Tag: Iniquities

14.a. “They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression  They set their mouths against the heavens”

Malachi 2:17  You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”

Psalms 95:9-10     when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.  For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.”

Isaiah 43:24     You have not bought me sweet cane with money, or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins; you have wearied me with your iniquities.

Jeremiah 15:6    You have rejected me, declares the LORD; you keep going backward, so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you— I am weary of relenting.

Ezekiel 16:43    Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have enraged me with all these things, therefore, behold, I have returned your deeds upon your head, declares the Lord GOD. Have you not committed lewdness in addition to all your abominations?

Psalms 73:3-15    For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.  For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek.  They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.  Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment.  Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies.  They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression  They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth.  Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them.  And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”  Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.

Ecclesiastes 8:11    Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil.

Do you ever wonder if we are just continually asking things of God and forgetting to honor, worship, and glorify Him?  Don’t get me wrong it is good to seek the Lord with all those troubles and concerns that affect us or the ones we love.  Is it possible in all of this asking we lose sight of honor, glory, and praise to Jesus Christ?  Do we weary Jesus with this continual asking and minimal praise and worship?  Do we spend enough time in His Word to know of His greatness, power, knowledge, wisdom, might, grace, mercy, and love?  Do we spend enough time in His Word so that we recognize that which is worldly and that which is holy, true, just, and right?  Do we put God’s patience to test by confusing worldly cultural beliefs with those of God?  Is our heart astray? Are we always going backward? Are we calling evil good?  Think about this.  Many across our country approve of abortion, protest riots and looting, gay lifestyle, pornography, gay marriage, etc….. Is our country going backward?  Have our leaders abandoned Jesus Christ? Has our country become ice-cold to Jesus Christ?  There can be no compromise in our hearts and minds.  There cannot be room for the cultural beliefs of what is right and wrong to coexist with things of God.  Our foundation, rock, and steadfast truth are found in the Word of God, Jesus Christ’s redemption, and the indwelling Holy Spirit.  When we neglect God’s Word, deny honor and worship to Jesus Christ, and resist the Holy Spirit’s leading, that which is worldly is given space to root and it will easily confuse us in our understanding of what is right and wrong.  Just take a good look at what people are calling right and wrong right now and compare it with the Word of God and what it calls right and wrong.  We will do well to continually worship, honor, praise, and glorify Jesus Christ, studying His Word, and following, trusting, obeying, and relying on Him every day.

10.w. “Your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”

Micah 3:4  Then they will cry to the Lord, but he will not answer them; he will hide his face from them at that time, because they have made their deeds evil. Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who cry “Peace” when they have something to eat, but declare war against him who puts nothing into their mouths. Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision, and darkness to you, without divination. The sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be black over them; the seers shall be disgraced, and the diviners put to shame; they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God.

Deuteronomy 31:17-18    Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be devoured. And many evils and troubles will come upon them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?’  And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because they have turned to other gods.

Deuteronomy 32:19-20   “The LORD saw it and spurned them, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.  And he said, ‘I will hide my face from them; I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness.

Isaiah 59:1-15    Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;  but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

How sad, terrible, and overwhelming to have God hide His face from His people?  How big is the separation when there is no answer from God?  When there is sin in our lives and in our nations and we have known what it means to seek and follower after God but have willfully chosen paths away from Him can we expect and answer from Him?  The answer to this is yes and no.  When we come to our senses like the prodigal son He is there with expectant arms wide open.  It is in the time between our unfaithfulness and willing disobedience, and a drought of God’s Word in our life when we will find that it is not so much Him speaking into our lives but rather we are not listening.  The worst part of this is that we choose to not listen and then wonder why, when troubles find their way into our lives, God does not seem to be anywhere near us.  God orchestrates and/or allows troubles to come on individuals and nations.   He has used these times to draw them back to Him, recognizes their sin, repents, and turns away from that which was appalling to obedience to Him.  As a nation, we find ourselves in a time now that prudent minds would seek God with a humble heart.  But this isn’t what we do, is it?   We look to local, state, and federal governments to answer our questions and fix the troubles we are facing.  Could it be that God is taking away (hopefully temporarily) that which we hold so dear in this world?  I do know this unless we turn to Him with humbleness and repentant hearts our nation will go from worse to worse.  Seek Him, dive deep into His Word, and open the ears to your hearts, minds, and souls.

8.f. “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins,”

Revelation 18:4  Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed. As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.’ For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”

Jeremiah 51:6    “Flee from the midst of Babylon; let every one save his life! Be not cut off in her punishment, for this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance, the repayment he is rendering her.

Jeremiah 51:45     “Go out of the midst of her, my people! Let every one save his life from the fierce anger of the LORD!

2 Corinthians 6:17   Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,

How applicable is this indictment of Babylon on today’s society, which embraces “spiritualism” at the expense of true worship? As the apostle Paul warns, “But know this: Difficult times will come in the last days. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to

a form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people” (2 Tim. 3:1-5).

When we boast that we are spiritual but not religious; when we lament the addition of a fish to the endangered species list but celebrate the right to end the life of an unborn child for any reason; when we abrogate the responsibility of individuals and families to work hard and care for their own by increasing our dependence on government entitlements; when we insist that ethics are situational and reject absolute truth as a vestige of less-enlightened times; when we say all forms of religious expression are fine as long as the name of Jesus is excluded; when a 50th wedding anniversary between a man and a woman is rare but gay marriage is normative; and when a theory of origins based on time and chance is called an indisputable fact but a theory that points to intelligent design is considered rank scientific heresy–we have become the people who

drink the wine of Babylon the Great’s sexual –that is, spiritual–immorality. And we have invited the wrath of God.

Throughout human history, God has called His people to separate themselves from those devoted to the worldly system that opposes God. The Lord instructs Abram to leave his country (Gen. 12:1). He rescues the Israelites from bondage in Egypt and instructs them never to return. And the church today is commanded to steer clear of the ungodly (Rom. 16:17-18; 2 Cor. 6:14 –7:1). No doubt the first readers of Revelation would connect the voice of God in Rev. 18:4 with Jeremiah 50-51 and understand the link between ancient Babylon and the contemporary paganism of Rome and/or the worldliness of first-century Israel.

Matthew Henry notes, “When the sins of a people reach up to heaven, the wrath of God will reach down to the earth” (Henry, Rev. 18:1-8) But what crimes has Babylon

committed? Pride, living proudly in luxury and ignoring the needs of others (pride of life, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes.)

We do well to take to heart God’s Word regarding the draw of this world to our sinful nature and the consequences of it.  “Come out of her” lest you take part in her sins”

6.g. People who have not soiled their garments,

Revelation 3:4   Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Isaiah 52:1    Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean.

Isaiah 59:6   Their webs will not serve as clothing; men will not cover themselves with what they make. Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands.

Isaiah 61:10   I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Isaiah 64:6     We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Jude 1:23    save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

Luke 21:36    But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

We read of those who have not soiled their garments.  They walk in a way worthy of Jesus Christ and what He has done and is doing.  They conquered any fleshly desire to follow others in false teaching.  Do you ever wonder if your garments (your works, faith, thoughts, and words) are soiled?  Do you wonder if you have adopted what is culturally acceptable and are living in filthy garments before the Lord?  Do you think about what is clean and acceptable?  Do you think about doing what is worthy of the price that was paid for your sins?

Soft living, comfortable living, self-centered self-reliant living, and neglecting God’s Word are no help in keeping your garments unsoiled.  We would do well to be less influenced by the world and what it has to offer and be ever seeking and desiring to walk worthy of Jesus Christ.  Who would want your bride to come to the wedding in a dirty and messed up wedding dress?  The church (each of us) is the bride and we should want our garments to reflect our love and devotion to Jesus Christ the groom.

5.c. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him”

Job 9:1   Then Job answered and said: “Truly I know that it is so: But how can a man be in the right before God? If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times. He is wise in heart and mighty in strength —who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded?—

Psalms 130:3    If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?

Psalms 143:2    Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.

Romans 3:20    For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Hebrews 11:6   “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

When you read these verses of men of God you can see the depth of their devotion to and seek Him. They had to be deep in thought about life in the present and death in the future.  In their thoughts, they were able to touch the edge of God’s Holiness and Righteousness.  In this touch, they were given a glimpse of their sinfulness and asked questions concerning their ability to live and die in such a way to bring honor and glory to God.  They rightly asked “Who could stand”, “how can a man be right before God?”, and if a person was able to stand before God and speak “one could not answer him once in a thousand times.”  Can you imagine the depth of thought these men were in and coming to a place in this thought where they began to understand it was all in God’s hands and by faith they would try to walk in His ways?  Yet, each day they would see time and time again that they failed in this walk.  Time and time again they were left with the question of how to be right before God and always falling short.

In God’s perfect plan He brought His law to man to show them of their sin.  He showed them the need for forgiveness.  He showed them how to be right in His eyes and how to have their sin cleansed. He showed them that is was not the sacrifice that cleansed them but faith in His acceptance of the sacrifice.  He showed them it was by faith and not by what they did.  Time and time again God did this.

In the fullness of time God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  A once and for all sacrifice that covers all sin if a person believes in the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus Christ, confessing their sin, repenting of their sin, turning away from walking in sin, and trusting in, clinging to, and relying on Jesus Christ.

Think about this, there was a time when man knew of their sin and carried the weight of their sin until they could come and make an acceptable sacrifice. They would be trying every single day to walk in such a way to not sin but would fall short of this goal having to wait until the next time they made a sacrifice.

We are walking in a time of God’s great awesome grace, mercy, and love.  Our heart, mind, and soul should be humbled, thankful, and ever seeking to walk in such a way to honor, glorify, follow, trust, and obey.

3.u. I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God.

Ezra 9:1 After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. And in this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost.” As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled. Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice. And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God, saying:

“O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today. But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery. For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem.

“And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land that you are entering, to take possession of it, is a land impure with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations that have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness. Therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.’ And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this, shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape? O Lord, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this.”

These passages just punch you deep into your heart.  Ezra sees what has happened to that which should have been a great new beginning and ended up in being a great embarrassment.  Think about this from what Ezra knew.  He saw the hand of God change the heart of the King of the nation that had subdued them and kept them prisoners for over 70 years.  The Babylonians destroyed the temple in Jerusalem and made many salves.  After 70 years God changed the heart of King Cyrus and he gave permission and support for the Israelites to go back to their home country and rebuild their temple.  Ezra is told of a great departing from God by the people.  They chose to ignore what God had said about keeping themselves separated from the influence of other nations and not to seek their peace or prosperity.  They were faithless and the officials and chief men were the ones who had departed from God’s expectations.

We don’t have to look very deep into our culture to see the erosion and departure from living in a way to honor, glorify, worship, follow, trust, and obey God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength.  This lukewarm complacent act of obedience we call “being a Christian” is not what is expected of us. We so easily take paths that seem right but are not, because we are void of God’s word in our heart, soul, and mind.  These paths promise us satisfaction, peace, prosperity, and purpose but in the end, always leave us still wanting and void of purpose and meaning for our life.  There is no replacement for God’s word, though many try to fill in their lives with worldly lies of completeness.

It is one thing to follow blindly after worldly things and another to choose to neglect God’s word.  We will be held accountable for our life on this side of eternity.  We get to choose what fills our heart, mind, and soul.  We get to choose how we live and in this choice, we either serve self or follow, trust and obey God.  Make an intentional choice and commitment today.

191. “For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

2 Kings 21:10  And the Lord said by his servants the prophets, “Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols, therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.”

Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin that he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

Daniel 9:12    He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem.

1 Samuel 3:11     Then the LORD said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.

Jeremiah 19:3    You shall say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.

Amos 3:2   “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

Revelation 6:15-17    Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains,  calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,  for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

Stepping away from God, turning away from God, blinding your eyes to seeing Him, closing your ears to hear Him will always lead us down paths far from God and sooner or later coming to a place where we start replacing our love and devotion to Him with love and devotion to the world and what it has to offer.  We fool ourselves into thinking that we will not have consequences for our slow decline away from God.  First, we lose focus and with this, we lose an ear to hear the leading of the Holy Spirit and with this, we become neglectful and complacent with God’s word, and when this happens we have lost the ability to have its influence in our lives.  So what fills this void?  Things of this world fill the void.  Busyness fills this void.  Sports, Netflix, Google, G-mail, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, FaceBook, work, hobbies, all chasing after things that will never satisfy and wonder why we feel empty and void of the power, strength, courage, hope, and Love of God.

There is no replacing God’s word and time with Him from our daily walk but by which there will be a missed opportunity for growth, a missed opportunity to hear Him speak into your heart, a missed opportunity to speak with Him.

Don’t miss a day with Him and His word.

143. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

1 Kings 11:9   And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded.

Deuteronomy 3:26    But the LORD was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And the LORD said to me, ‘Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again.

Deuteronomy 9:8  Even at Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you.

2 Samuel 6:7    And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God.

Psalms 78:58-60    For they provoked him to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealousy with their idols.  When God heard, he was full of wrath, and he utterly rejected Israel.

Psalms 90:7-8    For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed.  You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

Proverbs 4:23     Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.  And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,  therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”

2 Timothy 4:10    For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me

Ben Dunson; “As the Israelites were on the verge of entering the Promised Land, Moses preached to them about what God would require of his people so that they would not be exiled from the land once they had taken possession of it. Deuteronomy, in fact, is largely comprised of Moses’ sermons expressing God’s commitment to Israel, and Israel’s necessary response of faithfulness to God. Among the many things that Israel needs to know are the qualifications for its future kings, which are laid out for us in Deut 17:14-20. The king must be an Israelite (v. 15); he “must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses” (v. 16); he must “not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away” to idolatry (v. 17); he must not “acquire for himself excessive silver and gold” (v. 17); and finally, he must diligently and humbly keep God’s law (v. 18). In sum, Israel’s king must avoid trusting in earthly power (symbolized by horses), idolatry, resting in wealth, and neglecting God’s commands.

“Solomon had 40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen” (see Deut 17:16). These large numbers are not necessarily sinful, but as Deuteronomy warns, such a large accumulation of horses will tempt Israel’s kings to trust in their own military might, rather than in the power of God to save his people.

Solomon’s love of these women violates God’s warning to his people that they should “not enter into marriage with them, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods” 

Solomon, as a king, is very different from us, but as a sinner with divided loyalties and a propensity to turn away from God, he is all too like us today. In fact, we can see in his life many of the most pressing temptations that all believers face in every age, namely, the temptations that come along with money, power, and love, as well as the idolatry that so easily takes root in our hearts.  If our hearts are not fixed on our Lord, love for other stuff, trusting in our own wealth and power will become all-consuming, and as with Solomon, will easily lead our hearts away from God so that we too become “not wholly true to the Lord [our] God”.

We must allow the word of God to correct us in the same way we allow it to encourage us. Stay in God’s word and learn from it.  Listen to it speak to your heart.  Cling to it, believe it, rely on it, and obey it with all your heart, soul and mind.  There is nothing more precious to the soul than to be in His word and then to be led by God to repent and turn away from that which is not pleasing and honoring to Him.

43. Many are called, but few are chosen.

Deuteronomy 7:6   “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today.

Exodus 19:5-6   Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;

Psalms 50:5     “Gather to me my faithful ones

Amos 3:2     “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20     Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,  for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Titus 2:14    who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

1 Peter 2:9    But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Being chosen and called is an act of God.  “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.”  Being called and chosen is not enough. There must be a response to the calling of being chosen.  There must be an act of acceptance of the call and then act accordingly to that calling.  I fear too many want the benefits of being called/chosen but have no desire to live their daily lives in line with this calling.  I fear the neglect of His word has diluted the influence in their lives and leaving them blind and deaf to His calling.  Being chosen we are to be set apart from the influence of the lies of our culture, society, and worldly wisdom.  This calling and being chosen (setting apart) is more than accepting the call, for in this calling there is a call to action.  A call to make disciples, to proclaim the gospel, to proclaim the day of salvation, to proclaim the need for salvation, to proclaim hope and the reason for our faith, to humbly serve, honor, glorify, follow and obey.

How are we too except to know any of this if we daily neglect His word and take a complacent attitude toward the calling of God.  The simple truth is we will not.  We mock God if this is our approach.

We all are to be obedient to God. We cannot just accept the wonderful calling of God and continue to live a life following our own desires. We are to be the “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ”

Paul very clearly stated the responsibilities of the called: “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful”  The called and chosen must be faithful! They must continue to actively believe, obey and rely on God. The called and chosen will need to faithfully endure, both in good and in bad times.

The man in the parable who was invited to the wedding had a duty to come dressed for the occasion, which symbolically meant that he was to put on righteousness, but he didn’t do that. So Jesus made this famous statement that “many are called, but few are chosen.” Therefore, the called-out ones must be spiritually prepared and be clothed with righteousness which is a manifestation of His word in our lives.

If His word is not ever-present in our heart, mind, and soul the world will take it captive with lies and deception.