The idol of my heart is covetous


 


 

『Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. 』 (Romans 3: 24-26)

 

Today, many churches refer only to the latter part, omitting "By redemption in Christ Jesus." If people believe in Jesus, they say, "With God's grace, they are justified freely." Without redemption, there is no forgiveness of sins. However, people think: We are forgiven of our sins by the blood of Jesus. But God bought the repentant from Satan, paying the blood of Jesus. This is free grace. The price of sin is death. A sinner cannot escape from sin unless he dies. The sinner must pay the price. But God paid His Son for the repentant's death.

What is repentance? Realizing that a sinner is to die for God is repentance and unity with Jesus Christ on the cross. Today, people too easily think of the ransom of sin. And sinners try to pass on all sin to Jesus. So they do not die. Although they say that Jesus is Lord, they are good for the world. They love the kingdom of God and love the world. God does not pay the blood for those who believe in Jesus, but for the dead with Jesus. The dead with Jesus are in Christ Jesus. Where is the place to pay for blood? It is the "peace offering" of the Most Holy Place. Therefore, God would "show his righteousness by overlooking the sins he had committed while he was patient."

Before the exodus of Israel, God brought ten plagues to Egypt. The Hebrews painted the blood of the sheep at the entrance to escape from the birth of the firstborn, and God prepared the lamb four days before. And they killed sheep on the Passover. God commanded the people to roast the lamb and eat it. God commanded the people not to eat sheep raw or boiled. They must wear shoes, grab sticks, and rush, and they should not leave meat until morning. When the meat was left, they had to burn the leftover meat. This is the Lamb of Passover. The Bible explains more about the meat of the lamb than the blood of the lamb. Today, most churches only emphasize the blood of sheep. They emphasize only remission of sins. But eating sheep meat means that it is combined with the dead sheep. It is not well said in the church that we should be united with the death of Jesus Christ.

By eating the meat of the lamb, they become one with the "dead meat" and "the meat eater." This faith is justified. Thus God showed his righteousness beyond the sins previously committed by sinners. Today, many churches say, "If you believe in Jesus, you will be forgiven of your sins and become righteous." Nothing happens unless the sinner repents and is associated with Jesus' death. “Those who believe in Jesus and are saved are repentant, born again. Those who are chosen from God receive the gift of faith and believe what Jesus Christ has accomplished.

God wants all people to be saved. "Everyone" refers to those who repent and return. If everyone believes, they are not saved. As long as you believe in Jesus, His Blood does not apply. God forgives sinners, but does not forgive evil. The death of a sinner with Jesus is the death of wickedness in the sinner. That is why God forgives sin after seeing the death of evil in sinners. Evil in the sinner is not something that can be eliminated by himself. Only for those who repent give God the opportunity to die. That is the death of the cross of Jesus Christ. For greed is an idol. Idols are the greed of wanting to be like God.

Today, many people think that they can serve idols or be gods on their own. There is evil in their hearts. We can see God's judgment in the Bible. The reason is because of idols. Noah's day God judged all human beings for idols.『And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. 』 (Genesis 6: 5-7)

『As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good. 』 (Ezekiel 16: 48-50)

『And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite. 』 (Ezekiel 16: 3)

God says, "The disobedient Israelites are Amorites in Canaan." They served idols and opposed God.『 Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter, That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them? 』 (Ezekiel 16: 20-21)

God promised Abraham the land of Canaan. God told the exodus to enter Canaan. Canaan is a model of Christ. God said Canaan was a land of milk and honey. By the time of the exodus, seven families of evil lived in Canaan.『But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. 』 (Genesis 6: 5-7)

The book of Ezekiel said, "The father of Israel is an Amorite." We can see how serious evil is idolatry in Israel. If we do not remove evil, God does not forgive. In this land, we must remove idols and return to the word of God in order to achieve the kingdom of God. If we compare to man, evil is the idol in the heart. The only way to remove this idol is to die. So we must die with Jesus on the cross.

Jesus of the cross is in the form of a sinner. Those who repent and enter into Jesus of the cross are dead with Jesus. So God acknowledges that he is dead. Just as we must remove idols on earth, we must remove evil in our hearts. Evil is the idol that wants to be like God. If we do not remove evil, we cannot be saved from God.

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