Showing posts with label Righteousness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Righteousness. Show all posts

There Is No Wisdom In Sin



The world has divided men into two classes, the stupid good people and the clever wicked ones.

This false classification runs through much of the literature of the last centuries from the classics to the comic strip, from Shakespeare’s Polomus, who furnished his son with a set of good but dull moral platitudes, to Capp’s Li’l Abner, who would never knowingly do a wrong act but who would rather fall on his head than on his feet because there is more feeling in his feet than in his head.

In the Holy Scriptures things are quite the opposite. There righteousness is always associated with wisdom and evil with folly. Whatever other factors may be present in an act of wrongdoing, folly is one that is never absent. To do a wrong act a man must for the moment think wrong; he must exercise bad judgment.

If this is true then the devil is creation’s prime fool, for when he gambled on his ability to unseat the Almighty he was guilty of an act of judgment so bad as to be imbecilic, He is said to have had a great amount of wisdom, but his wisdom must have deserted him at the time of his first sin, for surely he grossly underestimated the power of God and as grossly overestimated his own. The devil is not now pictured in the Scriptures as wise, only as shrewd. We are warned not against his wisdom but against his wiles, something very different.

Sin, I repeat, in addition to anything else it may be, is always an act of wrong judgment. To commit a sin a man must for the moment believe that things are different from what they really are; he must confound values; he must see the moral universe out of focus; he must accept a lie as truth and see truth as a lie; he must ignore the signs on the highway and drive with his eyes shut; he must act as if he had no soul and was not accountable for his moral choices.

Sin is never a thing to be proud of. No act is wise that ignores remote consequences, and sin always does. Sin sees only today, or at most tomorrow; never the day after tomorrow, next month or next year. Death and judgment are pushed aside as if they did not exist and the sinner becomes for the time a practical atheist who by his act denies not only the existence of God but the concept of life after death.

History is replete with examples of men whose intellectual powers were great but whose practical judgment was almost nil: Einstein, for instance, who was a mathematical genius but who could not look after his own bank account and who absent-mindedly ran his little motorboat aground with the excuse that he “must have been thinking about something else.” We can smile at this, but there is nothing humorous about that other class of men who had brilliant minds but whose moral judgment was sadly awry. To this class belong such men as Lucretius, Voltaire, Shelley, Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman and thousands of others whose names are less widely known.

The notion that the careless sinner is the smart fellow and the serious-minded Christian, though well-intentioned, is a stupid dolt altogether out of touch with life will not stand up under scrutiny. Sin is basically an act of moral folly, and the greater the folly the greater the fool.

It is time the young people of this generation learnt that there is nothing smart about wrongdoing (sin) and nothing stupid about righteousness. We must stop negotiating with evil. We Christians must stop apologizing for our moral position and start making our voices heard, exposing sin for the enemy of the human race which it surely is, and setting forth righteousness and true holiness as the only worthy pursuits for moral beings.

The idea that sin is modern is false. There has not been a new sin invented since the beginning of recorded history. That new vice breaks out to horrify decent citizens and worry the police is not really new. Flip open that book written centuries ago and you will find it described there. The reckless sinner trying to think of some new way to express his love of iniquity can do no more than imitate others like himself, now long dead. He is not the bright rebel he fancies himself to be but a weak and stupid fellow who must follow along in the long parade of death toward the point of no return.

If the hoary head is a crown of glory when it is found in the way of righteousness, it is a fool’s cap when it is found in the way of sin. An old sinner is an awesome and frightening spectacle. One feels about him much as one feels about the condemned man on his way to the gallows. A sense of numb terror and shock fills the heart. The knowledge that the condemned man was once a red-cheeked boy only heightens the feeling, and the knowledge that the aged rebel now beyond reclamation once went up to the house of God on a Sunday morning to the sweet sound of church bells makes even the trusting Christian humble and a little bit scared. There but for the grace of God goes he.

I am among those who believe that Western civilization is on its way to perishing. It has many commendable qualities, most of which it has borrowed from the Christian ethic, but it lacks the element of moral wisdom that would give it permanence. Future historians will record that we of the ‘twenty-first’ century had intelligence enough to create a great civilization but not the moral wisdom to preserve it.

** Written by Aiden Wilson Tozer (A.W. Tozer) **
*** From the Book - "Man: The Dwelling Place of God" ***


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We Must Be Examples



Key Verse: “And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: so that ye were examples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia” (1 Thessalonians 1:6-7)

Now that we have become believers in Christ there are few things that are now required of us, one of those things is to be an example to others; those who believe and to those who do not believe.

We are under a microscope; people are trying to see if we live the life that we proclaim. They are looking to see if we ‘walk the walk’ as well as we ‘talk the talk’. Those in the world are looking at us waiting for us to make a mistake so that they can accuse us of being a hypocrite, but those in the church are looking to us to be an example that they can look up to.

As we begin to mature in Christ those who are babes look to us as an example of how they should live their lives. We must live our lives in holiness and teach those who are young in the faith to do the same. There are several ways in which we must show ourselves as an example to those who believe.

In 1 Timothy 4:12, the Bible teaches us, “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” These were the instructions Paul gave to Timothy because he was a young man. Paul instructed Timothy to be an example to those in the church.

We must be as Paul and begin to teach those who are young in the faith how they should live Christ-like. It is during this time we are best able to teach them how to live and to instruct them in the ways of holiness. We must teach them to be an example in word: the things we say will very often show what is in the content of our heart.

We must teach those who are young in Christ that they must allow the Holy Spirit to change their hearts so that their conversation will begin to change. Jesus tells us in Luke 6:45 “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.”

Paul then tells Timothy that he must be an example in charity or love. This is important because Jesus said this is the first commandment. In Mark 12:30-31 Jesus tells us, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”

We must show them love! We must show that we love the Lord, and we do this by obeying His commandments. We must love our neighbors as we love ourselves; we show this by giving to those who are in need and not being selfish. When God blesses us, we must in turn bless others.

The story of the Good Samaritan is an example of loving thy neighbor (Luke 10:26-37). We must be an example in spirit; this is to say we must be of a humble spirit and to be forgiving. We must also exhibit a spiritual walk with God. Romans 8:14 tells us, “Those who are led by God's Spirit are God's children.” We don’t have to walk around speaking in tongues all the time to show them this; we must show them that we have the faith that God is in control and that we are doing things according to His will.

We must also be an example in faith. People are looking for us to show them that we have the faith to believe God for everything that we need. It is by our actions that they will know that we have faith. If we are looking to get a job, then we should go out and put in applications to get a job and not expect God to give us a job while we just sit around and eat Twinkies all day. God is able to do that if He wishes, but we have to do something to show God that we trust Him to provide for us.

We must show them our faith through our works. James tells us “Show me how anyone can have faith without actions. I will show you my faith by my actions” (James 2:18b). How will those around us know that we have faith unless they see us do something? And we must be an example in purity of heart and in living a holy life.

They will see what we do when we are not at church. Are we just a Sunday morning saint or is that how we live our lives daily? Those who are young in the faith are looking to us to be an example. They are like our children who do what we do so therefore we must take on Christ so that they will know how to live a life in holiness.

Let’s be an example of righteousness and holiness for all to see so that God will be glorified through us! May the God of peace, and the peace and love of Christ be with you always! Amen.

*** Written by Edwin D. Kerns ***


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Religious Or Righteous?



Text: Matthew 23:1-7

Strict observation of religious activities like giving of alms, praying and fasting, regular church attendance, payment of tithes and offering, and so on, without genuine repentance should not be mistaken for righteousness.

There are many church people who practice these things and still continue in sin – secret and open. The Lord will not accept any of them in lieu of godliness.


However, righteousness comes when a sinner hears the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, becomes convicted of sin and makes a decision to turn to God for pardon and forgiveness. God has promised to forgive every repentant sinner. He says: ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1:9).

Those who refuse to accept Christ but continue in religious activities which do not save will eventually regret at the end of their lives. According to the Scripture, God is angry with such people and if they die in that condition, they will spend eternity in hell where Satan will torment them forever.

But the sinner who believes God’s promise to forgive and cleanse, he or she will receive pardon on the merit of Christ’s atonement on the Cross. The pardoned believer will have a witness of the Holy Spirit that he or she is born again and has become a child of God. Therefore, a new lifestyle will begin: ‘Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new’ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

In this renewed state of being, the believer will not only be religious but righteous, godly, holy, kind, loving, gracious and God-fearing. His everyday life will be different from what it used to be. His passion and pursuit will be centered on God and he will labour to get to heaven on the last day.

The question now is this: ‘are you merely religious or righteous?’ This is a question for you and me and for everyone who professes to be in Christ. Now is the best time to ‘examine yourself to know whether you are in the faith; prove your own self… (2 Corinthians 13:5). Yet, don’t deceive yourself thinking nobody knows and sees you; ‘God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap’ (Galatians 6:7).

And ultimately, ‘…the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His. And let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity’ (2 Timothy 2:19).




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No Compromise!



Text: James 4:4; 1 John 2:15


No compromise with evil shall be our battle cry,
For God and right must conquer, and sin and wrong must die;
Unflinching we are standing, uncompromisingly,
Beneath the flag of holiness forever we will be.

No compromise, no compromise,
This shall be our battle cry,
For God and right we will boldly fight,
We will keep the standard high.

No compromise with error, for Bible truth we stand,
Let none remove the landmarks erected by God’s hand.
With loyalty our watchword and faith in Christ our stay,
We’ll bravely storm the forts of sin and thro’ Him win the day.

No compromise with worldliness, no yielding to the wrong,
No lowering the standard that’s stood thro’ ages long;
With Jesus as our leader, His Spirit as our guide,
We’ll firmly stand for righteousness whatever may betide.



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