Saturday, July 26, 2014
Monday, July 7, 2014
Is Man's Heart Basically Good?
Bible Pathway Ministries publishes a Bible study guide to help people read through the Bible in 15 minutes of reading per-day in a year's time; founded in the fall of 1973 under the watchful eye of Dr. John A Hash. In the past 40 years over 80 million copies of Bible Pathway Monthly Bible Commentary have been shipped to over 186 countries around the world, in over 20 Languages!! Bible Pathway Ministries has also donated and shipped more than 250,000 Bibles around the world!
Please visit their website here Bible Pathway Ministries
The following is a Bible lesson taken from the June issue of The Bible Pathway Ministries guide...
****************
Read Psalms 10-17
The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. The lord looked down from heave upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one (Ps. 14;1-3)
We are all sinners, and we all deserve to die. To some that sentence might sound harsh, but it is the unvarnished truth. If does not matter if a person is 'basically good at heart" or "has never really done anything bad," as human beings, we are incapable of achieving the perfection of God. Sin is the violation of God's Law, and that is something that we can never take lightly because it leads to a immediate separation from God. Sin is most dangerous thing in the world, and it brings with it the natural consequences of physical and spiritual death. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the word, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. (Rom. 5:12).
David states, The fool hath said in his heart There is no God. In essence, this is what we are saying when we sin. When we violate the Law of God, we are showing disrespect for the One who wrote the Law. Whether we do it for a minute, an hour, or a lifetime, at the moment of our transgression we are deeming God's Laws to be irrelevant to our lives and making the statement that God does not matter. Since it is impossible for us to actually believe that an all powerful God does not matter, then our deliberate sin can easily be interpreted to mean that we do not believe in the all-encompassing power of God. For this reason all sin, no matter how great or small, is considered a grave offense in the eyes of God. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).
Sin can be likened to a highly contagious, fatal disease that has infected all of mankind. As previously stated,, there is no way for us to avoid it; from the smallest child to the oldest adult, it springs from the basis carnal nature of man, it would seem that we are in real trouble. If sin equals death, and sin is inevitable, then death is certain. However, we have hope. God wants us to live and has offered us a way of escape sin's horrific consequences. With His death on the cross, Jesus has paid the sin debt for us all. In order to accept this great gift, all we must do is turn from a life of deliberate sin to a life of following God. When we believe in Jesus and make Him Lord of our lives, the burden of our sin is taken from us. While a believer may stumble along the way and sin, Jesus will always be there to help us up and return us to the path. We must simply call on Him, ask forgiveness, and leave that sin behind.
But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8).
Thoughts for today: Brief moments of earthly pleasures cannot compare with the lasting joy our LORD imparts.
*******************
Now, "Is Man's Heart Basically Good?" God's WORD tell us: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9
Even with my very best efforts, I still fail to reach perfection... which is what God wants for our lives.
Please visit their website here Bible Pathway Ministries
The following is a Bible lesson taken from the June issue of The Bible Pathway Ministries guide...
****************
Read Psalms 10-17
The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. The lord looked down from heave upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one (Ps. 14;1-3)
We are all sinners, and we all deserve to die. To some that sentence might sound harsh, but it is the unvarnished truth. If does not matter if a person is 'basically good at heart" or "has never really done anything bad," as human beings, we are incapable of achieving the perfection of God. Sin is the violation of God's Law, and that is something that we can never take lightly because it leads to a immediate separation from God. Sin is most dangerous thing in the world, and it brings with it the natural consequences of physical and spiritual death. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the word, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. (Rom. 5:12).
David states, The fool hath said in his heart There is no God. In essence, this is what we are saying when we sin. When we violate the Law of God, we are showing disrespect for the One who wrote the Law. Whether we do it for a minute, an hour, or a lifetime, at the moment of our transgression we are deeming God's Laws to be irrelevant to our lives and making the statement that God does not matter. Since it is impossible for us to actually believe that an all powerful God does not matter, then our deliberate sin can easily be interpreted to mean that we do not believe in the all-encompassing power of God. For this reason all sin, no matter how great or small, is considered a grave offense in the eyes of God. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).
Sin can be likened to a highly contagious, fatal disease that has infected all of mankind. As previously stated,, there is no way for us to avoid it; from the smallest child to the oldest adult, it springs from the basis carnal nature of man, it would seem that we are in real trouble. If sin equals death, and sin is inevitable, then death is certain. However, we have hope. God wants us to live and has offered us a way of escape sin's horrific consequences. With His death on the cross, Jesus has paid the sin debt for us all. In order to accept this great gift, all we must do is turn from a life of deliberate sin to a life of following God. When we believe in Jesus and make Him Lord of our lives, the burden of our sin is taken from us. While a believer may stumble along the way and sin, Jesus will always be there to help us up and return us to the path. We must simply call on Him, ask forgiveness, and leave that sin behind.
But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8).
Thoughts for today: Brief moments of earthly pleasures cannot compare with the lasting joy our LORD imparts.
*******************
Now, "Is Man's Heart Basically Good?" God's WORD tell us: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9
Even with my very best efforts, I still fail to reach perfection... which is what God wants for our lives.
