DON’T CONDONE SIN
This study is a look at Forgiveness verses Condoning. New Testament passages teach us to cleanse ourselves of all defilement of flesh and spirit (Rom 8:6-7, 2Cor 6:16 – 7:1, Rev CH 2 -3).
The Law of Moses tells us to chose Life and prosperity or death and adversity (Dt 30:15, Jn 5:46-47).
The Lord has consequences in His Law;
When the Lord had Joshua lead His people into the Promised Land He had Joshua remind Israel that “Not one word of all the good words which the Lord your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have been fulfilled for you, not one of them has failed.
And it shall come about that just as all the good words which the Lord spoke to you have come upon you, so the Lord will bring upon you all the threats, until He has destroyed you from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you.
When you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods, and bow down to them, then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land which He has given you,” (Josh 23:14-16).
Jesus taught us to “Have mercy on our fellow neighbors or slaves as He has forgiven us. Our heavenly Father will be handed over to torturers until we repay all that we owe and forgive our brother from our heart,” (Matt 18:21-35).
The Lord’s goal is to draw people from the pagan world of non-believers to join Israel, and to purify those in Israel to become more holy like He is. He brought the people out of Egypt in order to bring them in to His promised inheritance in Canaan land (Dt 28:23-24).
People turned away from our Lord because of three reasons;
they associated with nations of peoples the Lord had driven out of His inheritance for His People (Josh 23:3-13, Judg 3:1-4, 1Kin 17:1-18, Heb 10:26-31).
Sometimes the Lord disciples His people Heb 12:5-11 because He wants us to be cleansed from all defilement of flesh and spirit and to be holy, because He is holy (Lev11:44, 20:6-7, 2Cor 6:16-71, 1Pet1:16).
The Lord wants us to be reverence His law and separate from all those who reject His law (Gen 17:9-14, Rom 1:18-32).
Some organizations today call themselves Christian such as Faithful America who ignore many of the Lord’s words in scripture. Their slogan is “Love thy neighbor, no exceptions.” The people of God wrote and cried out many psalms of imprecation, calling on God to destroy their enemies (Ps 149:7-9, ps 35: 1-28 by David, a man after God’s own heart).
Does the Lord condone sin? Heaven forbid! Jesus clearly taught to Repent. His apostle to the New Testament followers, Paul, taught to repent (2Cor 6:16-7:1). The Revelation to Jesus’ followers were taught to Repent and overcome evil (Rev Ch 2-3 seven letters).
Jesus taught us to forgive our brothers from our heart if we expect our heavenly Father to have mercy and forgiveness on us (Mt 18:21-35).
How are we to respond to people who has arrogantly cheated us or wrongfully used us? On their deliverance from Egypt, the people of God were told how to respond to alien ideas to those taught by Moses (Num 15:14-16). They were taught how to continue to possess the land which the Lord had given them (Num 33:50-56). We must separate from foreign ideas and teachings which would cause us to turn from the Lord’s teachings.
When the Lord miraculously returned His people from Persia, He had Nehemiah the governor and Ezra the priest command the people to separate themselves from all foreigners (Neh 9:2). Jesus carried this idea further to guard the way His followers disciples their lives (Lk 14:26, 27, 33). We must be careful how we listen to scripture being taught (Lk 8:4-18).
As the Lord looks for change in our deeds and thoughts, we look for repentance in those “sinners” who we forgive (Jn 5:28-29, 7:15-24).
To be truly grateful and thankful to Jesus for being a sacrifice to take away our death sentence, we need to be aware of all the deceitful schemes of Satan to make us blind to Jesus’ priceless gift (Rom 1:18-23, 1Cor 15:3-4, Heb 12:25-29).
To protect ourselves from becoming ungrateful we must continually give thanks to God (Heb 13: 15-16).
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