*WISDOM FOR TODAY.*
*SINNER TURNED SAINT (6)*
*Scripture Treasure.*
Ezek 3:20-21 *Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.*
*Insight and Highlight.*
God can visit past sins to punish the backslider
*Scripture Commentaries.*
Yesterday, we looked at how God can forgive a sinner in his/her sin in anticipation of his/her conversion to Christ but if he fails to surrender his/her life, God will visit his iniquity as a whole.
Today, we will look at the righteous who had been delivered from his sins but went back into sin.
When a believer sins after He has been justified, he will face the consequences of his sins, but does he face the consequences of past sins that he had already been forgiven?
Yes, he will suffer for the past sins he was already forgiven and the sins he committed as a back slider.
Let us look at some of the possible reasons.
First it must be noted that when God punishes for sins committed, the severity of the punishment can be too large for the offender to even think he is being punished for present or past sins he committed regardless of whether the sins were commited then or now. While all unrighteousness is sin, punishment may differ according to how severe it is before God. God's anger, when described as more severe or when His punishment appears more severe than the ordinary, always points to when His redemptive power has been down trodden.
Second, Ezk 18:24, 26 says that *....if a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin...*
*.....None of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered..."*
*If a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin, they will die for it; because of the sin they have committed, they will die."*
Ezk 33: 12, 13 says *".....If someone who is righteous disobeys, that person’s former righteousness will count for nothing......"*The righteous person who sins will not be allowed to live even though they were formerly righteous."*
In the New Testament, Jesus warns
the impotent man, *Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.*, John 5:14.
Jesus told the woman caught in adultery, saying she could go *"...and sin no more,* John 8:11. These passages tell us how God wants us to avoid the fierce indignation that comes with backsliding.
Matt 12:43-45 tells us that when a person is made clean, when the devil cast out of him goes around and comes back to the house from which it came out finds it unoccupied, the demon will go back to the person with seven other spirits more wicked than before so *".....the last state of that man is worse than the first*
In other words, the sins the person was delivered will be nothing compared to the sins he had now committed that allowed the spirit to return into him. His sin of backsliding opened him up to more danger and was a slap on God's redemptive power.
The punishment that he would now receive would be worse because what would happen to him now by way of punishment will be worse. The present punishment is worse than the former.
2 Peter 2:20 *If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse than it was at first.*
Heb 10:26-28 says *....there would be no sacrifice for sin...."* for the backslider *".....But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation,..."*
That God could say the children of Israel could provoke Him *".....now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;..."*, before He could finally unleash that they would not *"......see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:.* Numb
14:22-23., tells us how severe the punishment for repeated offenses.
This tells us that repeated offenses are provocation for worse penalties, and they attract worse punishment and adverse consequences from God.
That the punishment of a backskider is more simply suggests a double punishment, a punishment more than is ordinary.
When you have been forgiven and your sins are blotted away, do not sin again!
*Remorse corner.*
The punishment on the backdlider is more serious because he has put Christ to an open shame
*Call to Word action.*
There is a sore punishment, and there is a sorer punishment.
Hebrews 11:29 *Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?*
*The Christian clarion duty.*
If we sin against God as His redeemed people, He can visit past sins to remembrance to punish them *".....unto the third and fourth generation of them...."* that hate Him, Exd 20:5.
Stay pure!
*Prayer.*
Lord, help me to stay pure. Let me not backslide in Jesus name.
Good morning all, and have a blessed day.
God bless you.
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