No beating around the bush and no soft-pedaling. Let me give it to you straight. The sin that makes God cry is being committed daily - not by pagan workers of iniquity, but by multitudes of Christians! It is the sin of doubting God's love for His children.
In one way or another, we are all hurting. Everybody is in the same boat. Even the laughing, happy–go–lucky crowd is hurting. They try to hide their hurt by drinking and joking — but it won't go away.
Who hurts? The parents of a prodigal son or daughter. Millions of parents have been deeply wounded by a child who has rejected their counsel. Those loving parents grieve over the deception and delinquency of a child who was once tender and good.
"These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God" (Revelation 14:4-5).
My wife and I were having dinner with a family friend not long ago, a woman we've known for some time. Suddenly, in the middle of our meal, our friend began to voice the kinds of thoughts I've been hearing from Christians all across the country.
She said to us:
There are two elements of Jesus’ life that are meant to be part of our lives too. That is, we’re called to be holy and anointed. Some Christians might be intimidated when they hear this. “Sure, I live a moral life, and I do my best to be godly—but holy? And anointed? How could that happen with all my failures?”
Yet here it is, straight from Peter’s pen: “It is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:16, ESV).
I grew up in New York, but when I was in high school my family moved to east Texas. During my first year there I wasn’t known as Gary but as “Yankee.” The longer I kept my New York accent, the more puzzled looks I got, along with a question: “What did you just say?”
I’ve written before about my reputation for always preaching on grace. I’ve actually toyed with publishing a book titled Confessions of an Extreme Gracist. Not an appropriate title, maybe, but it’s a tag I wear proudly anyway.
The church today lives in a time of great light. With so much teaching available to us, the Holy Ghost has revealed to us the incredible blessings of Jesus' work on the cross.
Yet there was a time when Christ's wonderful work was obscured from the world. That period was the Dark Ages, when the meaning of the cross was veiled from humanity's eyes.
Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2, my italics).
This message is meant for all who have backslidden from the Lord. Backsliding is a biblical term that means “falling away, turning away, apostasy.” According to the apostle Paul, who wrote the verse above, “Today is the day of mercy and grace.” In other words: If you ever plan to believe, that time is now.
“Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?… Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which has drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out….
The Lord appeared to Abraham one day and gave him an incredible command: “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee” (Genesis 12:1).
What an amazing thing. Suddenly, God picked out a man and told him, “I want you to get up and go, leaving everything behind: your home, your relatives, even your country. I want to send you someplace, and I will direct you how to get there along the way.”
