Scripture is full of warnings for God's people, God always lets us know the blessings and peace that will come if we keep Him as the number one priority in our lives, and He warns us of the trouble that will come to us if we pursue evil rather than godliness. Scripture also says that sin is pleasurable for a season, once you are born again sin becomes less and less pleasurable until you reach the point that David reached when he said he hated sin as God did.
Sin was what necessitated Jesus on the cross, the sins of the whole world upon Him. Sin separates us from God, sin can be forgiven but we live with the consequences of our willful sinning. And many times so do the ones around us. Romans 6:8, 11-12, 14; "Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace."
What are the evil things that the children of Israel did in the desert that God uses them as an example of the things we are to avoid at all costs?
Idolatry any person, or material thing, that gets our time, money, attention or love over God
In our country we have hundreds of thousands of idols; ourselves, fame, wealth, prestige, our homes, cars, boats, pleasure, sex, athletes, singers, movie stars, fashion, careers etc. You can add others I'm sure. 1 John 5:21; "Little children, guard yourselves from idols."
Immorality inclined to lustfulness, lewd, lascivious photographs, pornography
The great nations of the past, like the Roman empire were not conquered by another nation, they imploded from the immorality within. The same could be said about Greece, Persia and other great empires. Immorality is a direct attack on the family, life no longer has dignity, morality is laughed at, marriage between a man and woman is mocked, life is cheap, so is abortion, and when these things become the norm in a country could implosion be far behind?
Trying the Lord mocking God thru our actions, our disobedience, our rebellion against Him and His Word
Jesus says we love Him by our obedience to His commands (John 14:15) then what does our disobedience to Him say to Him? Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft (1 Samuel 15:23) Dare we mock God when Jesus said we are not to try or test God? (Matthew 4:7)
Grumble to murmur or mutter in discontent, complain sullenly
This may look innocuous as compared with the other three, yet this may be the most insidious of all! Jesus said in Matthew 12:34; "For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart." Words can and do hurt, consider the victims of bullying who have chosen death over one more day of hate and torment through the mouths of bullies. Our grumbling, complaining, murmuring is grieving the heart of God, He has given us everything we need to live our lives abundantly, in Him! What we are really saying with our grumbling is I know what all You have done Lord, but its just not good enough...God forgive us!
"These are all warning markers, danger! In our history books, written down so that we don't repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel, they at the beginning, we at the end, and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don't be so naive and self-confident. You're not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it's useless. Cultivate God-confidence." 1 Corinthians 10:11-12 MSG
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