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.
Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake." When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.But the LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. So Pharaoh called Abram and said, "What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, ’She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go." And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had." IN THIS SITUATION THE CONSEQUENCES WERE NEGATIVE. ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF A SITUATION THAT HAD NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES WAS WHEN DAVID COMMITED ADULTERY WITH BATHSHEBA, AND THEN UPON FINDING HER PREGNANT, TRIED TO COVER UP HIS SIN BY HAVING HER HUSBAND COME HOME AND BE WITH HERE. WHEN THAT DIDN’T WORK DAVID HAD URRIAH, BATHSHEBA’S HUSBAND, KILLED IN BATTLE. THIS STORY IS FOUND IN 2 SAMUEL CHAPTERS 11 AND 12. THE CONSEQUENCES FOR DAVIDS ACTIONS ARE FOUND IN CHAPTER 12. THE MORE IMMEDIEATE OF THEM IS IN CHAPTER 12:13,14, "David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child who is born to you shall die." WE CAN SEE FROM THESE TWO EXAMPLES THAT CONSEQUENCES CAN BE BAD, OR UNDESIRED RESULTS OF OUR RESPONSE TO GOD. BUT CONSEQUENCES CAN ALSO BE GOOD. IN THE STORY OF JOSEPH FOUND IN GENESIS 37-50, JOSEPH IS SOLD INTO SLAVERY BY HIS BROTHERS, BUT BECAUSE HE KEPT HIS FOCUS ON GOD, AND SERVED GOD, JOSEPH ENDED UP BEING ELEVATED TO 2ND IN COMMAND OVER ALL OF EGYPT. THIS I WOULD SAY IS A VERY GOOD CONSEQUENCE OF HIS RESPONSE TO GOD. WE’LL LOOK AT ONE MORE EXAMPLE BEFORE CONCLUDING, THAT OF DANIEL. IN THE BOOK OF DANIEL, CHAPTER 6, WE FIND THE STORY OF DANIEL AND THE LIONS DEN. DANIEL AS WELL AS MANY OTHER MEN IN THE PERSIAN EMPIRE HAD BEN ELEVATED TO POSITIONS OF AUTHORITY. THERE WERE THOSE AMONG HIS PEERS THAT DIDN’T LIKE DANIEL, AND SO THEY TRICKED KING DARIUS INTO SIGNING A LAW THAT SAID THAT ANYONE CAUGHT PRAYING TO ANY GOD BUT DARIUS WOULD BE THRONE TO THE LIONS DEN. DANIEL’S RESPONSE TO THIS WAS TO CONTINUE PRAYING TO GOD, AND HE WAS THEREFORE, THRONE INTO THE DEN OF LIONS, DANIEL 6:18-20 SAYS, "Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him. Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions. As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, "O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?" Then Daniel said to the king, "O king, live forever! My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm."
BECAUSE DANIEL OBEYED GOD, AND REPONDED CORRECTLY TO WHO DANIEL KNEW GOD WAS, HE WAS SAVED FROM THE LIONS.
MY POINT IN THIS MESSAGE IS SIMPLY, THAT THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES FOR OUR ACTIONS, BUT RATHER THAN WANDERING THROUGH LIFE FOCUSED ON THE FEAR OF CONSEQUENCES, LET’S FOCUS ON OUR RESPONSES TO WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT GOD, AND KNOW THAT THERE CAN BE GOOD CONSEQUENCES FROM OUR RESPONSES TO GOD. WE DON’T NEED TO BE AFRAID OF THEM AS LONG AS WE RESPOND CORRECTLY TO WHO GOD IS, AND WHAT GOD DOES.
