A Slippery Slope<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pastor Don Carpenter<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2021 Bible Reading Challenge \/ Judges 3:5\u20137<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A hunter went out into the forest to shoot a bear. With winter fast approaching he planned to make a warm coat out of the bearskin. Soon he saw a bear coming toward him, he raised his gun and took aim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Wait,” said the bear, “why do you want to shoot me?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The hunter replied: “Because I am cold.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bear replied “But I am hungry, so maybe we can reach an agreement.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the end, the hunter was well enveloped with the bear’s fur, and the bear had eaten his dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The point: Disobedience (even partial) is sin, and we will always lose out when we try to compromise with sin! It will consume us in the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
___<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This week, in our 2021 Bible Reading challenge, we have been reading about the cyclical fall, judgement, repentance, and deliverance of the Children of Israel. It is easy for us to sit back and wonder how a people could be so thick as to turn from God so quickly. But the reality is it only takes a generation to completely change directions. Tonight we are going to look at three signs that one is on the Slippery Slope of Wickedness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Become Comfortable With Carnality.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Judges 3:5 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vine\u2019s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words To Dwell<\/p>\n\n\n\n yashab (??????, 3427), \u201cto dwell, sit, abide, inhabit, remain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Starts By Stopping the Good<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Deuteronomy 6:4\u20139 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: <\/p>\n\n\n\n And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: <\/p>\n\n\n\n And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Continues With Being Fascinated With Sin<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Genesis 13:12 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proverbs 23:17 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let not thine heart envy sinners: But be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Completes With Comfort<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Psalm 1:1 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n Blessed is the man That walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor standeth in the way of sinners, Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n walk, stand, and sit. This verbal progression depicts a regression from moving\u2014to stationary\u2014to sitting. Perhaps the idea is that sin is a temptation that one first tries out, later becomes accustomed to, and finally becomes a habit or lifestyle. Many have noted that the verbs walk, stand, and sit also call to mind the positive commandment in Deut. 6:4\u20139 that the person of faith is to keep the commandments of God in mind while at home and away, while coming and going. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Become Comfortable With Compromise<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Judges 3:6 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Genesis 6:4\u20136 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Exodus 34:16 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Deuteronomy 7:3\u20134 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2 Corinthians 6:14\u201317 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? <\/p>\n\n\n\n And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? <\/p>\n\n\n\n And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Become Comfortable With Corruption<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Judges 3:7 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022\tDid evil<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022\tForgot God<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022\tServed Baalim<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we compromise with the world we lose our fellowship with God. A former Dean of St Paul\u2019s, W R Inge, famously observed that any church that enters into a marriage with the spirit of the age “will soon find itself a widow in the next”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How in the world does a people go from worshipping God to sacrificing to idols in one generation? How can churches that once preached the Gospel now reject the authority of Scripture? It happens when we allow ourselves to become comfortable, first with carnality, then with compromise and finally with corruption. That it the Slippery Slope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Exported from Logos Bible Software, 7:06 PM March 23, 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Slippery Slope Pastor Don Carpenter 2021 Bible Reading Challenge \/ Judges 3:5\u20137 A hunter went out into the forest to shoot a bear. With winter fast approaching he planned to make a warm coat out of the bearskin. Soon he saw a bear coming toward him, he raised his gun and took aim. “Wait,” … Continue reading A Slippery Slope<\/span>