Posted on 06/05/2003 3:33:24 PM PDT by RMrattlesnake
Do right and pay the consequence
Genesis 4:1-7
1. And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. 2. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. 4. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: 5. But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. 6. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? 7. If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
I did not read this passage to tell about the first murder Cain, but the first person to be murdered Able. Why was Able murdered and what did he do that would have him killed. There was a famous book back in the early 80’s called “ Why Bad things happen to good people”, but I never read it but I think this is what the book might be about but in a secular view. But what I am going to try to do here is tell why it happens to GOD’s people.
Let us pray. Genesis 4:8. And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
Able was killed because he did right. We live in a world plagued with sin and with sin comes darkness. People who are comfortable with darkness do not like light and they really don’t like your light to shine on them. You had better realize if you don’t already people who love the world, will not love you, period end of story. You see just as a pig will wallows in the mud sinners wallow in there own sin. When the worldly sinners see you doing right they will not like that and some times they will get angry with you just because you, you do right. But sometimes when a person come to the end of your self they will come to you and them you can lead them to Jesus. What I am saying is when people don’t like you because you are one of those fundamentalist. You know they make fun of us all the time, the sodomites call us fundies. They hate us they, have website out there that make fun of us and smear us just because we do right.
The reason we do right is not to get any glory but so Jesus can get the Glory. Matthew 5:16. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. So GOD gets the glory that is why we need to do right.
1) point: There are negative consequences for doing right. This is not a easy believism church and thank the lord for that sometimes things are not going to be easy, and most of the time people will not accept us and we are going to have to face that. When we get saved things don’t get better for some things get worse. Talk to the Arab who got saved over there in the middle east then lost every thing was beaten and put into prison. What about the Christian who live in communist nation they endure hardship most of us American could hardly imagine.
Turn to Luke 6:22 and see what this passage says Luke 6:22. Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Mediate on this verse sometime What God says here is it is a blessing when people hate you and say evil about you for Christ’s sake. Lets again turn to Matthew 5. Matthew 5:11. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. How many here have ever read “the trail of blood” If you haven’t I would recommend it. In this book is a series of lectures form a southern Baptist man, but he sums up about 1800 years of Christina history. The History of true independent churches and what they had to endure. I think this verse here in Matthew gave them comfort. We have it easy in this day and age in this country. You had better understand that too.
We have church in this building and we advertise what we are doing on a sign out in front but yet there are brothers and sisters in the lord some were that are meeting in a secret place hidden some were. Now we may not always be in this comfort zone we live in there are dark force here in this country that what to take away our religious freedom, perhaps those who call us fundies.
You know that if some one wanted to stand out in front of our church am protest what we believe he would be protected under his freedom of speech the 1st amendment. But if we would stand out in front of an abortion clinic and protest the murder of innocent babies we would be carted of to jail. It will not belong until we will be jailed for telling the truth about sodomites, as soon as the communist get there hate speech laws passed.
Let’s look at Stephen Acts 6:5-8 5. And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: 6. Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. 7. And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. 8. And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. What did it say about Stephen he was a man full of faith and the holy ghost verse 5 and in 8 it says full of faith and power. So what did the world think of a man like Stephen if we read on people got mad and they spoke evil of Stephen and accused him falsely. Then look down to verse 59. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Stephen paid the ultimate price for being full of faith and the holy spirit.
Know I am not trying to paint a picture of doom and gloom for us who serve not all saints are persecuted. But lets look at an other person of the bible lets look at Joseph.
Joseph was a do gooder a man I believe who only wanted to do what was right and he got into a mess. Genesis 37:19-20 the bible tells about Joseph and his own brothers. They plotted to kill him but he was not slain. Then again Joseph was put into prison when he did the right thing The Potiphar’s wife tried to get him to sin with her and because Joseph did the right thing he was imprisoned. Genesis 39:1-20
2) Now this bring us to point two the positive consequences for doing right. Now look at Genesis 39:21. But the Lord was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison. You see even in the darkest time GOD is with us.
2 Corinthians 4:8. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9. Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; No matter what we are going threw we always have God on our side. Look at how Joseph’s life turned out he went though some hard ships and set backs but he endured it and remained in GOD’s will and was able to save his family. Matthew 28:20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. There is some comfort.
You see if we follow the ways of the lord an live by the bible we will not always have it easy but if we walk there other way it is for sure we will me destruction Proverbs 14:12. There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. We know what they mean by death not always physical but death to hopes, dreams and of course life. We need not look at the world, but at the lord in him we have hope. Romans 15:4. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. You see we have GODS word the scriptures we can have hope because what is written in this book. Those who hate us have no hope unless they get write with the lord and get saved amen.
Some of us have it easer than others or so it may seem. We may look at our brothers or sister and see that they have nicer cloths and a newer car and say why are they better than me. But if you look at it like that you do not get it. We need to have our eyes up ward and not of the things of this world. For the greatest thing we all have is salvation and we will never be as Donald trump serving the lord.
We are saved we have the salvation of the lord. No matter what trial we might endure we will be with the lord some day. Turn here I want to show you this turn to Philippians 4:4-7 4. Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. 5. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
3) My third and last point here. We herd the negative consequences and the positive consequences for doing the right thing but there are consequences that go beyond this world this realm or what ever word you use there are consequences for that, things we do in the spiritual world as well.
What about salvation if we are saved or not saved if we accept Jesus or reject him Mark 16:16. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. You can be more clear than that. The first right thing we must do is to get saved for without that all are good works are for not.
Now we know we are saved by grace it is a gift we did nothing to earn it. We do not deserve it but we have it because we repented 2 Corinthians 7:10. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
Doing right is a work. We do good because it is right and because we have faith. James 2:18. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. And out word sign of our faith is in what we do and what others see us do and act. James2:26. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. We are not rewarded here on Earth for the good we do and we do not do it to glorify us but Christ. Matthew 16:27. For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
Now back to Matthew 5:11. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Great is there reward in heaven. You see we don’t only get to go to heaven but some of us will reserve rewards when we get there. You see we are rewarded when we endure persecution form others.
So in conclusion we ought to do right and pay the consequences. Though on earth they may be positive or negative in heaven we will be reward for doing right. So have been slain for doing right some have been made Kings. If we are punished for doing right GOD will still be with us as he promised and if we are persecuted will endure it and great will be our reward. We have to work hard at doing good because we are naturally prone to sin. Romans 3:10. As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: . See on our own we will fail to do good. We must have faith in God in order to do good. Hebrews 11:6. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Pray ever day keep the communications for GOD, will help you do good works. 2 Corinthians 13:7. Now I pray to God that ye do no evil; not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates.
One important good work we often fail to realize or at least I do is to witness 1 Timothy 6:18. That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate. Ready to distribute we could say distribute tracks. Willing to communicate the gospel, the gospel is the good news about Jesus Christ.
Most important is this we do good works not so we can be better than anyone else, because we are not, we are all sinners after all. But we do this because it glorifies God. Matthew 5:16. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
But we must make the first step into salvation. Everyone please bow your head.
Let us pray.
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