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AM Sermon: 11/27/11
Tolerance…just the word makes Jesus uncomfortable. And yet we live in a world where all that gets praise is appeasement, pacifism, and tolerance of blasphemy and reproach. Truly, Jesus weeps (John 11:35).
When it comes to what displeases God, tolerance ranks high on the scale. Tolerance is not a biblical concept when it comes to sin. Jesus teaches us this in many ways. For instance, in Matthew 22:9-14, Jesus gave us a parable…
9Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. 10So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. 11And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:12And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 13Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 14For many are called, but few are chosen.
What did Jesus do when he met an unsaved man not to his liking? He cast him into hell. He sent him to be tortured at the hands of demons forever. The message of the parable is hard to miss: God doesn’t meet with those unprepared to see him.
We serve the type of God who is very fickle. He gets bored with his creations rather easily. Our Lord causes animals to go extinct all the time simply because he gets sick of them, and the Bible says we're next. God is going to someday burn up our world according to 2 Peter 3:1-12 (so much for the infidel idea of "global warming" being our downfall).
All Jesus has to do is lift up his heavenly shades and get one good look at you with his powerful, all-seeing eyes, and if he doesn’t like what he sees, it’s hell for you—even if you tried your best to serve him. “Fair” has nothing to do with it. “Biblical” has everything to do with it...
"For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." (Jude 1:4)
You had better hope Jesus chooses you and likes you. One of the ways of ensuring this is to follow all of the thousands of commandments in the Bible. If you want to please him, always hate what he hates and love what he loves. Always agree with him. When things aren’t Jesus’ way, bad things happen. Then he looks down from heaven and says to those who will listen: “Look at what you made me do!” Jesus doesn’t tolerate iniquity. He commands us to get just as mad as he gets when we see going on what he doesn’t like.
We must do for Jesus what he could do for himself. Jesus could have set up a system whereby anyone who ever will or has offended him would give up the ghost instantly. But for some reason, he decided not to. He could have even chosen not to create those he knew would offend him, but instead, he did things his way and wants us to do his dirty work when it comes to removing sin.
In Numbers 25, we have an example of how God's people must put away iniquity from the Saved™...
I. God Gets Offended as Usual: "1And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. 2And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. 3And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel." (Vs. 1-3)
II. God Informs the Rulers of His People What to do About it: "4And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel. 5And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor." (Vs. 4-5)
III. A righteous Man Named Phinehas Rises up to Finish God's Fight: "6And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 7And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; 8And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. (Vs. 6-8a)
IV. God Stops the Plague that Killed Tens of Thousands and Rewards his Servant Phinehas: "So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. 9And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand. 10And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 11Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. 12Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: 13And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel." (Vs. 8b-13)
Slaughtering...that's what God calls a covenant of peace. And like Jesus' parable above, the meaning is inescapable. God loves and rewards those who commit violent acts in his name in order to further boost his divine ego.
Phinehas took his hatred of iniquity to the next level. He was a True Christian at heart and decided God’s way was better than man’s ways. Blood was spilt. God was pleased. And like Phinehas, we aren’t to even want to tolerate sinners, “hating even the garment spotted by the flesh” (Jude 1:23)
Can what was said of the church of Ephesus be said of us?
"I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:" (Revelation 2:2)
Not a lot of Christians remember that Paul blinded Elymas the sorcerer for blasphemy (Acts 13:10-12). And yet how often do we hear about blindings because of blasphemy in the body of Christ today? Not enough, that’s for sure.
Make no mistake about it; God hates the pity of the wicked. If you want God to hate you, there is no faster way than pitying the wicked or sympathizing with the abominable: "Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee." (Deuteronomy 19:13)
When God gets his way, blood covers the sidewalks. Glory!
Pastor Ed
Tolerance…just the word makes Jesus uncomfortable. And yet we live in a world where all that gets praise is appeasement, pacifism, and tolerance of blasphemy and reproach. Truly, Jesus weeps (John 11:35).
When it comes to what displeases God, tolerance ranks high on the scale. Tolerance is not a biblical concept when it comes to sin. Jesus teaches us this in many ways. For instance, in Matthew 22:9-14, Jesus gave us a parable…
9Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. 10So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. 11And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:12And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 13Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 14For many are called, but few are chosen.
What did Jesus do when he met an unsaved man not to his liking? He cast him into hell. He sent him to be tortured at the hands of demons forever. The message of the parable is hard to miss: God doesn’t meet with those unprepared to see him.
We serve the type of God who is very fickle. He gets bored with his creations rather easily. Our Lord causes animals to go extinct all the time simply because he gets sick of them, and the Bible says we're next. God is going to someday burn up our world according to 2 Peter 3:1-12 (so much for the infidel idea of "global warming" being our downfall).
All Jesus has to do is lift up his heavenly shades and get one good look at you with his powerful, all-seeing eyes, and if he doesn’t like what he sees, it’s hell for you—even if you tried your best to serve him. “Fair” has nothing to do with it. “Biblical” has everything to do with it...
"For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." (Jude 1:4)
You had better hope Jesus chooses you and likes you. One of the ways of ensuring this is to follow all of the thousands of commandments in the Bible. If you want to please him, always hate what he hates and love what he loves. Always agree with him. When things aren’t Jesus’ way, bad things happen. Then he looks down from heaven and says to those who will listen: “Look at what you made me do!” Jesus doesn’t tolerate iniquity. He commands us to get just as mad as he gets when we see going on what he doesn’t like.
We must do for Jesus what he could do for himself. Jesus could have set up a system whereby anyone who ever will or has offended him would give up the ghost instantly. But for some reason, he decided not to. He could have even chosen not to create those he knew would offend him, but instead, he did things his way and wants us to do his dirty work when it comes to removing sin.
In Numbers 25, we have an example of how God's people must put away iniquity from the Saved™...
I. God Gets Offended as Usual: "1And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. 2And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. 3And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel." (Vs. 1-3)
II. God Informs the Rulers of His People What to do About it: "4And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel. 5And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor." (Vs. 4-5)
III. A righteous Man Named Phinehas Rises up to Finish God's Fight: "6And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 7And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; 8And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. (Vs. 6-8a)
IV. God Stops the Plague that Killed Tens of Thousands and Rewards his Servant Phinehas: "So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. 9And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand. 10And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 11Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. 12Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: 13And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel." (Vs. 8b-13)
Slaughtering...that's what God calls a covenant of peace. And like Jesus' parable above, the meaning is inescapable. God loves and rewards those who commit violent acts in his name in order to further boost his divine ego.
Phinehas took his hatred of iniquity to the next level. He was a True Christian at heart and decided God’s way was better than man’s ways. Blood was spilt. God was pleased. And like Phinehas, we aren’t to even want to tolerate sinners, “hating even the garment spotted by the flesh” (Jude 1:23)
Can what was said of the church of Ephesus be said of us?
"I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:" (Revelation 2:2)
Not a lot of Christians remember that Paul blinded Elymas the sorcerer for blasphemy (Acts 13:10-12). And yet how often do we hear about blindings because of blasphemy in the body of Christ today? Not enough, that’s for sure.
Make no mistake about it; God hates the pity of the wicked. If you want God to hate you, there is no faster way than pitying the wicked or sympathizing with the abominable: "Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee." (Deuteronomy 19:13)
When God gets his way, blood covers the sidewalks. Glory!
Pastor Ed
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