unto life. We thrive in righteousness.
If you have yet to follow the Word of Life, which is Christ, found through repentance and faith, this is a verse for you today:
Romans 5:8-9 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”
If you are already born-again into this Word of Life, which is Christ, having heard and repented and is keeping the faith, this is a verse of reminder for you:
1 John 2:1 “My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.”
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
There may always be sin in the world, because there will always be people who fail themselves, others, and God, because they accept a lie instead of His truth. Healing is only through faith. There is a power and protection that is given only through Christ (1Timothy2:5-6). Our faith in Him is salvation. And there is hope in sharing truth.
Jesus speaking in Luke 13:34 ““O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!”
A final exemplary mindset:
Philippians 3:12-14 “I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”