Those
Who Displease God
Every believer hopes that he will live a
life that is truly blessed by God and is pleasing to Him. But if there is
something offensive to the Lord that is obstructing our lives, the result is
that we will become someone who displeases God. Today, I would like to examine
and clear out with you these things that affront the Lord.
1 Corinthians 10:5-12:
5.
Nevertheless,
God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the
desert.
6.
Now these
things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things
as they did.
7.
Do not be
idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to
eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry."
8.
We should
not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did¡Xand in one day twenty-three
thousand of them died.
9.
We should
not test the Lord, as some of them did¡Xand were killed by snakes.
10.
And do
not grumble, as some of them did¡Xand were killed by the destroying angel.
11.
These
things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us,
on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.
12.
So, if
you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!
From the
passage above, we can discover those things in our lives that displease God -
1.
Set
our hearts on evil things (v. 6)
2.
Be
Idolaters (v. 7)
3.
Commit
sexual immorality (v. 8)
Hebrews
13:4 ¡V Marriage should be
honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer
and all the sexually immoral.
2
Timothy 2:22 ¡V Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith,
love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
4.
Test
the Lord (v. 9)
Hebrews 3:7 - So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you
hear his voice,
Hebrews 3:8 - do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the
time of testing in the desert,
Hebrews 3:9 - here your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw
what I did.
Hebrews 3:10 - That is why I was angry with that generation,
and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my
ways.'
Hebrews 3:11 -
So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.' "
Hebrews 3: 12
- See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that
turns away from the living God.¡¨
5.
Grumble
(v. 10)
Exodus
16:2-3 - In the desert the
whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them,
"If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots
of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this
desert to starve this entire assembly to death."
6.
Think
you are standing firm (v. 12) [i.e. being self-assured and refusing to admit
sin.]
Psalm 32:3 - When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all
day long.
Psalm
32:4 - For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as
in the heat of summer.
Isaiah 59:1 - Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor His ear
too dull to hear.
Isaiah
59:2 - But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have
hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.
Matthew
5:23 - Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember
that your brother has something against you,
Matthew
5:24 - leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled
to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
Conclusion: May we
all be cautious; rid our spiritual lives of its garbage; be humble before God,
and become a person with whom God is pleased.
By: Esther Hung