This is a follow up on the theme we discussed last week. We discussed the new abortion law that New York State has enacted that reaches a new level of wickedness. Scripture teaches that man is encouraged in this kind of wickedness because they think that the judgment of God has not come, and will not come. Peter warned that these are scoffers who will come in the last days:
"Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." 2 Pet. 3:3-4
Peter wrote that these scoffers of judgment deliberately ignore that fact that God had indeed sent devastating judgment previously in the form of the flood, and Peter assured that fire is now reserved for the judgment that will come against ungodly men (v. 7).
Though some mock the idea of the universal flood, physical evidence, including the fossil record, is abundant indicating that large land masses were indeed flooded by water.
Jesus also warned that in the last days, it would be as the time of Noah, and Sodom and Gomorrah in regard to judgment of mass destruction (Lk. 17:26-30).
Peter taught that those who scoff at the judgment of wickedness do so in pursuit of their own lusts (desire/craving for what is forbidden, of those who seek forbidden things). New York State, and the United States have become these scoffers of which Peter warned as they enacted these wicked statutes because of the lusts of men, and because they feel falsely secure in the belief that there will be no judgment from God. For this, these scoffers should beware of the warnings of scripture.
Peter went on to warn as we have noted previously, that God is slow to judge, not because He is slack in performing His word, but because He desires to give men the time and opportunity to repent, not willing that any should perish in judgment (2 Pet. 3:9).
We have an excellent example in scripture of this patience regarding judgment. After God entered into a solemn covenant with Abraham and his promised future descendants, He spoke to Abraham prophetically regarding the land which would be given to Abraham's seed. The habitation of the promised land would be delayed until the fourth generation of Abraham's seed. This delay would be because "the iniquity (perversity, depravity, crimes, great guilt) of the Amorites ("prominence, publicity") is not yet full." (Gen. 15:13-16). The judgment against the tribes of Canaanites for their iniquities, would be delayed until it had grown so great, that it could be wait no longer.
What was involved in the iniquity of these Canaanite tribes? We get a detailed description from the book of the Apocrypha, The Wisdom of Solomon, Chapter 12. We do not treat the books of the Apocrypha with the same weight as scripture, but as they line up with the scriptures and bear witness to the scriptures, we can gain insight from them. These books were written during the time of the Old Testament, before the birth of Christ, and at one time they were included in the King James Bible. As an example of the value of the information these books can contribute, this is a quote from 2 Esdras 7:28 (KJV):
"For my son Jesus shall be revealed with those that shall be with him, and they that remain shall rejoice within 400 years."
Regarding the Amorites mentioned by God to Abraham, and their iniquity before God, The Wisdom of Solomon says, in part:
"Whom thou hatedst for doing most odious workes of witchcrafts, and wicked sacrifices;
And also those mercilesse murderers of children, & deuourers of mans flesh, and the feasts of blood;
With their Priests out of the midst of their idolatrous crew, and the parents that killed with their owne hands, soules destitute of helpe:
That the land which thou esteemedst aboue all other, might receiue a worthy colonie of Gods children.
Neuerthelesse, euen those thou sparedst as men, and didst send waspes forerunners of thine hoste, to destroy them by little and little.
Not that thou wast vnable to bring the vngodly vnder the hand of the righteous in battell, or to destroy them at once with cruel beastes, or with one rough word:
But executing thy iudgements vpon them by little and little, thou gauest them place of repentance, not being ignorant that they were a naughtie generation, and that their malice, was bred in them, and that their cogitation would neuer be changed....
But they that would not bee refourmed by that correction wherein he dallied with them, shall feele a iudgement worthy of God.
For looke, for what things they grudged when they were punished, (that is) for them whom they thought to be gods, now being punished in them; when they saw it, they acknowledged him to be the true God, whome before they denyed to know: and therefore came extreme damnation vpon them."
The iniquity of the Amorites, for which judgment came, though delayed for the chance for repentance, included very much the same iniquity that we see practiced in our land now, including the "merciless murderers of children". The above excerpt from The Wisdom of Solomon confirms scripture in that the judgment would come little by little in order to provide an opportunity to repent. However, in a warning to be taken today also for the scoffers of these last days, judgment would not be delayed indefinitely, and would surely come.
An important truth for the people of God to know and understand in all of this, the LORD strongly expressed to that fourth generation of the children of Israel when it was time for this judgment to fall on the Amorites, that they would prevail over the Amorites not because of their own righteousness, but because God was righteous in His judgment against the "odious" iniquity of the Amorites:
"Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee. Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee. Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth not this good land to posses it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people." Deut. 9:3-6
In The Wisdom of Solomon, the murder of the children, whether sanctioned by those in authority, or by the parents themselves, was odious. In Scripture it is called an abomination (Prov. 6:16-19). Judgment, though delayed, should not be mocked or scoffed upon, but the longsuffering of the LORD towards us should be used as the opportunity it is-the merciful opportunity extended to us for repentance for ourselves, our state, and our nation before it is too late. "The Lord is...not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
*The above is based upon the 2/3 message to the Church from Dr. Kenneth Stevenson.
"Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." 2 Pet. 3:3-4
Peter wrote that these scoffers of judgment deliberately ignore that fact that God had indeed sent devastating judgment previously in the form of the flood, and Peter assured that fire is now reserved for the judgment that will come against ungodly men (v. 7).
Though some mock the idea of the universal flood, physical evidence, including the fossil record, is abundant indicating that large land masses were indeed flooded by water.
Jesus also warned that in the last days, it would be as the time of Noah, and Sodom and Gomorrah in regard to judgment of mass destruction (Lk. 17:26-30).
Peter taught that those who scoff at the judgment of wickedness do so in pursuit of their own lusts (desire/craving for what is forbidden, of those who seek forbidden things). New York State, and the United States have become these scoffers of which Peter warned as they enacted these wicked statutes because of the lusts of men, and because they feel falsely secure in the belief that there will be no judgment from God. For this, these scoffers should beware of the warnings of scripture.
Peter went on to warn as we have noted previously, that God is slow to judge, not because He is slack in performing His word, but because He desires to give men the time and opportunity to repent, not willing that any should perish in judgment (2 Pet. 3:9).
We have an excellent example in scripture of this patience regarding judgment. After God entered into a solemn covenant with Abraham and his promised future descendants, He spoke to Abraham prophetically regarding the land which would be given to Abraham's seed. The habitation of the promised land would be delayed until the fourth generation of Abraham's seed. This delay would be because "the iniquity (perversity, depravity, crimes, great guilt) of the Amorites ("prominence, publicity") is not yet full." (Gen. 15:13-16). The judgment against the tribes of Canaanites for their iniquities, would be delayed until it had grown so great, that it could be wait no longer.
What was involved in the iniquity of these Canaanite tribes? We get a detailed description from the book of the Apocrypha, The Wisdom of Solomon, Chapter 12. We do not treat the books of the Apocrypha with the same weight as scripture, but as they line up with the scriptures and bear witness to the scriptures, we can gain insight from them. These books were written during the time of the Old Testament, before the birth of Christ, and at one time they were included in the King James Bible. As an example of the value of the information these books can contribute, this is a quote from 2 Esdras 7:28 (KJV):
"For my son Jesus shall be revealed with those that shall be with him, and they that remain shall rejoice within 400 years."
Regarding the Amorites mentioned by God to Abraham, and their iniquity before God, The Wisdom of Solomon says, in part:
"Whom thou hatedst for doing most odious workes of witchcrafts, and wicked sacrifices;
And also those mercilesse murderers of children, & deuourers of mans flesh, and the feasts of blood;
With their Priests out of the midst of their idolatrous crew, and the parents that killed with their owne hands, soules destitute of helpe:
That the land which thou esteemedst aboue all other, might receiue a worthy colonie of Gods children.
Neuerthelesse, euen those thou sparedst as men, and didst send waspes forerunners of thine hoste, to destroy them by little and little.
Not that thou wast vnable to bring the vngodly vnder the hand of the righteous in battell, or to destroy them at once with cruel beastes, or with one rough word:
But executing thy iudgements vpon them by little and little, thou gauest them place of repentance, not being ignorant that they were a naughtie generation, and that their malice, was bred in them, and that their cogitation would neuer be changed....
But they that would not bee refourmed by that correction wherein he dallied with them, shall feele a iudgement worthy of God.
For looke, for what things they grudged when they were punished, (that is) for them whom they thought to be gods, now being punished in them; when they saw it, they acknowledged him to be the true God, whome before they denyed to know: and therefore came extreme damnation vpon them."
The iniquity of the Amorites, for which judgment came, though delayed for the chance for repentance, included very much the same iniquity that we see practiced in our land now, including the "merciless murderers of children". The above excerpt from The Wisdom of Solomon confirms scripture in that the judgment would come little by little in order to provide an opportunity to repent. However, in a warning to be taken today also for the scoffers of these last days, judgment would not be delayed indefinitely, and would surely come.
An important truth for the people of God to know and understand in all of this, the LORD strongly expressed to that fourth generation of the children of Israel when it was time for this judgment to fall on the Amorites, that they would prevail over the Amorites not because of their own righteousness, but because God was righteous in His judgment against the "odious" iniquity of the Amorites:
"Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee. Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee. Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth not this good land to posses it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people." Deut. 9:3-6
In The Wisdom of Solomon, the murder of the children, whether sanctioned by those in authority, or by the parents themselves, was odious. In Scripture it is called an abomination (Prov. 6:16-19). Judgment, though delayed, should not be mocked or scoffed upon, but the longsuffering of the LORD towards us should be used as the opportunity it is-the merciful opportunity extended to us for repentance for ourselves, our state, and our nation before it is too late. "The Lord is...not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
*The above is based upon the 2/3 message to the Church from Dr. Kenneth Stevenson.
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Prayer of Salvation for all who desire to receive Jesus as their Savior: Lord Jesus, I desire to know You, and to know Your salvation. I believe that You died for me, and that You were resurrected for me. Forgive me of my sins. Come into my heart, change me, fill me with Your righteousness. Inscribe my name in the Lamb's book of life. Baptize me in Your Holy Spirit, so that I can learn the truth of Your Word and ways, and be strengthened in my walk all the days of my life. You are the hope of my life, and You are my eternal life. I place my trust in You, Lord, for myself, and my whole household. Use me to do the will of the heavenly Father, Who sent You, in Whose name You came. In Your name, and in thanks and praise I pray, Amen.
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