Walking Circumspectly

I have been reading through our church covenant as I mentioned last Sunday evening and I came across the statement that we engage to walk circumspectly.

____________, you’re a member of the church, are you walking circumspectly? I’ll admit, I had to look that one up to see exactly what it meant.

When we say we walk circumspectly we are saying that whatever we choose to do today, we are aware that there will be circumstances. Whatever we do today, we do with the knowledge that there will be future consequences.

I wonder if we truly walk circumspectly. Do we really go through life with it on our consciences that there will be future consequences to what we do now? I don’t think we always do because if we did, we would try harder not to sin. We would try harder to have the mind of Christ. We would ask ourselves more, “What would Jesus do?” before we did things, before we made decisions.

Sin is rebellion towards God. It comes in several forms: disobedience, accusation, ignoring God. Sin has many consequences. So often when people sin, they don’t realize how that sin impacts them and God. So, if we realized how sin impacted others, THEN we would be walking circumspectly. God wants us to know, before we leave here, what the consequences of our sin are.

So let’s get started. First, sin has an undesirable and even catastrophic effect upon the sinner. Sometimes the person who is sinning can feel the impact of their sin; sometimes the impact isn’t felt. Understand this, whether this impact is felt or

not, IT’S STILL A REALITY.

There are MENTAL CONSEQUENCES when we sin. When we sin, we affect our conscience. We call it feeling guilty. Have you ever felt guilty about something you said or did? People have actually killed themselves because they couldn’t stand the guilt that they felt.

Do you know that God didn’t give us a conscience so that we would feel guilty? He gave us a conscience so that we could and would recognize our problem and be driven to do something constructive in dealing with that problem. Without the remedy for Sin that God has given us, this guilt can, and does, pile up and overwhelm us. This guilt can produce all kinds of side effects like worry, fear, sadness, a sense of loss, a sense of not being in control of our own lives, despair, rejection, and much more.

Another consequence of sin is PHYSICAL CONSEQUENCES. We deal with

physical consequences all the time. Sin produces all kinds of diseases. Sexual sins produce sexually transmitted diseases.

Other sins cause people to spend time in prison. Some sins can cause brain damage (alcohol abuse). Some sins can bring about some immediate physical punishment, NOW! Smoking causes cancer. Smokeless tobacco causes cancer of the mouth, tongue, and throat. Eating too much, or gluttony, causes weight gain and that leads to a host of physical problems.

But I think the most serious of consequences that sin produces are SPIRITUAL CONSEQUENCES. Sin will separate us from God. It robs us of the eternal reward that God has purchased for us. Sin will bring spiritual death to any and all who refuse to change, who refuse to repent, and refuse to submit themselves in obedience to God and seek out the remedy that God has given us.

Let me enlighten you on something about sin and its consequences. Nobody will escape. God knows how to punish the wicked, and he knows how to reward the righteous. Which brings us to our Scripture passage. READ 2 Peter 2: 4-9.

Heb. 2:2-3 – “The message God delivered through angels has always proved true, and the people were punished for every violation of the law and every act of disobedience. What makes us think that we can escape if we are indifferent to this great salvation that was announced by the Lord Jesus himself?

Rev. 20:15 – “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” How much clearer can God be? Through one man (Adam), sin was brought about...and through the blood of one man (Jesus Christ), we have been justified and set free from the bondage of sin.

Now here is where people are wrong. There are many who might say, “There it is. You just said it. I might be a sinner, but Jesus Christ paid the price of that sin. So, I am cleared.” WRONG! You are only cleared of that sin once you admit it, and then personally accept the One who paid that price. You have to accept Jesus Christ to be forgiven. You have to accept Jesus Christ to get to heaven

YOUR SINS WILL AFFECT YOU IN TERRIBLE WAYS! You will be affected physically...and more importantly...you will be eternally condemned to a tormenting place...a place that is designed for the devil and the fallen angels who followed him. And if you refuse to get rid of your macho or macha pride and publicly announce that you have accepted Christ as your Savior, then you are no different that the fallen angels.