the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? 26 And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. 27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: 28 Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. 29 And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake. 30 And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. 31 And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake. 32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. 33 And the Lord went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place." Gen 18:21-33 (KJV)
Maybe you recognize these verses from Scripture, and maybe you don't. Maybe you have read the title of this blog and you are irate and furious at having the names "Sodom and Gomorrah" in the same header as our beloved "Hillsboro and Greenfield."
I am sure all three of the people that read this can take this topic and figure out the point I am stressing right now. That point being of course that we are on a collision course! No, not the "Collision Point" you are thinking of either, I am not saying God will send His angels down to smote us all. I am not saying I do not believe the world will not end someday and then by the hand of God, for it surely will, for it has been written. What Our Lord Jesus Christ spoke to John of Patmos concerning things that must surely take place, well, I believe every bit of it!
I am a Christian, and yes, I do have my own beliefs on that subject, I just do not spend much time in the books of prophecy, at least not in the prophecies that have not come true as of yet. The prophecies of the past are of vital importance to us, but knowing when the end of the world is going to take place is not one of them. Honestly, I do not want to know anyway. Think about it, do you? I hope not, what can you and I do to stop it, or hurry it along or delay it or anything for that matter? We can do nothing. I will tell you that as far as the Second Advent of Our Lord and Savior goes, I am what you call "Amillennialist"and we can leave it at that. Because we have bigger fish to fry today.
The bigger fish I speak of is SIN. Not just sin in general, but we as a county, and our addiction to sin. Before you go getting pious and self-righteous on me, listen to what I have to say. (or type) We are sinners, all of us. Of course not many will deny that, but listen, this is the problem, We are getting to be even bigger sinners! We are! It's true. I remember what it was like around here in 1984, do you? Think back for a moment. Was there sin here, of course, was it as blatantly out in the open and so accepted and excused as it is now? I have to say, no it wasn't. I am sure many people can recall terrible sins that took place here 25 years ago, but they were less prominent then now. People of Highland County, I love you all, I honestly do, and it is because of that love that I have to tell you, we have to Stop Sinning Now! It is out of love that I come to you today, not to make friends, I will most surely lose friends for putting this out there, and not for any fame or riches, we all know that is what TBN is for, and I want nothing to do with those Snake Oil Salesmen, no sir.
Why did Abraham plead and try to work out a deal with the angels of the Lord once he knew God was going to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah? True his nephew lived there, but the vast majority of the population was unknown to him, he knew the the reputation of these two cities, he knew of the multitude of sins that were taking place there, but he still attempted to save the lives of all of the people who lived in those towns. Why? He did not want to see them destroyed and this comes from love, this comes from a desire to see people saved and to see people glorify God! Hard thing to do when you have just been killed by flaming rocks sent from heaven!
I do not put myself in the same category as Abraham, I am nobody, I am a nobody to the nobodies even! I am a sinner saved by grace, one who has had a great burden placed on him to preach God's Word to a people who do not want to hear it. That doesn't make me a popular guy, let me tell you, people often avoid me as if I were a serial killer, instead of a minister of His Word. But in our culture, we glorify the serial killer and we shun God. Go figure! Let's get back to sin.
Sin is the problem. The problem is now amplified and multiplied over and over because we have gotten to a place where we have made so little of sin itself! Tell me we don't. We take sin so lightly that it has lost it's sting on us. We often make excuses for our sins, we water them down, we deny them, we say things like, “little white lie” and “that is just a little sin” among others. We have ignored the warnings of our fathers. We no longer realize the Deceitfulness of Sin. Sin is very deceitful, it is a liar and a deceiver, just as the devil that promotes it.
The proneness of men to regard sin as less sinful and less dangerous than it is in the sight of God, and in our readiness to make excuses for it and to minimize it's guilt. We try to cheat ourselves into the belief that sin is not as sinful as God says it is and that we are not so bad as we really are. If I only had a dime for every time someone has told me “well, I might be a sinner, but then again, I'm no Hitler.” That is what people say to make them feel better about their sinful lives.
Most everyone does it, non-believers and believers as well. I have never met one single person who doesn't think they are a “Good Person” when the Bible clearly tells us- “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Romans 3:10-12 (KJV) Of course the key word in these verses is “NONE” but everyone thinks they are the One Exception! Then we have this verse from Paul's epistle to the Romans- “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Romans 3:23 (KJV)
From this verse we see clearly that “all of us fall short of the glory of God” each and everyone of us do, it is written and it is true. But yet we never think ill of ourselves do we? We watch TV programs that tell us we are basically good and we are fine the way we are. Oprah is on every afternoon at 4:00 to tell us “Just how special and deserving we are.” We spend millions of dollars every year buying books from men who preach a false gospel to thousands of people in arenas, and their books tell us we are fine the way we are, that God loves us just as we are! No, He doesn't!
That lie might sell books, because when you speak well of a self-centered person, they will listen to what you have to say, but the truth is, God hates Sin! Do you know that? If so, then why do you still sin so much? You do it because you love sin more than you love God! Period. Tell me I am wrong. Let me ask you, do you love beating on your children? Of course not, because you love them, you do not wish to harm them do you, but yet we harm God everyday! Why? Is that what love is? Yet we will not stop sinning will we.
Well, neither could Sodom and Gomorrah. They chose sin over life. They had their chances, several in fact, but they loved sin too much. Even Abraham's nephew, Lot, loved sin, he did not want to leave the town, even after he heard it was going to be destroyed along with anyone who remained there, and Lot's wife, why did she get turned into a pillar of salt? Because she just had to have one more look at the sinful life she was leaving behind, she just could not stop loving sin, so poof! She is now a great big pile of salt.
Sin is evil people. Sin will destroy you, this I promise. You will have to answer for every single sin you have ever committed in your entire life. Are you ready for that? Will you be just fine? When you stand before Christ on Judgment Day, will you have the gull to say to him what you say so freely to me, “Well, I'm no Hitler.” Let me know how that works out for you. Sin defiles you, your body and your soul, sin pollutes you completely. Sin rots your brains and hardens your heart, it takes your heart of flesh and blood and turns it into a heart of stone. Sin is vile, sin is disgusting, sin is nasty. Sin inhibits your ability to love others. Sin takes away your ability to discern right from wrong. God hates sin and so should you.
I hear people say “God hates sin but loves the sinner” That sounds clever and cute, but guess what? That is garbage! That is the kind of trash that gets people killed. Do you want cute little sayings that make you feel all warm and fuzzy or do you want the truth that leads to life? If you continue to sin, then God wants nothing to do with you and He will cast you out into the pits of Hell. Call yourself what you will, call yourself “Christian” if it makes you feel better, but if you live in Sin, you are no one of Christ's. He will not intercede on your behalf, He will not claim you as His own, you are not one of His sheep. Nothing unholy can enter Heaven, nothing. If you live in sin, you are not holy. The truth might hurt, but to deny the truth will kill you. Which will it be?
Let me use this illustration: You visit your doctor for a routine physical and he calls you back into his office a few days later to give you the result and lets say your doctor discovered from the tests that you have cancer, very advanced and aggressive cancer. Now, this is indeed news that when given to you will upset you and hurt you to a degree, but the alternative is that the doctor knowing you will be upset upon hearing the news, withholds this information from you so as not to upset you. You might live out the few remaining months of your life with a sort of assurance that you are healthy but in the end you will die from your illness.
On the other hand, if the doctor is a good doctor he will say that even though the truth is very painful to hear, you must indeed hear the news and heed his advice if you wish to beat this illness and live a long fruitful life. From this illustration we can see that for me not to warn others of their condition is just as grave if not more so, you will die only once in this life, but you will die a second death that is eternal if you die in your sins. Please understand my position.We know Sin is Deceitful, we know it is way too easy to make little the danger of sin, we know it is easy to just simply put the thought out of our mind, but someday, you will not be able to do that. If you live a sinful lifestyle, you are not regenerated, you lack the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and you will suffer in Hell!
Your answer to me will be that “God is Love” and He is, but that is only one attribute, God may be described in terms of attributes, but which one do you choose? An attribute is an inherent characteristic of a person or being. While we cannot describe God in a comprehensive way, we can learn about Him by examining His attributes as revealed in the Bible. Some of the attributes given to God in Scripture.....
God Is Spirit, God Is Changeless (Heb 1:12) , God Is All Powerful (Gen 17:1; 18:14) , God Is All Knowing (Job 37:16; Ps 147:5, and Heb 3:13, God Is Everywhere (Ps 139:7-12) , God Is Eternal (2 Peter 3:8 , God Is Holy (Isa 6:1-3), God Is Righteous Gen 18:25; Deut 32:4; Rom 2:6-16), God Is Love (Gen 1:31; Ps 145:9; Mark 10:18) God Is Truth, God Is Wisdom (1 Tim 1:17), God Is Infinite, God Is Sovereign, God Is Faithful, God Is Self-Existing, God Is Self-Sufficient, God Is Just, God Is Merciful, God Is Good, God Is Gracious, God Is Father, God Is Son and God Is The Holy Spirit.
Which one of these do you accept? Sorry, but you have to accept them all, He is all of them. God is so much more than simply “Love”, He is also Vengeful, Wrathful, Jealous and many more, we have no choice but to take God for all the attributes that describe Him.
You often see bumper stickers, T-shirts and the like telling us how Jesus loves us and that He is our buddy and He is just hanging out with us in life and He is not judging us or anything uncool like that, that we are friends with Jesus and that He only preached on love and never sin. Did you know that in all of the New Testament, Jesus preached on Hell more than any other subject? It is true. In fact, Jesus preached on Sin and Hell more than all the other topics put together! He constantly warned of Hell. Can you make peace with that truth? Or will you deny it and continue to live a self-centered life full of sin. You have to know that Sin is only enjoyable for a season, and after that, Hell awaits! Jesus Himself preached against sin and on the torments of Hell. The Bible makes it clear, -
“Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” —Prov. 28:13
“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” -Romans 6:12-15
“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God”. —Gal. 5:19-21
“Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” —Heb. 12:3-4
“Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” —Jam. 1:13-15
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” —1 Jon. 1:7-9
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” 1 John 1:8-10 (KJV)
We could go on and on posting verses on sin and the fact that sin always leads to death, unless one is to confess his sins and repent of them, (turn completely away from sin) and believe in Christ and put your entire trust in Him and in Him alone! Do not put your faith in Christ + good works, or in Christ +rituals, or Christ+church membership, or Christ+tithing, or Christ + anything. Repent of your sins, all of them and put your entire faith in Christ alone!
Even as regenerated men and women, those who trust in Christ and who are Repenting of their sins, (Repentance is a life long process and do not let anyone tell you different) will from time to time stumble into sin, and when that happens, the Christian should feel remorse for that sin and must confess that sin, every sin, to God and ask for forgiveness. No matter how small a sin we think it might be, we should remember that every sin is first a sin against God and second a sin against whomever else is involved, so this being the case, there is no such thing as a “little sin” all sins are huge in God's eyes.
That last paragraph is how the true Christian deals with sin, they of course try their best to avoid any sin, they fight hard against the temptations of sin. Ephesians tells us we have “the Armor of God” to help us fight sin. But for those who are lost in sin, those who are unregenerate, well, they live in sin. They live in a complete sinful lifestyle. They love sin, they love sin more than God, they love sin more than they love the very blessings God has given them, like, their life, their bodies, their wife/husband, their children, their jobs, their neighbors, their salvation. These people hate God! Sin has so deceived them that they can no longer see the true evils of sin. They have sinned so much they are now immune to the guilt that accompanies it. There conscience has been seared to a point that it no longer feels the gloom and depression that should follow in the healthy mind. If you confess to be Christian and you continue to live a sinful lifestyle, then I hate to be the one to tell you, but you are not Christian! You are simply playing a game.
Sin is a universal disease, it is true, but that doesn't mean that that has to be the case in Highland County. We will sin, but there is something you can do about it, we have been given tools to help us sin less, we have the Scriptures, we have God's Holy Spirit waiting to live with us and to guide us in life and to help us fight against sin. We have the Church, the body of Christ itself here on earth to fall back on, to lift us up and to rebuke us when we stray. We have God's ministers to warn us, to teach us to edify us to make us strong through the preaching and teaching of His Holy Word. These men were sent from God, they were given a heavy burden to deliver a very unpopular message, and if they are truly called, they will work themselves to death in carrying out their duties given to them by God.
They will live a life of less, and suffer ailments, illness, and every single firery dart shot at them by Satan. If they are sent from God, they will preach His Word and not apologize for any of it. They will stand firm in what the Bible says, every single word and they will not make any excuses or soft ball any hard verses, they will stand firmly in the face of ridicule and persecution and they will proclaim exactly what the Bible says and will not leave anything out. They will preach the Whole Counsel of God's Word and not just pick the parts they want to preach on, the parts that are popular, they will not shy away from preaching the hard and controversial verses found in Scripture.
They will fear no man, but will fear only God. They will gladly live a life of poverty to be obedient to His Will because there is no money to be made in preaching the Truth, wealth is made only by teaching what sinful people want to hear instead of what they need to hear. They will spend themselves completely in the service to Christ. They will not take several expensive vacations around the world and excuse these vacations as “Men's Retreats” or worse yet, they will not cover these wasteful, expensive, self-absorbing trips by calling them, “Outreach.” If a pastor needs to go to a retreat to “find himself” he is in the wrong line of work!
A true minister of God will settle for what he was truly meant to be, they will settle for what God has called them to be, a slave to Christ! A servant, do you know any rich slaves or wealthy servants? A shepherd who tends his sheep and loves them. A shepherd that would give his very life for the very poorest of his flock. God did not call these men to be Superstars! He did not call them to be millionaires. He called them to deliver a message and to suffer.
Christ said these words,- “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Matt 16:24-26 (KJV)
What does “Deny Himself” mean to you? I know what it means to me, it means living for Christ and living to get the Gospel in the hands, ears and hearts of everyone! It doesn't mean I should be rich for what God has called me to do. Money is not evil, but the love of money is. No evil man can speak for God.
I could go on for hours speaking on sin and posting verses on the matter, you do not want that and neither do I, so let me make one last plea to you dear reader. Please stop sinning! It might be enjoyable, but honestly, how long does that enjoyment last? Not as long as you think. Think of it this way, we have a chance in the life we have, we are here for the briefest of time, so we have a choice to make in what we will do with our lives. Live for God or live for self. Living for God means sacrifice, it means taking up your cross and following Christ, it means denying yourself of the pleasures of the world such as sin and excess wealth,it means loving God and loving neighbor. It means loving your neighbor more than you love yourself. It means you will be called to suffer for Christ's names sake. Let no one mislead you on this, following Christ means you will suffer, it is not easy at all. You may very well be called upon to give your life for Christ's sake, are you prepared do just that?
That sounds hard, that sounds like nothing anyone wants to do, but think of this now, you might be alive for 80, 90 years maybe a little more, but you will be dead for Trillions of Years! And you will be somewhere, this is a promise to us, we will not simply vanish into non existence, we all will either go to Heaven with God or to Hell. A Trillion years is a long time if you are not sure, what is 80 years of obedience to God compared to 80 Million years of suffering?
So it is out of love and of course obedience to Our Lord Jesus Christ that I plead with you one final time, Stop Sinning! Don't make excuses, don't think it's no big deal because it is a Huge deal! Don't fool yourself, be smart on this one. It is not worth it. Stop Sinning, turn from sin, when you come face to face with temptation, just turn around and walk the other direction!
Live for Christ and not for your own pleasures, living for mere pleasures is such a shallow thing to do anyway. I feel sorry for people who do not have Christ in their lives, I honestly do, what is their purpose for living then? You who deny Christ, what do you live for other than self?
Isn't it time we mature a little, isn't it time we grow up and start realizing everything in life isn't about us? Maybe it is time, before we die, to realize that life is about something so much greater than you and I, life is about God! Do you want to know what the purpose of life is? I know it and I will tell you, so you do not have to ask that question ever again now-Question: “What is the chief end of man?
Answer:- “Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”
That is it, simple isn't it. But we fail to do it, every day when we sin, we bring disgrace, dishonor and disgust to Holy God, the God that gave us life, and fresh air and water and food, and our children and the ability to earn a living and the gift of love. The same God that offers us eternal life and eternal communion with Him, in this life and the one yet to come.
Dear Reader, please do not die, do not perish, heed these warnings! These warnings have been issued for thousands of years, some heed them and still live this day, but many, many more ignore them and suffer the results. Let this not be your faith, today, seek Christ while you still have time, seek Him with everything you have! Stop sinning, repent and keep repenting, it takes more than a simple prayer at the alter to be born again, it takes you hating Sin and loving God it takes you fighting a hard battle against the temptations of sin, everyday for the rest of your life.
I care not that you say “I Believe in God and isn't that enough?” for even Satan and his demons believe! I care not that you “Prayed the Sinners Prayer” That alone does you nothing. I care not that you “Went to the Alter” at church once, that is little more than going for a short walk, maybe the exercise did you some good, but that is about all it did. I care not that you say you “Prayed Through” show me where those words are written in the Bible! For that matter, show me where the Alter Call is located in the Bible, you will search the Scriptures in vain my friend! Another silly invention of man to seduce you into a false sense of security so they can get you on the membership role!
Tell me instead that you are heartbroken simply because there are times when you cannot feel God's presence in your life! Tell me that you now hunger and thirst for righteousness, Tell me that you now desire His Word more than your favorite TV sitcom. Tell me that they're are some nights where you spend the entire night in prayer crying out for the salvation of your friends and family! Tell me that you hate the very thought of sinning! Tell me that when you are tempted you think first of Christ and you think of how you love Him so much more than the thought of following through with that sin! Tell me that when you hear others use God's Name in vain, you get angry! Tell me that when one blasphemes God your blood boils over! Tell me you crave Christ all day every day! Tell me you praise Him all day in songs and hymns out loud and in your heart. Tell me that you now love the things that God loves and you now hate the things that God hates! Tell me that you look forward to the Lord's Day because You Get To Worship Christ!
Tell me that now Christ is always on your mind. Tell me that now Christ is the only thing you wish to think about and talk about. I care less of your false testimonies, tell me of how your heart aches for Christ and how your very heart now beats to share His Gospel with the lost world! Tell me of how you fed your hungry neighbor when you scarcely had food for yourself! Tell me now you show the very fruits of one of His Saints! Tell me that your life, in word and deed show Christ in all you do! Tell me dear reader that now you cannot contain yourself, you must share the Gospel with everyone! That my dear reader, is a Christian!
All others are fake, they are playing the game of religion. It takes you living a Christ-centered life and not a You-centered life. It takes you trusting in Christ and not in your income or your education, but in Christ alone. Please dear souls, do not leave this world still in your sins, for I do not want your blood on my hands, I cannot bear the thought of that. I tell you honestly, today there are millions of people who have convinced themselves that they are safe, they travel through this world with a false and week assurance, they do not realize they stand on thin ice, they believe it to be a rock on which they stand, but until they see the true condition of their lives, that they are sinful and in dire need of a Savior, then and only then will they realize they have not been standing on solid ground all these many years.
In all this there is Good News, there is in fact, the best news ever! For you see God has made a way, He sent His one and only Son to die on a cross in our place, for our sins. The sin debt has been paid for you, if you will only seek out Christ. In Christ alone your sins are forgiven, your debt paid, your account cleared. In Christ alone you will not only be assured Heaven but you will also have the gift of communion with God, you will be His adopted child, He will welcome you into His family and you will be an heir to Him and His glory.
There is no better feeling than knowing His Spirit dwells in you and that you are never alone, never forsaken, never to die eternally, to know that the very Spirit that was there at the creation of the world now lives inside of you! To know that only the wonders of Heaven awaits, where there will be no hunger, no thirst, no cancer, no blindness, no diabetes, no sickness of any kind, no hate, no arguing, no fighting, no adultery, no rape, no murder, no abortion, no robbery, no drugs, for there will be no Sin in in Heaven, God has made Heaven an Holy Place free from sin, and their will be no lost souls in Heaven to share the wonders of the Gospel with.Seek Christ and Live, keep Sinning and Perish. My wish is not for you to hate me, or for you to like me, I do not want your money, I could care less about wealth, we do not tithe at our church neither do we ask for an offering, we only ask that you come with an open heart and a willingness to learn and grow as a believer, for we know if we are honest and obedient to Him, the Lord will provide for our needs. The word I give to you, if it helps you avoid Hell, then that is worth more to me than a truck load of money. Only know that I ask out of love and obedience to my Heavenly Father. May He Bless Us All.
Shane C. Montgomery
Covenant Reformed Church
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1 comments:
That was a good sermon it ment a lot to me. Craig
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