Voting God off the Island

Posted on by A.W.Nobles

Island in Lhaviyani Atoll

In America, morality is no longer based on facts and truth but is based on what popular opinion polls say is the majority. Morality is now a vote.

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Acts 2:34 NKJV

Jesus is both Lord and Savior. The two can’t be separated. Jesus said;

John 14:15 (NIV) If you love me, you will obey what I command.

Again He says the same, leaving no wiggle room.

John 14:23-24 (NIV)Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”

The sad thing is most people live like, and some even believe, that the kingdom of God is a democracy, as if we can vote on what God has said and decreed. They think if they get enough people to agree with their opinion, or that their sin should no longer be in the “Unlawful” and “Against God” category, that they can change the mind of God by saying “According to the popular vote, everybody agrees with me, which makes you, God, a bigot and a hater of what the people agree to.” As if this would change God’s mind and cause Him to resend His law! Some are even in the mindset that after presenting their popular vote to God and He doesn’t agree with the masses, they will impeach Him, voting God off the island.
This is nothing new and is why the gospel of Christ is so offensive to the rebellious mind. Jesus as savior is great and every body likes a get out of jail free card, but to demand that people surrender their will and life in exchange for eternal life is a very offensive and very different gospel.

Psalms 2
Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the brulers take counsel together,
Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
“Let us break
Their bonds in pieces
And cast away
Their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,
And distress them in His deep displeasure:
“Yet I have set My King
On My holy hill of Zion.”
“I will declare the decree:
The Lord has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron;
You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ ”
Now therefore, be wise, O kings;
Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

We must teach both sides of God

Posted on by A.W.Nobles

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
Romans 11:33

There is nothing that compares to the knowledge of God, yet in our modern times we treat this greatest of knowledge with little esteem. The knowledge of God, knowing His nature, is a matter we tend to give little weight to, instead focusing on the benefits of God. Yet when God is revealed, His nature and who He is correctly and fully, from Scripture the Holy Spirit who lives in us, the regenerated Christians, our hearts burn with fiery passion.

They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
Luke 24:32 (NIV)

As we preach and teach about the nature of God we must reveal both sides of God. To only reveal one part and not the other is to malign His character. It is making an idol of God, one that is a lesser version of who He is, one that is either more tolerable to us or easier to digest to the masses.

Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to
those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his
kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.
Romans 11:22 (NIV)

Paul compels us through scripture to consider both the kindness and sternness of God. We may prefer kindness over sternness, but to not reveal both sides of the holy and perfect Creator is an injustice to who He is and to those to whom the knowledge of God is being revealed to.
According to statistics from the Barna Group, over 80% of Americans claim to be Christian but have beliefs and live as unregenerated, not born-again believers. Many only have heard or only want to hear about the kindness of God and have no knowledge of His sternness, and therefor have no understanding that they have already been “cut off.” They live as if sin has no consequence and there is no sternness in God but only endless mercy.
For others, they have only heard of the sternness of God and live in constant fear with no knowledge of His kindness and mercy. They still live under the mindset of the Old Covenant and the law, believing that their actions determine their righteousness and not what Christ has done on the Cross. They too are unregenerated, and are trying to be good by their own power, not by power of the Holy Spirit.
Not preaching both the kindness and the sternness of God produces either an unregenerated, rebellious people that believe they are in right standing with God that they’ve made in their own image, or a religious pharisaical group of people that try to make themselves holy and forces their religious laws on those around them.

Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”
Galatians 4:6 (NIV)

But for the born-again regenerated Christian, the Holy Spirit within them cries out, ‘Abba, Father,’ and there is an unquenchable hunger for the wisdom and the knowledge of God. The desire to know God fully and for God to be fully revealed is the passion of the Holy Spirit alive within.

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
“Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Romans 11:33-36 (NIV)

Consider, right thinking about God

Posted on by A.W.Nobles

Romans 11:22 (NIV)
“Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to
those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his
kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.”

We are compelled to consider both!

If we don’t know and teach both sides
of God’s nature then we malign His character and build an idol to
worship just like Aaron did when he made the golden calf for the
people while Moses was gone talking with God. Without thinking right about God, we are quick to make He who is infinite, more manageable and therefor we are led into making God into our image, an image we can control.
We get frustrated when we have unfulfilled expectations, which turns to anger when we unsuccessfully try to force our will to come to pass. When God doesn’t fit our image and low understanding, we can easily get mad at God.
Thinking rightly about God will help us place God above our will and beyond our own image.

Romans 11:33-36 (NIV)
Doxology
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
“Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?”*
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.