Let me just state, as I begin these paragraphs, that I fully and wholly accept the doctrine of salvation "by grace through faith." This is a foundational principle of the Christian faith that cannot and should not be disputed - it was by grace and grace alone that we were translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. It is by grace and grace alone that we can stand before the throne with confidence, knowing that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit unto the Day of Redemption. What a wonderful, glorious, liberating truth. It is because of grace that Paul could write in Romans 8:38, "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Yet, it is a weak understanding of this very concept that causes many in the Body of Christ today to suffer under difficult burdens and endure heartache that can scarcely be measured. Many, including myself at times, have viewed the gift of grace as some kind of magical "get out of jail free" card, erroneously believing that because grace has been given, I am now free to walk in carnality rather than righteousness with impunity. We wrongly think that if I sin, or if I make a unrighteous choice I have simply to cry "grace" and the consequences of my sin will be nullified. We offer an insincere "I'm sorry" to our Holy Father and skip out of His presence feeling secure that all is well. We have invoked the divine talisman - grace.
I have been a pastor for 40 years now. I have a sense of how Moses must have felt at times wandering through the Wilderness of Sinai with the Hebrew children. I have an idea of the level of frustration he felt when he unleashed white knuckled fury on the rock that God had told him to speak to. Men and women that I love passionately who have been miraculously delivered from the bondage of their sin continue to stumble around in the wildernesses of addiction, broken marriages, poverty, bitterness, and spiritual failure; oblivious to the possibility that it is our own carnality that keeps us here.
Listen to what God told Israel in Deuteronomy 28:1-6 "And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your god, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out."
Now here is a prosperity message that is Biblical, unlike many that are preached today. But listen to the antithesis in Deuteronomy 28:15-19: "But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out."
Now obviously, there is a great deal more in Deuteronomy 28 than these brief verses. However, in just reading this short passage we get a clear sense of God's heart. The two key phrases upon which "blessings" and "curses" swing are: "If you faithfully obey" and "But if you will not obey." I am not advocating legalism here which requires that we do certain things or refrain from doing certain things in order to be saved. What I am doing is pleading with my brothers and sisters in Christ to recognize that it is possible to be saved and continue to live a miserable, broken, and frustrated life because we are unwilling to walk in the path of holiness and separation from the world. What we often attribute as the success of the devil in our lives is really many times more than not, the failure of the believer to walk in the path that brings blessings.
Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known. Deuteronomy 11:26-28
And what is worse, we fail to understand that we communicate the curses we bring upon ourselves to our children. (Exodus 34:7......."the sins of the fathers are visited upon their children to the third and fourth generation." We are upset with our government because they are establishing a financial debt that will be passed to our children and our grandchildren, and yet saved, but disobedient and carnal believers often pass along a debt of sin to their children and grandchildren. I know there are many who are praying and believing for a national revival in America, believing it will come with laughter, and joy and prosperity. I, on the other hand, believe there will be no national revival until there is a national repentance which will ride on the back of brokenness, heartache, and sorrow for sin. In my house, that begins with me. How about yours?
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