Good Morning and welcome in everybody. Today we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture from The book of Romans.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;” Romans 1:18
To hold the truth in unrighteousness is to actually believe that sin is acceptable in the sight of God. Obviously if somebody believes this lie, it’s impossible for them to repent. I mean, why would somebody change their life if they actually believed that what they were doing was acceptable to God? It’s clear that if people don’t repent they will perish in their sins, but many professing Christians really don’t want to believe this. They quickly confess that God loves them, but the truth is that they don’t love God. To inherit eternal life you must keep yourself in the love of God which requires obedience. To show the Lord Jesus how much we love Him, we need to submit to His will. When we do, the heavenly Father shines His love down upon us, because we listen and obey His precious Son.
John 14 ²¹ He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. ²² Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? ²³ Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
²⁴ He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
Jesus died on the cross so that we could have the opportunity to become a brand new person, but many people are not going to take advantage of this incredible gift. Instead of mortifying the sins of the flesh, they walk a life of impenitence. They sincerely want to believe that they will be in heaven, but in that state, they are sincerely wrong. God will punish sin, here on the Earth, and later on at judgment Day. He is not mocked nor is He a respecter of anyone. He will treat everybody equally, and you will reap what you sow. Some people claim to be followers of Christ, while they are actually following the world instead. The truth is, repentance is not optional if you desire eternal life. Rather than turning away from sin and becoming conformed to the will of God, many people are holding the truth in unrighteousness and will be cast away from God’s presence because of it.
Matthew 7 ²¹ Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? ²³ And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
We never want to allow ourselves to be deceived along with others in this world. When someone becomes deceived, they begin to believe a lie as though it’s the truth. Throughout the years I’ve received numerous harassing emails from people, simply because they were believing a lie in their heart. Instead of humbly accepting the facts in their own lives, they found it easier to persecute and vent their anger on those who are telling them the truth. The Apostle Paul dealt with these kinds of situations occasionally.
“Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” Galatians 4:16
Those who believe a lie, will oppose those who speak the truth. When you tell them the facts, they will completely dismiss them, and even call you a liar. They called The Lord of Truth a deceiver.
Matthew 27 ⁶² Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, ⁶³ Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.
They called the Apostle Paul a deceiver too.
“By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;” 2 Corinthians 6:8
Some people can get to the point when they believe a lie so strongly that it becomes pointless to make the attempt to turn them to the truth. People such as these will end up in an everlasting ditch of Fire.
“Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” Matthew 15:14
As I mentioned, one of the biggest problems when people believe a lie is that they can never get to a place of repentance. For those who hold the truth in unrighteousness, it’s impossible for them to repent, because they refuse to accept the error of their way. The church was constantly warned not to be deceived, because once a person begins to believe a lie, they will begin to oppose the truth, along with those who preach it.
John 8 ⁴³ Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. ⁴⁴ Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. ⁴⁵ And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. ⁴⁶ Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?
⁴⁷ He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.
1 John 4 ⁵ They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
⁶ We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
You must love the truth, if you are ever going to obey the truth.
“And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” 2 Thessalonians 2:10
Scripture teaches us that God has saved us from the wrath to come, but remember that even though God saved the Israelites out of Egypt, he destroyed those people who continued living in sin. Christians must depart from iniquity. Those who refuse to obey the truth will ultimately meet God’s wrath, it doesn’t matter if they profess to be a Christian or not.
Romans 2 ⁸ But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, ⁹ Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; ¹⁰ But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: ¹¹ For there is no respect of persons with God.
“Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.” Psalms 32:10
The first step of the Christian Life is being able to admit the truth. If you cannot do that, then the only option left for you is ….
……Believing a Lie
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️
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