Consequences

Since I couldn’t post this w/o indicating a primary passage, i put the first passage i use in this sermon so i could post it. also i’m not sure if the topic is exactly accurate either. and it is also meant for all ages.

CONSEQUENCES

OK, SO RIGHT NOW YOU THINK, ON NO, HE GONNA TELL ME I HAVE TO BE CAREFULL OF WHAT I DO, OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES. WELL...YES AND NO. IN ORDER TO FULLY UNDERSTAND CONSEQUENCES, WE FIRST NEED TO LOOK AT WHO GOD IS, AND WHAT GOD DOES ( WHICH REALLY ARE ONE AND THE SAME). THEN WE NEED TO SEE HOW SOME PEOPLE HAVE RESPONDED TO GOD, AND WHAT THE CONSEQUENCES WERE FOR THOSE ACTIONS.

FIRST OFF, GOD IS WHAT HE DOES, AND DOES WHAT HE IS. (I GOT THAT FROM MY FRIEND JOEL HANSON). BASICALLY WHAT THIS IS SAYING IS THAT SINCE GOD IS GOOD, WHAT HE DOES WILL BE GOOD, OR SINCE WHAT HE DOES IS GOOD, THEREFORE HE IS GOOD, ETC... THIS PRINCIPLE CAN BE APPLIED TO EVERYTHING GOD DOES, AND EVERYTHING GOD IS. LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT A FEW EXAMPLES. GOD DOESN’T WANT ANYONE TO GO TO HELL- IN 2 PETER 3:9 IT SAYS, " The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." THIS IS PART OF THE REASON WHY JESUS WAS SENT TO EARTH TO DIE FOR OUR SINS. ROMANS 5:8 SAYS THAT "GOD DEMONSTRATES HIS OWN LOVE TOWARDS US IN THAT WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS, CHRIST DIED FOR US." JOHN 3:16 ALSO HAS SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT THIS,"FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM, SHALL NOT PERISH BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE." WE CAN CLEARLY SEE THAT GOD HAS DONE A LOT TO ENSURE THAT WE HAVE A CHANCE AT OBTAINING SALVATION. HOWEVER, I MUST NOTE THAT SALVATION ONLY COMES BY ADMITTING THAT WE ARE SINFUL, THAT WE HAVE DONE WRONG THINGS. A SIMPLER WAY TO PUT THIS IS THAT WE HAVE THOUGHT, SAID, OR DONE THINGS THAT HAVE DISPLEASED GOD. AND THE ONLY WAY TO BE RESCUED FROM THOSE THING AND GAIN EVERLATING LIFE IS TO CONFESS AND REPENT OF THOSE THINGS TO GOD, AND ASK HIM TO CHANGE OUR LIVES. WITH THAT SAID, WE MOVE ON TO THE NEXT THING. THAT OF GOD DESIRING GLORY. ISAIAH 48:9-11 HAS SOMETHING PRETTY CLEAR TO SAY ABOUT THIS TOPIC. ""For my name’s sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off.

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another. " IN EXODUS 20:4,5, GOD SAYS, "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me," BY LOOKING AT THIS PASSAGE, YOU CAN SEE THAT GOD DESIRES, OR WANTS EVERYONE TO WORSHIP HIM, AND NOT OTHER GODS. CARVED IMAGES/IDOLS, OR STATUES THAT ARE WORSHIPED AREN’T THE ONLY TYPE OF god THAT GOD DOESN’T WANT YOU TO WORSHIP. SOME OTHER EXAMPLES OF FALSE gods ARE MONEY, WORK, PLEASURE. THERE ARE ALSO OTHER RELIGIONS WHICH MAY NOT WORSHIP STATUES BUT WORSHIP A DIFFERENT GOD THAN THE ONE OF THE BIBLE. SOME EXAMPLES OF THESE ARE ISLAM, AND MORMONISM (BASED ON THE FACT THAT THE GOD THEY WORSHIP IS DIFFERENT THAN THE ONE THE BIBLE SHOWS US). IT IS PRETTY CLEAR FROM THESE PASSAGES THAT GOD DESIRES GLORY TO BE GIVEN TO HIM.

WE NOW MOVE TO LOOK AT WHAT GIVES HIM GLORY. FOR ONE, HIS ACTIONS DO. HIS CREATION GIVES HIM GLORY- "...The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork." (PSALM 19:1)

PSALM 50:6 " The heavens declare his righteousness..."

YOU CAN SEE THAT IN THESE VERSES THE CREATION, HEAVENS, SKY, AND WHILE NOT STATED IN THE VERSES ABOVE, I BELIEVE IT IS SAFE TO SAY THAT EVERYTHING THAT GOD CREATED HERE ON EARTH DECLARES HIS GLORY. CHRISTIANS ARE TOO DECLARE HIS GLORY AS WELL. THROUGH SINGING TO HIM, TELLING OTHERS ABOUT GOD, AND THROUGH LEARNING FROM HIM, WE SHOW OR GIVE GOD GLORY. NOT THAT WE HAVE SEEN VERY BRIEFLY SOME OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD, LETS SEE WHAT SOME PEOPLES RESPONSES WERE TO GOD, BUT BEFORE WE DO THAT WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT OUR ACTIONS ARE A RESPONSE TO GOD. A RESPONSE TO SITUATIONS IN OUR LIFE. A VERSE THAT CLEARLY SHOW THIS, I BELIEVE, IS 1 JOHN 4:19, "We love because he first loved us." THE FACT THAT WE LOVE GOD IS A RESPONSE TO HIS LOVING US FIRST. JUST LIKE WHEN I AM FACED WITH DECIDING TO SIN OR NOT TOO SIN, I AM EITHER REPONDING TO GOD BY SAYING YOU ARE THE LORD OF MY LIFE, AND ARE IN CONTROL, OR IF I SIN, I AM SAYING I AM IN CONTROL OF MY LIFE, AND AM LORD OF IT. SO EVERTHING REALLY IS JUST A CHANCE TO RESPOND CORRECTLY OR INCORRECTLY TO GOD. NOW THAT WE UNDERSTAND THAT, LETS LOOK AT SOME EXAMPLES IN THE BIBLE. THE FIRST ON I THINK OF IS ABRAHAM. UPON COMING TO EGYPT, HE LIED ABOUT SARAH BEING HIS WIFE BECAUSE HE WAS AFRAID THAT THE EGYPTIANS WOULD KILL HIM AND TAKE SARAH. AS A RESULT OF HIS RESPONSE TO GOD OF "I DON’T TRUST YOU TO PROTECT ME", THE CONSEQUENCES, WERE THAT THE PHAROAH WHO TOOK SARAH FOR HIS WIFE, HAD PLAGUES COME UPON HIMSELF AND HIS HOUSE, AND THEN SENT ABRAHAM AND SARAH AWAY. THIS STORY IS FOUND IN GENESIS 12:10-20 " Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, "I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ’This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.