THINKING GOD IS LIKE MAN (Cont.)

     "But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare
my statutes, And that thou hast taken my covenant in thy mouth, Seeing
that thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee? When
thou sawest a thief, thou consentedst with him, And hast been partaker
with adulterers. Thou givest thy mouth to evil, And thy tongue frameth
deceit. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother: Thou slanderest
thine own mother's son. These things hast thou done, and I kept
silence: Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself:
But I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes"
(Psalm 50:16-21).
     With these verses we introduced our lesson last week entitled,
"Thinking God is like man." I pointed out that man often acts as he
does because he evidently has concluded that God is like unto man. In
that study we discussed three ways in which man seemingly reasons: (1)
MAN CAN HIDE FROM MAN. So, man thinks he can hide from God. (2) MAN
DECEIVED HIS FELLOW MAN. So, man thinks he can deceive God. (3) MAN IS
SLACK IN HIS WORD TO HIS FELLOW MAN. So, man is tempted to think God
is slack in His word. But in each of these three things man has but
deceived himself when he so reasons. We continue with the same line of
thinking this morning, and invite you to study along with us. Jot down
the Bible references and study them in the quietness of your own home.
     Your speaker is Jack Thompson, preacher for the White Park church
of Christ, meeting near Anahuac, TX. Again, I express my appreciation
to each listener for being with us this morning. It is my sincere hope
and prayer that you will be blessed for studying with us in these
lessons. We continue to invite you to visit with us at the services of
the White Park church of Christ. We are located one block south of
Interstate 10, at the Hankamer-Anahuac exit, or highway 61.
     Now to continue our study: "Thinking God is like unto man."
     (4) MAN CAN BE BRIBED INTO APPROVAL. And how often we have seen
our fellow man fall into the temptation of bribery, many dollars
passing beneath the table to persuade someone to perform a favor, or
give them some advantage.   We read of Judas Iscarot accepting 30
pieces of silver to betray our Lord and Savior, handing him over to
the mob for crucifixion. Many today are willing to betray the Lord for
such trivial fleshly gain. We can hardly pick up our newspapers
without reading of some public official being accused and often
convicted of taking a bribe to slip something by a gullible public.
Because of his ability to bribe his fellow man, people today seem to
think they can bribe the Lord, but such cannot be done. Some attend
the worship services only occasionally, when they feel that maybe the
Lord needs token acts on their part. Others seem to think if they give
a pretty good check each week then everything else will be alright,
deluding themselves into thinking as long as they give a goodly amount
then they can live and act like they want to the rest of the week.
Some religious bodies stamp their approval upon the members who give
the most, seemingly without regard to the kind of life they live. BUT,
GOD WILL NOT BE BRIBED INTO APPROVAL. This is not to say that our
contributions are not important, because they are. The child of God
must "give, not grudgingly, nor of necessity," so states Paul in 2
Corinthians 9:7. Jehovah expects the very best we have to give Him in
everything. The complete body and soul must belong to God, or else He
will have none of us. This idea of believing in the Lord, and living
like the Devil is not found in God's Holy Book. Some leave the
impression that you can just live like you want to ---live in the sins
of satan, live in adultery, drunkenness, lying right and left, but
just believe on the Lord and everything is just fine. DON'T YOU
BELIEVE, THAT IS THE MESSAGE OF SATAN. Either God will be first in our
lives or else He will be last. Jesus said, "No man can serve two
masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else
he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and
mammon" (Matthew 6:24). Either you do His Will or you don't. It isn't
enough to do part of what God says and then add or subtract from the
rest. NO, GOD CANNOT BE BRIBED INTO APPROVAL. He demands our very
best, Our all. Peter left all and followed Jesus. Luke 5:11.
     (5) ANOTHER LINE OF REASONING THAT MAN FOLLOWS WHEREIN HE
SEEMINGLY THINKS GOD IS LIKE MAN IS IN REGARD TO SIN. Man thinks that
sin is not so terrible, and as we look around us how sad the picture
is being painted by may as man winks at sin, laughs at sin, looks upon
sin so lightly. Fornication has become the "IN" thing now, lewdness
and filthy talk is the thing of the day. The motion picture industry
and the television producers have thrown reason and common sense to
the wind. Today if a picture is not rated "M" or "R" for mature
audiences it just isn't filmed. We see so many of the pictures now
being made stamped with the phrase "No one under 18 admitted." And how
many supposedly Christians relish such trash, even allowing their
children's minds to be warped by such filth. Man's tongue has a way of
showing how that person thinks -- and today it seems as if people
cannot open their mouth without some curse word or some lewd or filthy
story coming forth. I was walking in the Beaumont Mall a few week ago
and a very attractive young teen-ages girl passed me, walking with a
young man.  I have never heard such filth as was proceeding out of her
mouth. As I walked behind them for a very few moments, I was appalled
at the language they were both using. And it seemed to be a practice
that they were accustomed to. What a tragedy, that young minds are
filled with filth and obscene language.  We could spend a whole lesson
here as we think of the crumbling standards of morals in our nation,
and maybe in the near future we shall spend more time on this. Bur for
now, our point is: MAN THINKS SIN IS NOT TOO BAD, and he thus thinks
Jehovah feels the same way about sin; But again, THIS IS MORE
DECEPTION ON MAN'S PART, for God feels the same way He has always felt
about sin. Listen to Isaiah 59:1, 2, "Behold, Jehovah's hand is not
shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot
hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and
your sins have hid his face from you, so that he will not hear." Sin
separates man from God. Sin destroys the soul of man. You will note:
Sin does not only separate the one in the world from God, but sin will
separate anyone from God, including the child of God, if that Child of
God persist in his sins and does not repent of them and confess them.
The passage in Isaiah is addressed to God's children under the former
dispensation. Sin is sin and there is nothing as terrible as sin.
Paul, the apostle, states, "For the wages of sin is death; but the
free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans
6:23). Anyone who continues to live in sin will die a spiritual death.
Sin cannot and will not enter the presence of Jehovah. Through
obedience to Christ Jesus and the cleansing power of His blood mankind
has the privilege to being freed from sin. Saul was told, "And now why
tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling
on his name" (Acts 22:16). Do what to have sins washed away? Arise and
be baptized!! God's law is still the same today as it was when Saul
received that command. You, too, must arise and be baptized if you
would have your sins washed away. Baptism places you into  the death
of Christ Jesus wherein the blood was shed. Read Romans 6, verses 1
through 17, especially verses 3 and 4, "Or are ye ignorant that all we
who were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death? We were
buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as
Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we
also might walk in newness of life." Have you been baptized into
Christ???
     (6) MAN THINKS IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT HE DOES IN RELIGION, so he
concludes that God must feel the same way about it. Man says, "Just
please the conscious, Just be sincere and honest. It doesn't make any
difference what you do if you are honest and sincere." Now do not
misunderstand me, surely man must be sincere and honest, he must be
conscientious; but it takes more than these attributes. Listen to 2
John verse 9, "Whosoever goeth onward and abideth not in the teaching
of Christ, hath not God; he that abideth in the teaching, the same
hath both the Father and the Son." Also, in Matthew 15:13, 14, "But he
answered and said, Every plant which my heavenly Father planted not,
shall be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the
blind guide the blind, both shall fall into a pit." Christ states in
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 who is in heaven." He continues in the next verse, " Many will
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name,
and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me,
ye that work iniquity."  The word "iniquity" is translated in some
translations with the word "lawlessness."  To work "iniquity" is to
work without law, outside the realm of law. Jesus is saying that it
does make a difference what man does. Unless we are doing what is
within the scope of Christ's commandments, within His law, then we do
not have His blessings. It truly does make a difference what man does,
so says our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. One must DO the WILL OF GOD,
not just anything. Listen to Paul in Romans 6:17, "But thanks be to
God, that whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the
heart to that form of teaching wereunto ye were delivered; and being
made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness." You see, man
must OBEY FROM THE HEART the teaching of Jesus Christ. God sent his
son Jesus into the world to prepare a way whereby man might please the
Father. Jesus came bringing the truth. He very clearly states, "I am
the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father,
but by me" (John 14:6). This truth can make man free, as we noted a
couple of weeks ago from John 8:32, but man must accept that truth,
believe that truth and obey that truth. That same truth shall judge us
in the judgment. Read John 12:48 for a clear statement of that truth.
Yes, my friends, it does make a difference what one does in religion.
Man may delude himself into thinking that what we do is of little
consequence, but such is just not true. Yes, we must do something, but
that something must be what is approved of by the Lord.
     Truly, it is a mistake to think that God is like unto man. God is
so far above man that there is no comparison. Man must elevate himself
to the level of God, strive to make our calling and election as Peter
states in 2 Peter 1:10.  God has given us a perfect pattern, a perfect
standard. Let us study it, learn it, and then follow it.
     For your kind attention to our remarks this morning, I express my
sincere appreciation. We remind you once again, if you have a question
regarding the Bible or religion, please drop us a letter with your
question or comment.  We will respond to it according to your wishes,
either privately or publicly. If you would like to discuss anything
that has been said over this station, you have our cordial invitation
to express yourself. Rest assured, you will be treated with respect
and courtesy.
     You have a cordial invitation to visit with us at the White Park
church of Christ, Route l, Box 502, Anahuac, TX, located one block
south of Interstate 10 at the Hankamer-Anahuac exit, or highway 61.
Classes at 9:00 a.m.; worship at 10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.
     Until next Lord's Day I bid you a most pleasant good morning.

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