Without Excuse

I think pretty much everyone hates excuses. We can make excuse now, but when God judges us after our death, there are no excuses

Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Romans 1:32

A few posts ago, I wrote on what the bible says about homosexuality. When I read over that post a few days ago, this last verse stuck out to me. Particularly the first part, "Although they know God’s righteous decree..." 
Early in this chapter, Paul writes this famous verse:

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Roman 1:20

So pretty much, Romans one is telling us that God is not one for excuses. When we die, no one is going to get to heaven by excuse (Luke 14:16-20) because we all know. No one needs to read the bible to know who God is. And no one has to read the bible to know what sin, or that it's wrong.
Then there are excuses we might try to make after we've come to Christ, but there are tons of excuses that are mentioned all throughout the bible, including these:

1. I'm not good enough (Exodus 4:10-17)
2. I'm to good to do that (2 King 5:1-14)
3. They won't listen (Ezekiel 2:1-7)
4. It wasn't me, it was _____ (Genesis 3:9-13) (1 Samuel 15:17-21)
5. Maybe tomorrow... (Proverbs 27:1)

People all over the bible make excuses time and time again and God is always shown to despise them. I think it's safe to say we all struggle with making excuse. I know I do.
But excuses go against the bible. They allow us to think that we can get away with things when really, we can't. On day, all of us will stand before God and all the excuses we've made will be worthless. Only Jesus can excuse our sin.
So stop with the excuses. You are capable of anything God calls you to do! 

I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:13

Photo Credit:
http://simplechristianthoughts.com/without-excuse/

Daily Reminders #20

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."

Deuteronomy 31:6

Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked,

Proverbs 3:25

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.

Luke 2:10

I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people."

Ezekiel 3:9

Photo Credit:

https://plus.google.com/photos/101903912947951995404/albums/5878322399110214881/5878322403072571026?pid=5878322403072571026&oid=101903912947951995404

2 Peter: Wallowing in the Mud (Part 5)

4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;
5 if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;
6 if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;
7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men
8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)--
9 if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.
2 Peter 2:4-9

This is a clear theme of scripture, God does not tolerate sin and unrepentant soul. God punishes those who rebel against him, but he rescues those who look to him.
Are the fallen angels (verse 4) in jail waiting for their punishment, or are they in a different kind of prison? These fallen angels may be demons (Eph. 6:12) and have been banished from heaven like Satan (Isaiah 14:12-18; Luke 10:18; Ezekiel 28:13-19) where they now dwells in the earth, or are they in legitimate prison cell?
But that's not the point of this passage. The point is that God will punish the ungodly, and you don't want to be ungodly when he unleashes his final punishment (the end of the world).

10 This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings;
11 yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord.
12 But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.
13 They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.
2 Peter 2:10-13

*“Pleasure” can, of course, be a neutral or even positive thing; God has himself created many things to give his people pleasure. But the Greek word here for “pleasure,” hedone, is the word from which we derive “hedonist,” one who lives for only pleasure. The Greeks numbered this kind of pleasure among their four “deadly sins,” sometimes contrasting it with reason*
Taken From: http://www.gracepointdevotions.org/2010/10/04/2-peter-2-commentary/

14 With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed--an accursed brood!
15 They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.
16 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey--a beast without speech--who spoke with a man's voice and restrained the prophet's madness.
17 These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.
2 Peter 2:14-17

Balaam (Number 22-24) was greedy and followed money instead of God.  Balaam also taught immorality (Nu 31:16; Rev 2:14). So the false teachers have left the biblical way and have gone into Balaam’s errors, greed and impurity.

18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.
19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity--for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.
2 Peter 2:18-19

They promise freedom, perhaps from any law or restraint of the flesh. Yet, Peter says, the very ones who speak of freedom are “slaves of depravity–for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.” This is a perfect example of what Jesus has said: “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8:34). So though the false teachers talk of religion and freedom, they do not know the Son; for as Jesus said, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).

20 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.
21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.
2 Peter 2:20-21

Verse 20 mentions the possibility of reverting to the old ways after having “escaped the corruptions of the world” through knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  Is it possible, then, for Christians to lose their salvation? Many would answer affirmatively on the basis of this and similar texts (For example: Hebrews 6:4-6 and Hebrew 10:26).  But this verse asserts only that false teachers who have for a time escaped from worldly corruption through knowing Christ and then turn away from the light of the Christian faith are worse off than they were before knowing Christ.

22 Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit," and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud."
2 Peter 2:22

The easiest thing to do is lay in you mud, especially when you've just been cleaned. The hardest thing is to be strong and let your shiny new look remain.

As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.
Proverbs 26:11

Previous Part
Next Part
First Part

Photo Credit:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/pig-dung-spread-around-drugs-188139

Sources:
http://www.gracepointdevotions.org/2010/10/04/2-peter-2-commentary/

http://www.gotquestions.org/Lucifer-Satan.html

Snow

Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle? From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?
Job 38:22-23; 29-30

He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes. He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast? He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.
Psalm 147:15-18

God's voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,' and to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour.' So that all men he has made may know his work, he stops every man from his labor. The animals take cover; they remain in their dens. The tempest comes out from its chamber, the cold from the driving winds. The breath of God produces ice, and the broad waters become frozen. He loads the clouds with moisture; he scatters his lightning through them.
Job 37:5-11

"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
Isaiah 1:18

Does the snow of Lebanon ever vanish from its rocky slopes? Do its cool waters from distant sources ever cease to flow?
Jeremiah 18:14

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Psalm 51:7

Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked like an expanse, sparkling like ice, and awesome.

Ezekiel 1:22

When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor.

Exodus 16:14

On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost.

Zechariah 14:6

Photo Credit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Snow_Scene_at_Shipka_Pass_1.JPG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Schneeflocken_in_Deutschland_-_20100102.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fresh_snow.JPG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Skiing_Christmas_%2705_034.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frost_patterns_2.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Feather_ice_1,_Alta_plateau,_Norway.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Windbuchencom.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frozen_Wappinger_Creek.JPG

Trees: The Cedar

He is then to take the live bird and dip it, together with the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, into the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water.
Leviticus 14:6

he said to Nathan the prophet, "Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent."
2 Samuel 7:2

In this way Hiram kept Solomon supplied with all the cedar and pine logs he wanted, and Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat as food for his household, in addition to twenty thousand baths, of pressed olive oil. Solomon continued to do this for Hiram year after year.
1 Kings 5:10

The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone was to be seen.
1 Kings 6:18

Now Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, along with cedar logs, stonemasons and carpenters to build a palace for him.
1 Chronicles 14:1

Look at the behemoth, which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox. His tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are close-knit.
Job 40:15 and 17

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
Psalms 92:12

What shall we do for our sister for the day she is spoken for? If she is a wall, we will build towers of silver on her. If she is a door, we will enclose her with panels of cedar. 
Songs of Songs 8:8b and 9

You who live in 'Lebanon,' who are nestled in cedar buildings,
Jeremiah 22:23a

They made all your timbers of pine trees from Senir; they took a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you.
Ezekiel 27:5

Wail, O pine tree, for the cedar has fallen; the stately trees are ruined! Wail, oaks of Bashan; the dense forest has been cut down!
Zechariah 11:2



Cedars can live to be 2,000 years old! I think it's easy to see that God uses these trees to represent strength and might. And God is even strong than his cedars


The Acacia
The Cedar
The Palm
The Fig
The Olive