Today we consider the issue of God’s severity, the fact that He hates sin and does not play games with it. As Christians we are more inclined to choose those things we like about Jesus and hold fast to them, yet set aside those more unpalatable aspects that He presents to us, and when we think and live this way, we belittle Him.
Luke 17:1-6 “And He said to His disciples, ‘Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him. The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ And the Lord said, ‘If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would obey you.’”
Last time we explored the issue of inner leprosy, the fact that all of us are sinful human beings at the core and therefore in need of God’s decisive, as well as ongoing cleansing. We saw that a big help in becoming the kind of person who loves righteousness and hates wickedness is by routinely washing in the water of the word, the Bible.
“Washing in the water of the Word. Do you feel and know yourself cleaner for being with Jesus? You should. Do you experience this through being with fellow believers? You should. Do you experience this in a worship service? You should.”