Since they didn't bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it's not as if they don't know better. They know perfectly well they're spitting in God's face. And they don't care—worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best!
Romans 1:28-32
Let’s talk about the law and sin and Hell, shall we? It’s not a popular subject these days. Popular culture thinks Hell is far too mean. They aren’t keen on anything like punishment. So they invent a laissez-fair theology. Do whatever and as long as you mean well you get to heaven in the end.
Think about that for a while. Wouldn’t it be nice if we all went to heaven? Wouldn’t that be grand? Wouldn’t it be great if we got an A for effort? But that's not the way it works.
It is said that all roads lead to heaven. But isn’t that the most absurd statement you have ever heard! Do all roads lead to Omaha? Of course not! If not we’d never be able to get to Des Moines. This is just wishful thinking by a mainstream world that isn’t patient enough to read about the truth and isn’t disciplined enough to follow the way. But it might not be the way you think.
What is the law? What do we rebel against? Why? There are a set of rules that God gave us to live by. But we are a selfish group, us people. And we invariably attempt to make it on our own. We reject His perfect awesome plan and place ourselves at the center of the universe. That is when things usually go terribly, terribly wrong.
We are all guilty. At time we all have venomous tongues, we hurt those we love and we look out only for our own interests. We get rebellious and we challenge the barriers and we all disobey authority and we disrespect our parents. There comes a time when we all get up and walk away. It’s the one guarantee in this life... that we will decide that we know better then God… that we should be in control of things... that we won't submit to His will. And the wages for this spitting in the face of God is death.
Some people wish that God was uncaring. They wish that we can do whatever we want and that God will still let us into the Promise of everlasting life at the end because of blind benevolence. But is that REALLY what we want? Is that REALLY the kind of god we are looking for? One that doesn't keep His word? One that acts like the lax teacher that we all have had that lets us do anything, lets us goof off all day and never makes us learn? Not I! I want the God that sticks to the plan, which makes promises and keeps them.
But by this way of thinking I am doomed to death. I have sinned. I have taken the reigns. I have decided that I was boss and spit in the face of God.
Thankfully, our God is a loving and caring god. His love for us never ceases. He came up with a way... a wonderful marvelous way for us to overcome this sin nature. He came up with an antidote for our brokenness, a remedy for our sin. He didn't event a path to heaven. He didn't lower a ladder for us to climb to safety... He jumped down to our rescue.
More on that tomorrow!
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