moral failure

Nope!

/ Mark Brady / Leave a comment
Image by 13smok from Pixabay

A man once told his wife that the reason he didn’t go to church and had dismissed his belief in God is because he was abused as a little boy in a main denominational church, and he couldn’t believe a loving God would allow that to happen. I hate that it did happen. It was so wrong, but the truth is this: you will not be exempt from hell because of someone else’s moral failure! Nope! Notta!

The Bible is clear about this issue. “Everyone must die once. After a person dies, he is judged.” Heb. 9:27 (ICB) That same man will not be judged for the sins of someone else, but he will be judged for how “he” lived his life.

All people have sinned and are not good enough for God’s glory. 24 People are made right with God by his grace, which is a free gift. They are made right with God by being made free from sin through Jesus Christ. 25 God sent him to die in our place to take away our sins. We receive forgiveness through faith. And all of this is because of the blood of Jesus’ death. Rom. 3:23-25a (ICB)

Recently, a famous senior pastor, who proceeded over several campus locations and was on television, had his past sins revealed. The indiscretion took place many years ago but was disclosed. He probably thought it was hidden and would never be known publicly. This shows that scripture is true when it says, “Everything that is hidden will become clear. Every secret thing will be made known.” Luke 8:17 (ICB)

My point in bringing this up is no one can say, “See. The church is full of hypocrites, and I don’t want to be like them. I’m just as good as they are. So, I will live my life how I want to!” The church is indeed full of imperfect people, but they are forgiven if they have asked God to forgive them in the name of Jesus.

A reporter once asked President Bill Clinton, “You have committed an indiscretion in the Oval Office, yet we see you go to church and carrying a Bible.” President Clinton smirked and replied, “If anybody needed to be in church, don’t you think I should have?” Honestly, he was right.

There is no getting around this matter. There are only two eternities. One is heaven, and the other is hell. God cannot allow people into heaven who are filthy and have not been washed in the blood of Jesus. Fair or not, that is the way it is and must be. For God is Holy.

It is your evil that has separated you from your God. Your sins cause him to turn away from you.  And then he does not hear you. Is. 59:2 (ICB)

Each creature was calling to the others: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of heaven’s armies. His glory fills the whole earth.” Is. 6:3 (ICB)

God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. 1 Jn. 1:5b (ICB)

Your eyes are too good to look at evil. You cannot stand to see people do wrong. So how can you put up with those evil people? How can you be quiet when wicked people defeat people who are better than they are? Hab. 1:13 (ICB)

That is why God had to turn his back on his Son, Jesus, while he was dying on the cross because Jesus took on the sins of the world. So get it through your head today: either accept God’s gift of salvation through Jesus Christ or die as a sinner and be condemned to spending eternity in hell. It’s your choice. You will not be able to blame anyone else.

Copyright © 2024 Mark Brady. All rights reserved.

Aren’t You Glad She Ain’t God?

/ Mark Brady / Leave a comment

I was sharing with my friend that I had been talking to a woman last week, who questioned how in the world could King David be considered such a man of God?  “After all,” she said, “he had an affair with Bathsheba, and after learning she was pregnant he had her husband killed.”  Yes, King David sinned, had a moral failure, but after being confronted by the prophet Nathan, repented and begged God not to remove his Holy Spirit from him.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

The entire chapter of Psalms 51 is a prayer of repentance.  King David was confident that God could, and would forgive him.  He also knew the feeling of awesomeness of being in the very presence of God, and he knew of the power of the Holy Spirit, because he had experienced it firsthand.

God did forgive him.  If God would forgive him, then why wouldn’t the woman I was talking to forgive him?  Mankind is the one who rates sin.  Has the woman never sinned herself?  True forgiveness forgives and then moves on.  Even God separates our sins as far as the East is from the West. (Ps. 103:12)  Another important issue is this; if the woman hasn’t truly forgiven King David, can God forgive her of her sins?

14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Mat. 6:14-15 (NKJV)

This makes me wonder, who else has she not forgiven?  Perhaps even her own family members?  If that is the case then how sad for her.  Those not forgiven by her will go on with their lives regardless, so the result only hurts her.  At the end of my sharing with my friend he said to me, “Aren’t you glad she ain’t God?”

Copyright © 2021 Mark Brady.  All rights reserved.