Do not think lightly of God!
We often treat God as if He were a dead stone statue. A statue that does not see, does not hear and does not speak.
We think we can say all kinds of things about Him. We think we are allowed to twist His Words.
When people twist our words and give them a completely different interpretation than we mean, we get angry. Without problems and without our conscience nagging, we interpret God’s Words as it suits us. We feel pious and happy.
We also think we can use Him. Some people are so brazen that they openly say, “We must help the Holy Spirit over a threshold.” Man, who thinks he must help God because He cannot do it otherwise! The man who places himself as god above God! We were actually confronted with this in the early 1970s in the charismatic movement within the established churches.
God hates people who act pious and are wicked. We can read this in both the Old and New Testaments. The Lord Jesus hated the Pharisees and scribes very much, because while showing a pious countenance they were in fact servants of satan, who laid their jokes on the people. The Lord Jesus openly accused them: “Satan is your father.” Even now there are clergymen who, with an appearance of godliness, deny its power. “Turn away from godless chatter,” we are commanded. Who follows this order? Did we fall asleep like that?! Do we have so little courage and energy? Shouldn’t we finally open our mouths for the sake of Him Who has delivered and redeemed us from the clutches of satan?! For the sake of Him, Who bore the punishment for us, in order to bring us home safely to Him? For Jesus’ sake we must go outside the camp and bear His disgrace.
In the Old Testament (1 Samuel 3), we read about Samuel, who as a little boy was given back to God. “The boy was in the service of the Lord under the supervision of the priest Eli.” Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels; they did not reckon with the Lord, nor with the right of the priests toward the people.
The fat of the meat always had to be burned as an offering to God first. Hophni and Phinehas, sons of Eli, did not want this, but wanted raw meat for themselves to roast this immediately, and they threatened the worshippers that they would take it by force if it was not given to them.
When Eli heard that his sons were sleeping with the women who were serving at the entrance of the Tabernacle, he said: “Why do you do such things? I hear from all the people about these wicked deeds of yours. No, my sons; the report I hear spreading among the Lord’s people is not good.” Is this a genuine rebuke? Was this weak talk a disapproval of the sins committed against God, actually in His sanctuary? Do we stand in the breach for God when we see what is done to God? We ought to firmly point out and reject sins! First with ourselves!
Who dares to say from the pulpit that those who practice the following things will not inherit the Kingdom of God? “Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:19-21.
Do you know what is always said in response? “Oh, we are human and sinners. No one is perfect. You are not perfect either!” Certainly, I am not perfect, but I do take this warning very seriously. When we are privileged to see a little bit of Who God is—His holiness, His omnipotence, His justice, and His love for us in Jesus Christ – then I beg Him to help me not to sin. God sees the heart and knows whether it is truly sincere.
It would be good to hear from the pulpit about all the individual works of the flesh. Are you afraid that the church will empty out then? Or are there sins involved that you yourself do not want to part with? The human heart is deceitful. As soon as certain issues come too close, we quickly shut ourselves off and ridicule the people who speak to us about sins. So the slander starts…
All the works of the flesh from Galatians 5:19-21 are the order of the day in so-called Christian churches and circles. Let it dawn on our hearts that God says: “They will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”
Spurgeon once said in an address: “A thief cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven, because he would then continue stealing in heaven.” I believe that instead of “thief,” we can also say an alcoholic, a porn viewer, an egoist, etc. Unconverted and not stripped of all sins, we would continue with our sins in heaven.
We must be cleansed of all our sins here on earth by the blood of the Lord Jesus.
From the above, it is clear that we need repentance, forgiveness of sins, and the help of the Holy Spirit to live pleasingly to God.
It is important to make that tough choice today, if you have not yet made that choice. The Lord Jesus warned to calculate the cost first, before you begin. Be honest. If you do not want to, then say: “No, I do not want to!” Then it is clear, and you will not go to hell with an imagined heaven, but you will know for certain that after this life you will go to the place where God is not.
God spoke to the young Samuel and said what would happen to Eli, Hophni, and Phinehas. “For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God, and he failed to restrain them.” (1 Samuel 3:13)
Is the youth of the congregation rebuked, who get drunk on alcohol on Saturday, commit impurity, and then sit piously dozing in church on Sunday morning?
In this way, too, God is greatly dishonored!
The story of Eli and his sons continues.
There is war between the Philistines and Israel. Israel is defeated. Yes, and then God is brought into it. Surely He must join them and give them the victory. The solution: “Let us bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Shiloh, so that He may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.”
So they think they can boss God around. God must help them. After all, He dwells among the cherubs, doesn’t He? The stone tablets, God’s Word, were also in the ark.
Don’t the churches behave just the same way? In the church, the building, God is present. (“Here the Word is opened,” it is said.) God is in their midst. He must help them, even though they despise Him through their deeds.
The Israelites lost the battle because God did not help them. God was not in their midst. He is the Almighty, Sovereign God, Who does not allow Himself to be used. He Himself is always in control of His own actions. This applies to everyone, whether the faith is orthodox or charismatic. If we twist and desecrate God’s Word, we not only rely on God wrongly, but God’s wrath is upon us.
There are also many ‘christians’ today in charismatic circles who think they possess the Holy Spirit. They do a variety of works by “the holy spirit”. However, this spirit has nothing to do with God’s Holy Spirit, but it is a vulgar, mocking, diabolical imitation. These demons grunt like pigs. In the Old Testament a pig was an unclean animal to God! The true Holy Spirit is compared to exactly this animal and other scavengers (sounds of hyenas).
You say: “Yes, that is the Toronto Blessing; we want nothing to do with that.” Exactly, but Nicky Gumbel, the Anglican priest who created the Alpha course, also received the Toronto Blessing! This “blessing” is woven throughout the entire Alpha course, and this course is offered in many churches.
Satan has inspired human pride from the very beginning. He said to Eve: “You will then become like God.” Some carry “the holy spirit” in their pockets and think they can make use of this. Man above God, just as satan wants to be higher than God.
If we have no fear of the Lord, no immense awe for God and His Word, then we are prey to deceivers. God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one. The punishment that God imposes in the Bible for sins and unholy use of His Word also applies to sins and unholy dealings with the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
Because of sin, a great blurring has come over nowadays ‘christianity’. We can only beg for mercy and become sincere towards God.