Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
About a week ago, I had something happen to me that has never happened before. It was a warmer day, so I ventured out into the morning snow to cut some wood with my chainsaw. I already had a large pile of downed timber that I had picked up from a logging site late last fall. I usually burn a lot of tamarack and popple, but as I was cutting through the pile, I found some large pieces of maple. Maple has been known to burn pretty hot, so I decided to cut some up for the house. After easily slicing through a few pieces, I found one that was extremely difficult to cut, and no matter what I did, I couldn’t seem to make any progress at all. Foolishly I kept trying until the chain got so hot that it began smoking. When I went back into the house to sharpen the chain, I realized that most of the chisels didn’t even have a shape to them anymore. I know that Maple is hard, but I was completely confused why this had happened. When I went back out to take a closer look, I realized that I had hit a maple tap that somebody had never removed from the tree.
This reminds me the Christian Life.
Like the maple tap stuck in that tree, many people have unconfessed sin stuck deep down inside of their hearts. They dont think anybody is ever going to find out, so they don’t bother to do anything about it. But just like finding that tap in that tree, the hidden things of darkness are all going to be exposed. God knows exactly what you have done, and without repentance, there will be serious consequences with Him because of it.
“Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” Revelation 3:3
The church has been given the teachings of Holy scripture for the reason of preparing them for God’s Heavenly Kingdom. It is through faithful obedience to God’s Word that any of us could possibly be saved. This is because heaven is a perfect place that is being prepared for perfect people. Sinners must go through a complete transformation and become Saints of God. To even claim to be His child, one must become lovingly obedient to the will of the Heavenly Father. God rewards obedience, but rebellion is going to be punished. God loves us severely, but if you never choose to love Him back, you will be punished severely.
“Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.” Romans 11:22
Our God cares about us so much that He allowed His Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins, but that grace has been given to us for a reason; for repentance and to become obedient to the gospel of Christ. Some people have been loved a little too much, and have become hardened by their own impenitence, involved in sinful living and mocking the truth in Christ. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Jesus referred to some of these people as hypocrites because they outwardly appeared righteous unto men, but deep inside of their hearts, they were filled with iniquity.
Matthew 23 ²³ Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. ²⁴ Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. ²⁵ Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. ²⁶ Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. ²⁷ Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. ²⁸ Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. ²⁹ Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
³⁰ And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. ³¹ Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. ³² Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. ³³ Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
Matthew 23 ¹ Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, ² Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: ³ All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. ⁴ For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. ⁵ But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, ⁶ And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
People with these same attitudes are present in many false forms of Christianity today. The Maple tap of sin has been pounded so deep into their hearts that it’s manifested itself into a festering sore of rebellion. They have gotten themselves involved with women teachers, and without repentance they will suffer greatly.
Revelation 2 ²⁰ Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. ²¹ And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. ²² Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
God is going to punish sinful behavior, which is why the disciples preached to turn away from your sins. God sees everything, both the good and the evil, so make sure you are on the right side. Everything will receive a just recompense of reward, so repent before it’s too late. Everything hidden will be exposed, just like the day that I found…..
…….The Maple Tap
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 all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.❤️
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