Disobedience to God Brings Discipline by God - Ezekiel 1-6

Ezekiel 5:5-8 (ESV)

“Thus says the Lord GOD: This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. And she has rebelled against my rules by doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries all around her; for they have rejected my rules and have not walked in my statutes. Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you are more turbulent than the nations that are all around you, and have not walked in my statutes or obeyed my rules, and have not even acted according to the rules of the nations that are all around you, therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, even I, am against you. And I will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations.

There was no secret as to what God was going to do with Israel.  Ezekiel was to carry the message of doom and destruction.   His message would be rejected by them, but he was still obligated and empowered by God to give it.  This was all because they failed to obey God’s commands.   Disobedience to God’s commands will always bring judgment by God.  This was true then and it is true now. Somehow we think we can walk out of step with God and we will still find God’s favor.   Although positionally we might be saved as New Testament believers, our obedience to His word is still paramount.   The Bible is full of those who disobeyed God and suffered the consequences.   There is no escaping disobedience.   Ezekiel’s entire mission was centered around this thought.  Keeping others in the way of obedience ought to be all of our goal. 

Romans 15:1-2 (ESV)

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

Galatians 6:1 (ESV)

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

James 5:19-20 (ESV)

My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Guard Your Speech by Guarding Your Heart - Proverbs 4

Proverbs 4:24 (ESV)

Put away from you crooked speech,

and put devious talk far from you.

The mouth of a person is a gateway to their heart.  You know a lot about a person by listening to their speech and their talk.   Solomon is warning us in this proverb that those who have a deceitful mouth and devious speech should be avoided ... why?  Because their tongue is simply a billboard for their heart.   A deceitful tongue reveals a deceitful heart.   Devious speech betrays a devious heart.   What does Solomon say we should do when we find ourselves in the midst of such talk and such hearts?  He tells us to "put away" those who are such and to put them "far from you."   We are not to engage in a discussion with them in hopes of changing their way of life.  When we find they are devious we are to separate ourselves.   And, we are not to separate ourselves a little ... but put them "far" from us.   When we fail to do so we are allowing their speech ... their hearts ... to draw us into their corrupt world.   We don't keep ourselves pure by mixing with such language.  We keep ourselves pure by avoiding and separating form such language.   A deceitful tongue is to be avoided at all cost.   Don't try to mingle with it and be with it ... the tongue is simply revealing a heart that is bound to corrupt.  See how Paul uses this "put away" phrase in his writings:

Colossians 3:5

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Colossians 3:8-9

But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.  Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices. 

If we don’t “put away” those who speak devious to us, we will soon be walking the same path they follow.   

Who To Call When We Are In Trouble - Psalms 69-71

Psalms 69:1-3 (ESV)

TO THE CHOIRMASTER: ACCORDING TO LILIES. OF DAVID.

Save me, O God!

For the waters have come up to my neck.

I sink in deep mire,

where there is no foothold;

I have come into deep waters,

and the flood sweeps over me.

I am weary with my crying out;

my throat is parched.

My eyes grow dim

with waiting for my God.

We have no idea where David was when he wrote this plasm, or what circumstances he was facing.  It is obvious from these opening lines that he was in a dire spot.  It could be any time he was being hunted by Saul. It could be when he was pushed out of Jerusalem by his son Absalom.   We just have no idea.  

What we do know is that David is in dire straights.  We have no idea if the words he uses to describe his condition are to be read literally or metaphorically.   We don’t know if he is in mire up to his neck, or feels like he is in mire up to his neck.   Throughout Psalm 69 we read where David is in a bad spot.   Note: 

Psalms 69:14-15 (ESV)

Deliver me

from sinking in the mire;

let me be delivered from my enemies

and from the deep waters.

Let not the flood sweep over me,

or the deep swallow me up,

or the pit close its mouth over me.

The key to the entire song/prayer, however, is the opening line of the psalm.  It simply reads:

Save me, O God!

That is the place we all are to go when we are either literally or metaphorically sinking in the mire of life.   We ought not to turn to any other sources for our salvation.  God is the one who saves.  It is not a matter if we will ever be in the mire or feel like we are in the mire of life.   It is a matter only about who we call upon when we get there.   David called upon God.   So ought we.  

Psalms 69:13 (ESV)

But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD.

At an acceptable time, O God,

in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.

Don’t Reject Truth or Those Who Speak Truth - 1 Kings 10-13

1 Kings 13:33-34 (ESV)

After this thing Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people. Any who would, he ordained to be priests of the high places. And this thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, so as to cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth.

In chapter 13 we read about a man of God confronting Jeroboam for his false worship.  The man of God himself succumbs to disobedience and loses his life.   This opens the door for the above verse.  When Jeroboam was confronted by truth there was hope that he would repent and restore proper worship to Israel.  But when the man of God also fell into disobedience, that brought what we read above.   Absent truth we return to our old way of thinking and living.   Jeroboam needed truth.  But he rejected it and fell into deeper and long lasting sin.  One of the worse things we can do for our lives is to cut God’s spokesman or His word out of our lives.  It is through God’s word, spoken by His messengers, that corrects behavior.   Jeroboam failed in this regard and God took the kingdom from him.   Solomon failed in this regard and God took the kingdom from him.  There is no way to escape this truth.   

Psalms 119:9 (ESV)

How can a young man keep his way pure?

By guarding it according to your word.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Give God Our Best - Leviticus 1-3

Leviticus 3:17 (ESV)

It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places, that you eat neither fat nor blood.”

At the conclusion of these sacrifices being described in the first three chapter of Leviticus, we come to the above verse.  This was a clarifying command so that all Israel understood the importance of what was just said.   No matter what happens in the nation, no matter where they are, no matter free or in captivity, they are not to eat the blood or the fat of the animal.   This indicates several things for us today:

1. The blood is sacred.  Jesus had to shed blood to give us remission for our sins.   The blood contains life.   His bleeding on the cross was His giving us life through His shedding of blood. 

2. The fat was the choices part of the animal.  We are to give God the choices parts of our lives.  We are not to give Him our left over time, money, talents, etc.   God demands that give Him our best.   

3. These are not temporary statues.  Yes, from a dietary point of view and from a worship point of view, we do not observe these rules.  But in spirit and in principle we can never violate these commands.   We are to give God our best and allow His blood to cleanse us from our worst.  

Flesh vs Fruit - Galatians 4-6

Galatians 5:19-21 (ESV)

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.

We often quote the verses that follow the above verses.  The verses that follow these are referred to as the Fruit of the Spirit.  Most Christians know the Fruit of the Spirit by heart.    Most don’t recall the above verses.  This list is what we were saved from.   Note the following:

1. Three sexual sins are mentioned:  Immorality; impurity; sensuality
2. Two religious sins are mentioned:  idolatry and sorcery
3. Eight societal sins are mentioned:  enmities; strife; jealousy; outburst; disputes; dissensions; factions, envying
4. Two abuse sins are mentioned drunkenness; carousing

John MacArthur states the following about these: 

In Mark 7:20-33, Jesus’ list is much like Paul’s, and in both passages the point is made that these evils originate from within man himself, not from Satan or the world outside. In that brief account Jesus mentions three times that the sins come from within man himself, and Paul identifies his list of sins as deeds of the flesh, that is, works produced by man’s own unregenerate nature.Consequently, although man’s environment is never perfect and often has a detrimental effect on him, that is never his worst problem. It is primarily man who pollutes the environment, not the environment that pollutes him.

There are other lists in God’s word:  Romans 1:29-31; 2 Corinthians 12:20-21

The key word in the above lists, however, is not the description of each sin but the word do.  Paul states that those who do such things are the ones who will not inherit the Kingdom of God. They word do is in the Greek present active tense.   That indicates an on-going, habit nature of the things mentioned.  Paul is telling us that those who practice these things on a continuous basis will NOT inherit the Kingdom of God. Spin it all the way you want, but that is as definitive as it gets.  To avoid doing these things on a regular basis we have to do what the verse before the list tell us to do (on a regular bases):

Galatians 5:16-17 (ESV)

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

Walk in the Spirit and you won’t fall into a the continuous habit of living in the flesh.  

Our Mission vs Our Methods - Luke 9-10

Luke 10:1-12 (ESV)

Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

This is a record of the second group Jesus sent out to witness about Him.  The first group (9:1-6) was for the original 12 disciples .  The above is about other disciples.   There are some differences to how they are to approach their mission, but the mission is still the same: They are to proclaim the Kingdom of God.   The comparisons of the two groups might give us some insight into methodology vs mission.    At the least we see that Jesus has the same mission for us all, but the methods we use might differ from on group to another.  When we compare the above and the Luke 9 passage with the begining of the book of Acts, we see even more contrast in methods but the key of the same message. In Christianity today we tend to fight, argue and defend over methods.    In reality each Church, small group and/or outreach partner might do things in a different way, but for the same purpose:  The Kingdom of God.