Faith Baptist Church
4258 Botetourt Road
Fincastle, Virginia 24090
(540) 473-2325
Jeremiah 6:16
It is not hard to see from the Bible that Israel turned away from God’s revealed truth, and America has also turned away from God’s revealed truth. The Lord said to Jeremiah in Jer.6:16 that Judah should stand in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk in it, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, “we will not walk in it.”
When the believer keeps turning away from the truth unto other things the spiritual callous that is formed on the soul becomes hardened and insensitive to God’s ways and God’s paths. The double minded believer becomes unstable in all his ways as James 1:8 says. Paul says in Eph.4:14 this Christian is “tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the manipulation of men, and skillful craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive:” Insensitivity to truth leads to self-justification. Self-justification comes easy when the conscience is not moved by the Word and the Spirit of God. When the conscience has been branded or seared by negative volition to the word of God as Paul says in I Tim.4:2 the believer no longer feels wrong for living wrong. Sinning and out right disobedience to God’s commandments no longer causes him or her discomfort. When this become the general conscience of believers in a nation, then God’s discipline goes further than personal discipline, it then turns into something else, it become national discipline.
Church leaders can make a lot of things they do appealing to Christians. They can make music appealing especially when the beat of the music excites the physical senses. They can make entertaining sermons appealing especially when the sermon lifts your emotional senses. They can make community projects appealing especially when the projects appeal to your lust for praise. And at the same time if you are not learning the Bible then you are still ignorant of the plan of God. If you and I are not conforming to Christ in our personal habits, then we are living by means of the inspiration of this world. Like Lot of Sodom we will become accustomed to a sinful world.
[When our soul is shocked by something we see or read, this means our moral and righteous receptors are reacting as they should. But when our soul is weak on truth and we are repeatedly bombarded with shocking news, wrong behavior, or sinful input, eventually we will give in to sinful practices. After awhile the soul’s alert system gets used to the wrong behavior and sinful practice and our reactions become less shocked. The reality of the horrors around us will not register like they used to. After awhile we will pay little to no attention to the evil input though its’ information and subsequent danger to the soul has not changed.] [This callousness creates scars that numb the soul.]
[If we do not want to fall into this disorder of soul and the subsequent sins that bring God’s judgments we must learn to avoid and flee anything that is obviously opposed to God’s word.] We must watch our natural propensities to skip out on the word of God. We must acknowledge the strength and insidious bents of our sin nature. Even Paul prayed that he would not give in and then have God put his spiritual life on the shelf as a no good servant of the Lord, I Cor.9:24-27. If we forsake the word of God the damage to our spiritual senses will be limitless. It’s not enough for us to come to church for Bible class and Bible study and fellowship; we have to practice what we learn and we have to avoid those dangerous things that corrupt the soul.
What good does it do for us to put in long hours of Bible study and then to let hours and hours of corruption undermine the gains we have made in Bible class. If this becomes our pattern of Christian behavior then we will get to the point to where we call that which is evil, good and that which is good, evil. Isa.5:20 read...
When We Do Not Feel the Pain of Personal Sin
The late Dr. Paul Brand, the world-renowned hand surgeon and leprosy specialist, said “Pain is the hallmark of mortality.” Pain alerts us to danger. Leprosy patients would love to feel pain so at least they would know when they hurt themselves or something is wrong with them so they can see a doctor and treat the pain.” [5] In The Likeness of God, p462-466
Brethren, let me put this into the spiritual realm. When we loose the perception of pain to the soul brought on by sin; # 1, we loose the proper use and purpose of our conscience, and # 2, we distance ourselves from our walk with God. As a believer we can get used to being very lonely because we do not sense the presence of God in our lives anymore.
In I Thess.5:22 God commands us through the inspiration of scriptures to abstain from every appearance of evil, that is, all forms of wickedness. He told Timothy in I Tim.6:11 to flee the sin of covetousness and the love of money. In II Tim.2:22 God, through the Apostle Paul, told Timothy to flee youthful lusts. Whatever opposes God’s word harms the believer.
Whatever opposes God’s word in the believer alienates that believer from God. This opposition leads to unfounded fears and a restless soul. As fear sets in so does pride. In pride we refuse to acknowledge why we are fearful, and in pride we become independent minded.
Pride is quick to deceive believers who refuse to be humbled by the word. Subsequently with a false sense of self-importance, the believer lifts his or her obstinate opinions above the word of God.
The clay then finds it quite easy to give orders to The Potter, Rom.9:20-21. As pastors find it more and more difficult to say no to the superficial requests of their congregations, their congregations' opposition to Bible teachings becomes more brazen and callous.
Just as Aaron gave into the children of Israel while Moses was on Mt. Sinai receiving the commandments from God, so do many pastors give into obstinate believers who value their opinions above the doctrines of the Bible.
The people wanted an image to worship; they wanted something tangible to hang on to.
They wanted to party in the name of God and call it worship. God was displeased with them because at one time they had told God we will do as you say, we will obey you, Ex.19:8. But it was not the word they wanted, it was to feed their flesh with feeling and gaiety. Jeremiah also saw this with Judah and in Lam.5:15-16 he states, “The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. The crown is fallen from our head; woe unto us, that we have sinned.”
Has the joy of your heart ceased? Have you found yourself thinking of going to church as nothing more than a mundane routine? Then watch out, you are in the beginning stages of turning away from God. My advise to you is get in the word, and stay in the word, and God will drive the world out of you. Then your joy will return.