Enough Is Enough

“Go ahead and have sex, you can always ask God for forgiveness afterwards, God know our hearts”
“I can’t help it”.
“I went before the church to be saved and I was told once saved will stayed saved”
“I do not need to go to church; I can praise Him at home”
“Well at least I am not as bad as others”

These comments are comments I heard while growing up. What is interesting is that these are some comments by people who profess to be saved at least 10 or more years. So what is the problem, you ask? These comments are expected from a person in the world or just got saved. (Stop, see you are judging people, you are not God) I know I am not God, but I am stating fact, if you had a child that was 10 years old and he had not learned to walk, talk, or any other things a child should learn by the age of 2 then you would think there is a problem. (Well the child could be a slow learner) If that is so then probably the child may be classified as mentally retarded or special to be politically correct. That is the same way with some of the Christians in the world, they are spiritually retarded. What is sad, these Christians end up being evangelist, deacons, choir members, and even preachers. No wander when people from the world look at the church they say look at those hypocrites. These spiritual retarded people we will call them the Carnal Man. These people confess Jesus to be in their life and maybe at the head but their life states differently. For actions speaks louder than words as I heard many times, so if a person living the same way as the world live then there is a problem. Not only would a carnal man not heed to sound doctrine but will give some of their own. Therefore they will tell people doctrine or twist God’s word to make a loop hole to accommodate their lifestyle, hence the quotes above.

“Go ahead and have sex, you or we can always ask God for forgiveness afterwards, God knows our hearts”
I personally have been guilty of a quote similar to this in the past. I was not informed of Romans 6:1-3 at the time:

1-3So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If we've left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn't you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land! (Message Bible)

We got to recognize that Jesus paid the debt so that we do not have to live under the slavery of sin. I do not remember hearing about any slaves after they escaped and obtain freedom, came back and said, Master I want to be a slave again. However that is what we do when we make these comments like these, it is like saying to Satan I want to be a slave of sin again. (I believe would be on my side if I say I can’t help it) Oh really, the bible states differently ( Matt. 5: 17-20; 29-30).

29And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
30And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
This does not mean to dismember your body literally. This mean whatever you are weak in try to do all you can to get away to be put in the situation. Let us take Superman, his weakness is Kryptonite. It would not be wise for Superman to fight villains in a Kryptonite Warehouse. Same for us, if we have a weakness of fornicating, it does not make sense spiritually to be alone with a female or male you are attracted to in your room or house especially at times you should not be alone. Now think about it, who calls someone to come or go to their house at 1:00 A.M under normal circumstances just to talk. Therefore in the example if someone causes you to fornicate then you have three choices: Stay with the person and sin, Get married to the person, or cut them off. The same with all sin: stealing, backbiting, gossiping, hatred. The Lord gives you choices, He will not force you to choose the right one, but He will help you to do right if you choose the right way.
“I went before the church to be saved and I was told once saved will stayed saved”
“I do not need to go to church; I can praise Him at home”
These phrases I heard from people that I just randomly spoke with at different times. Some of them had said they had been saved for numerable years and can quote scriptures out of the bible. However ask them what the scripture mean you either get a blank stare or an outrageous meaning. The common one is Romans 3:23. I heard some interesting meanings like on the path of “since we all had sin. I can sin all I want to and God will forgive me.” Unfortunately people forget the keyword, repent, you have to repent of your sins in order to be forgiven.

Repent is defined as:
1: to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one's life
2: to feel regret or contrition; to change one's mind

So if you repent, you are turning yourself away from the unclean thing. Once you get saved, there are two parts you go through which are simultaneous to each other.
1) Justification: You are pardoned of your sins
2) Sanctification: You are in the process of being made holy.
What people miss out is the Sanctification part, which includes letting the Holy Spirit inside and working the inside. Then there is some who let the Holy Spirit in but do not deny the flesh DAILY. Therefore, they backslide and thinking that living anyway is okay because they eventually become reprobate. If you don’t believe me, look at Romans 1:28, II Timothy 3:8, and Titus 1:16 and reprobate mean to condemn strongly as unworthy, unacceptable, or evil. Also it is interesting to hear saints say that they don’t need to go to church. Sometimes it you will downtrodden and weak spiritually, and when you get the word of God it refreshes you and you can out to battle again. I doubt anyone would go on a road trip in a country town and pass by a gas station with the gas hand on the car at a quarter tank, because you do not know where the next gas station will be and risking running out of gas. Same thing is true with a church with a preacher that preaches the REAL Word of God, not what makes you happy all the time. I can understand that it can be hard choosing a church because of False Teachers. However read my not note titled Salvation on some tips. As Christians we are needed in the church because when new believers come then can learn how to live in Christ’s way. I like how Rev. Knight says,” You may be the only bible that anyone would ever read”

“Well at least I am not as bad as others”
What is funny is that this was a reoccurring phrase one week during my time in Iowa. I mean it seem like I was hearing this from everyone I spoke with that week. Sometimes I do not know how it fit into some of the conversations. It is interesting how we get on the Phelps family about judging others when we do it ourselves. Maybe not like they do it, but that phrase is a perfect example of it. People remember sin is sin and the wages of sin is death, Romans 6:23. It does not matter if you steal a million dollars or a stick of gum. If you do not repent you are in debt to the same wages, death. So comparing yourself to another person is kind of useless since they are flesh like you. I would think it would be better to compare oneself to Jesus especially if we are CHRISTians. I know some of you may just be starting off in the faith, so I will give you a starting point, put yourself in the Pastor’s shoes. If your pastor did a particular thing like commit have sex with women in your church would you follow them. If the pastor preaches a sermon drunk or high (not to mention smelling like alcohol) would you come for Bible Study. People naturally put high standards on a Pastor, those similar standards one should make for themselves as well to reach, since the Pastor should be following Christ.

I did not write this note to judge anyone, just to give truth and from that truth you examine yourself. So I encourage you to keep growing in Christ. I hope these words will help anyone to open their eyes if they are not living in God’s Will.

Stay blessed and remember to that God loves you and I do too,
Greg "Da Spokesman" Stargell