BY DR. LARRY LAMB

 

INTRODUCTION

Biblical discernment: God’s Word is my authority of the culture’s message, trends, and voices.

Lack of Biblical discernment: I will fluctuate between what God’s Word says and the culture’s messages, trends, and voices.

The Apostle Paul, wrote the following about cultural syncretism:

• Romans 12:2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing, and perfect.
• We live with the in the culture—one of many examples is dealing with the reformatting of human sexuality (Genesis 2:24).
• The biblical position on sexuality is rooted in Genesis chapters 1-3 where God designed the pattern for all relationships.

TWO QUESTIONS WE SHOULD ALL ANSWER:

1. Am I in submission to God’s authoritative Word? God has spoken; I should listen and obey.
2. Am I careless with the truth?

 

GOD’S RESPONSE TO IDOL WORSHIP

• Romans 1:24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies.

“If man is his own god, then he can do whatever he pleases and fulfill his desires without fear of judgment.”  Warren Wiersbe

Self-deification is the crassest form of idolatry.

• “God abandoned” is a judicial term like handing a prisoner over to his sentence.
• When a person or nation turns against God, then the result is taking the creation, the body created by God, to do vile and degrading things. How can the human heart sink so low? What’s the evidence?
• Romans 1:25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. 

Spiritual blindness is the worst blindness there is.

• Why do people hedge their bets on immortality? Because the violation of God’s inflexible reality is not immediately .

 

WHAT’S THE RESULT OF GETTING WHAT YOU WANT FROM GOD’S ABANDONMENT?

• Romans 1:26-27 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.
• What’s the result of getting what you want from God’s abandonment? Suffering the penalty they deserved. God states this: “When you suffer, remember what you wanted. Your lust fooled you. I abandoned you to help you know how misguided you are”.

• • Sin can be legalized and celebrated, but the consequences will not be diminished.
  • Is my pride pushing against something God’s truth has revealed to me?
  • Regardless of the sin, fall into the arms of .

• Romans 3:24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.
• Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
• Romans 10:9-10 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.

God didn’t spare his own Son, who did him no wrong, so he could spare us, who did him no right. God was against Jesus so he could be for us forever. He was forsaken so we could be forgiven. Garrett Kell

Lord Jesus, I admit that I am a sinner. I know that the penalty for my sin is physical, spiritual, and eternal death. I acknowledge that I can’t do anything about my situation. But I know that You came to pay the penalty for my sin. I trust in You alone as the One who died in my place. I repent of my sin and trust in You as the only One who can place me in an eternal relationship with the living God. I desire to be Your child. I desire to live as Your child. In Your name. Amen.

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Discernimiento bíblico: La Palabra de Dios es mi autoridad del mensaje, las tendencias y las voces de la cultura.

Falta de discernimiento bíblico: entre lo que dice la Palabra de Dios y los mensajes, tendencias y voces de la cultura.

El apóstol Pablo, escribió lo siguiente sobre el sincretismo cultural:

• Romanos 12:2 No imiten las conductas ni las costumbres de este mundo, más bien dejen que Dios los transforme en personas nuevas al cambiarles la manera de pensar. Entonces aprenderán a conocer la voluntad de Dios para ustedes, la cual es buena, agradable y perfecta.
• Vivimos con la tensión en la cultura, uno de los muchos ejemplos es la redefinición de la sexualidad humana (Genesis 2:24).
• La posición bíblica sobre la sexualidad tiene sus raíces en los capítulos 1-3 de Génesis, donde Dios diseñó el patrón modelo para todas las relaciones.

Dos preguntas que todos deberíamos responder.:

1. ¿Estoy en sumisión a la Palabra autoritativa de Dios? Dios ha hablado; Debo escuchar y obedecer.
2. ¿Soy negligente con la verdad?

• Romanos 1:24 Entonces Dios los abandonó para que hicieran todas las cosas vergonzosas que deseaban en su corazón.

“Si el hombre es su propio dios, entonces puede hacer lo que le plazca y cumplir sus deseos sin temor a ser juzgado”.  Warren Wiersbe

Hacer un dios de ti mismo es la forma más grosera de idolatría.

• “Dios abandonó” es un término judicial como entregar a un prisionero a su sentencia.
• Mira los confines de la depravación. Cuando una persona o nación se vuelve contra Dios, entonces el resultado es tomar la creación, el cuerpo creado por Dios, para hacer cosas viles y degradantes. ¿Cómo puede el corazón humano hundirse tanto? ¿Cuál es la evidencia?
• Romanos 1:25 Cambiaron la verdad acerca de Dios por una mentira. Y así rindieron culto y sirvieron a las cosas que Dios creó pero no al Creador mismo, ¡quien es digno de eterna alabanza! Amén.

La ceguera espiritual es la peor ceguera que existe.

• ¿Por qué la gente hace apuestas con la inmortalidad? Porque la violación de la realidad firme de Dios no se reconoce de inmediato.

• Romanos 1:26-27 Por esa razón, Dios los abandonó a sus pasiones vergonzosas.Aun las mujeres se rebelaron contra la forma natural de tener relaciones sexuales y, en cambio, dieron rienda suelta al sexo unas con otras. 27 Los hombres, por su parte, en lugar de tener relaciones sexuales normales, con la mujer, ardieron en pasiones unos con otros. Los hombres hicieron cosas vergonzosas con otros hombres y, como consecuencia de ese pecado, sufrieron dentro de sí el castigo que merecían.
• ¿Cuál es el resultado de obtener lo que quieres al ser abandonado por Dios? Sufriendo el castigo que merecían. Dios dice esto: “Cuando sufras, recuerda que es lo que querías. Tu lujuria te engañó. Te abandoné para ayudarte a saber lo equivocado que estás”.

• • El pecado puede ser legalizado y celebrado, pero sus consecuencias en el tiempo de Dios no disminuirán.
  • ¿Está mi orgullo empujando contra algo que la verdad de Dios me ha revelado?
  • Independientemente del pecado, caigan en los brazos del .

• Romanos 3:24 Sin embargo, en su gracia, Dios gratuitamente nos hace justos a sus ojos por medio de Cristo Jesús, quien nos liberó del castigo de nuestros pecados.
• Romanos 6:23 Pues la paga que deja el pecado es la muerte, pero el regalo que Dios da es la vida eterna por medio de Cristo Jesús nuestro Señor.
• Romanos 10:9-10 Si declaras abiertamente que Jesús es el Señor y crees en tu corazón que Dios lo levantó de los muertos, serás salvo. 10 Pues es por creer en tu corazón que eres hecho justo a los ojos de Dios y es por declarar abiertamente tu fe que eres salvo.

Dios no perdonó a su propio Hijo, que no le hizo ningún mal, para que nos perdonara a nosotros, que no le hicimos ningún bien. Dios estaba en contra de Jesús para que pudiera estar con nosotros para siempre. Él fue abandonado para que nosotros pudiéramos ser perdonados.            Garrett Kell

Señor Jesús, admito que soy un pecador. Sé que el castigo por mi pecado es la muerte física, espiritual y eterna. Reconozco que no puedo hacer nada con respecto a mi situación. Pero yo sé que viniste a pagar el castigo por mi pecado. Confío solo en Ti como Aquel que murió en mi lugar. Me arrepiento de mi pecado y confío en Ti como el único que puede ponerme en una relación eterna con el Dios vivo. Deseo ser Tu hijo. Deseo vivir como Tu hijo. En tu nombre. Amén.

Si has hecho esta oración de todo corazón, por favor háznoslo saber haciendo click aquí y llenando la forma.

When you think about suffering, what comes to mind? Do you envision bedraggled children with distended stomachs, a hospital patient hooked up to life-sustaining medical equipment, or a courageous veteran dealing with the aftermath of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.  Adversity seems to be a common denominator to human existence, but what does the Bible have to say about suffering?

Jesus spoke to His disciples about suffering. One of the most well-known verses reads, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24 ESV). The Greek word for cross in this verse is staurós. It refers to the crossbeam which the lowest criminals carried as they trudged toward their execution. The cross symbolized degradation and indescribable pain as well as sacrifice.

While the invitation to eternal life is free, it comes at a price–certain suffering.

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Christ commanded us to love one another even as . For us to know how to love each other we must understand the character of the rich deep love that Jesus Christ that Paul describes in Ephesians 3 as surpassing knowledge.

I. His love is unmerited

A. 1 John 4:10 “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the .”

B. Ephesians 2:4-7 “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

C. What escapes definition is that even when we reject Him, we disobey Him, we sin against Him, . We call it ‘’, unmerited love from God to His rebellious creation.

D. God’s unmerited love is given to us, people who don’t deserve His love to transform and change us into new creations.

E. We are such undeserving beneficiaries of God’s . He reached down to us in our absolute total depravity and lifted us to Himself pouring out His grace to us.

II. His love is unlimited

A. He, who loved us forgave us, doing so without limit.

1. Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

2. Luke 23:34 Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’ And they divided His garments and cast lots.

B. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son…

III. His love is unselfish

A.

1. 1 Corinthians 13:5-6 Love “Does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil; Rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.”

2. Jesus is the perfect example of selflessness. Matthew 20:28 says, ‘Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.’

B.

• 2 Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

• John 10:10 ‘The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it] more abundantly.