Tag: done to him

52.o. Wilderness – 16.u. ““But if you will not listen to Me”

 

 

Deu 28:15-20  “But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.  Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. “The LORD will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me.

Leviticus 26:14-16    “But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments,  if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, then I will do this to you:  

  1. I will set my face against you
  2. I will visit you with panic
  3. I will set my face against you
  4. I will discipline you
  5. I will break the pride of your power
  6. I will continue striking you
  7. I also will walk contrary to you in fury
  8. I will bring a sword upon you
  9. I will send pestilence among you
  10. I break your supply of bread
  11. I myself will discipline
  12. I myself will devastate the land
  13. I will unsheathe the sword after you
  14. I will send faintness into their hearts
  15. “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity, I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers
  16. I am the LORD their God.

 Isaiah 3:11     Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.

  Daniel 9:13    As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the LORD our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth.

 Malachi 2:2     If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart.

 Romans 2:8-9     but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.  There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek

 Galatians 3:10    For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”

We enjoy and turn our ears toward scripture where grace, peace, love, joy, hope, refuge, eternal life, salvation, redemption, and forgiveness are found. Our ears open up and our hearts are encouraged by them. And they should be, for in them we find eternal hope and reasons for living to the honor and glory of Jesus Christ. 

I fear we stop short of our understanding of the holiness of God though. We truly enjoy hearing about the blessings of God but much of the time we skim over or deafen our ears to the warnings and curses of God. When we do this our understanding of our fleshly desires, sinfulness, and worldly temptations get watered down. We live in a make believe mindset that views God as a blessing giver and all we have to do is to the God-ATM and withdraw a blessing when we are running low. It is as though we keep a ledger book of the good works we do in the hope they will over shadow the wrongs, and thereby, add blessings into our account. It is as if we don’t even consider the need for confession and repentance because our minds are set on receiving blessings. Many times the blessings we seek are worldly and not of God. Other times we seek blessings while we are openly walking in sin. 

A weak understanding of the curses, which points out the sinfulness of our hearts and minds, severely hinders our understanding of God’s grace, mercy, and love. Without this understanding of our sinfulness and the greatness of God’s grace, mercy, and love we live blinded to worldly and fleshly lusts and unable to discern between Godly and worldly. It is through His Word and the Holy Spirit that we are able to examine our hearts and minds of worldly and fleshly desires. 

How can we be careful to do all the Lord commands without knowing His Word? How can we know the fullness of God’s grace without knowing the full extent of our intent to disregard holy living? God is not mocked. If we sow neglect to His Word we will harvest the rotting flesh of the fruit of neglect. If we sow desires for what this world has to offer we will harvest nothing that will satisfy our hungering soul. If we sow the busyness of life we will harvest nothing that gives us peace, joy, or rest. 

The whole Word of God is given to us so that we will grow and mature in our understanding of His holiness, grace, mercy, and love. It is in this understanding that we continue to grow and mature in our desire to honor and glorify Jesus Christ in all of our thoughts, words, and actions every second of every day.  

Mind set on the Flesh

“For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.”

Psalms 34:21  Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.

Psalms 35  I have seen a wicked, ruthless man, spreading himself like a green laurel tree.  But he passed away, and behold, he was no more; though I sought him, he could not be found. But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; the future of the wicked shall be cut off.

Psalms 94:23   He will bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness; the LORD our God will wipe them out.

Isaiah 3:11   Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.

Luke 19:41  And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it,  saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.  For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side  and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

John 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.  Whoever hates me hates my Father also.

2 Thessalonians 1:9   They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,

Job 22:17  They said to God, ‘Depart from us,’ and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’

Job 21:14  They say to God, ‘Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.

Psalms 10:4   In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”

Psalms 10:11  He says in his heart, “God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”

There are many reasons man can come up with that leave no room for God.  Do any of these sound familiar; “He does not exist.  If He does exist I am good enough.  There are multiple ways to God/heaven. I am too busy.  I will focus on God when I am older.  I have plenty of time to get right with Him.  When I compare myself against others I am much better than most…….”  Man can find host of reasons but none hold true.  All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  There is no other work man can do to be right in the eyes of God than to believe in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, acknowledge their sin, repent, and humbly serve, honor and obey God.  Believing in Jesus Christ is relying on, clinging to, and trusting in Him.  How are we to grow in our understanding of Him and His purpose for us each day if we are not culturing a heart deep desire each day?  Spend time in His word each day.