And they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the LORD.(Jeremiah 43:7 – ESV)
Many try and avoid going to the Cross, believing they can avoid the pain and still be a disciple of Christ. They are like the remnant of Judah after the fall of Jerusalem and the beginning of the Babylonian captivity. The Jewish remnant thought they could escape the trials of Babylon, which was caused by their continued disobedience, by going back to Egypt, the former place of their bondage, and what would now the place of their death. People are deceived into believing there is a shortcut way around the death of the flesh, and it only leads to deception and more flesh, which is idolatry.
People sincerely believe that they can be openly disobedient, unrepentant, and still stay on track with God. They will try and justify themselves rather than just deny themselves. You will hear statements such as, “everyone has sin”, and “it’s no worse than what so and so is doing”, and the like. Of course, there is a complete difference between someone who knows he has sin, admits it is sin, and wants to be cleansed and free of it, and the person who stubbornly, and blindly will not even acknowledge that the thing they commit in front of God and man is even a problem.
Many think they are “getting away with it”, but even though they do not have to deal immediately with the problems posed by their lack of obedience (Jeremiah 42:14 / 44:17), it leads to an even greater problem, and greater suffering. Galatians 6:7-8 – Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
God breaks us down to purify us but we won’t comply, we struggle to try and find an “alternate route”. We understand that Jesus went to the Cross for us, and we feel that we have no need to follow Him, we don’t have to go through the pain, we can avoid it, there is another way, etc. We only want to submit to God halfway, and it leads to deception and idolatry.
Think about Exodus 20:3 – no other gods before me needs to be realized for what it means, because so many today think that it has no context, no relevance for today, being that no one is making idols out of wood, etc., at least in the West. However, an idol is anything that takes precedence over God, and most often it is self, and the self-ish, self-indulgent, fleshly desire of our nature to want to be able to hang on to our old life while claiming to be regenerated to new life.
“Before” in Hebrew is paniym (paw-neem), meaning in front of, in the presence of, in the face of. Remember the Israelites in the wilderness – they weren’t calling the golden calves Baal. God is omnipresent, and so everything is in His presence, or before Him, and so we may have no other gods, period, not that God is to be placed first, He is to be the ONLY God we serve, and that includes self.
You must follow Christ to the Cross by faith. There is no side road to salvation. If you don’t go down Repentance Road, and make sure you stop at Submission Street, believe me, you will have made a wrong turn.
14 comments:
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hi! this is Jenn, the sovereign grace, UF kid.
If some of your students are interested in checking out our church, feel free to have them email me! We'd love to have them come worship with us some Sunday!
JRo4777@yahoo.com
That’s a great follow-up from the last post. I remember thinking to myself in the past that sometimes roads can be unclearly marked, or so they appeared. Proving how important it really is not to take a passive view of God and His Word. I know the word aggressive may seem harsh to some, but in the proper context it is exactly what we need to be. I believe Pastor Chuck used to say, "don't be caught sitting on your laurels" (got to love that spell check)!
JD did you have a chance to see the comment I put under the post, "Sandpaper people" Was directed to Margie and yourself.
Yeah Paul, Margie and I both saw it, thanks...
paulie's pastor is Chuck Norris?? Whoooa.
Nah, Craver, it used to be a man named Chuck (not Norris), now it is little old me...
I do spiritual kung fu...
Wha-Powww! Got it.
Wha-Powww! If Margie sees that, she is going to laugh hysterically...(don't ask, insider joke too long to explain)...
Wha-Powww!
I never thought of that as being spiritual kung fu....that brings on a whole new meaning.
hmmmm :)
My apologies if you think this comment section has taken a wrong turn...
12/13/06
"We understand that Jesus went to the Cross for us, and we feel that we have no need to follow Him, we don’t have to go through the pain, we can avoid it, there is another way, etc. We only want to submit to God halfway..."
I've often said for some time now that your desire for sin will decrease as your love for Christ increases. While I still believe this to be fully true, I now sense a compunction to expound further on this whenever I state it. I've recently had several encounters with persons who had held this view very strongly, & as a result were completely passive regarding sin. These persons said all we have to work on was our relationship with Christ, & our desire to sin would at some point simply fall away. They did not seem to have any desire to take direct action against sin in their own life. I think it is highly disrespectful to Christ & and His agreeably tremendous work of the cross to take such inactive stance against the very thing to drove Him to the cross.
This tacit view of sin is ironic if our true goal is a greater love for Christ. As I explored in my "Sin No More" piece, one of the ways we find love for Christ growing in our heart is in the struggle- the battle even- to be like Him. And our struggle, not to be saved by Him, but because we have been saved by Him, is a response to His preeminent love. He loved us first in the cross, & we should strive to show our love for Him by dying to sin.
We should vigorously seek to die to our sin because He died for our sin.
It's strange, I remember the comments but not the post.
I'm glad you reposted it.
As well, thank you for continuing to examine the text sunday.
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