Читать книгу Born Again: How to Maximize Your New Life In Christ - Ruthven Roy - Страница 7

The most far-reaching effect of Adam’s sin is that it separated humanity from the life and light of God. The result of that separation was a life totally opposite to who God is and what He represents. The Holy Scriptures indicate very clearly that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). The eternal God is also the Originator of ALL life, and life apart from Him can only lead to death and decay.

Paradoxically, the Bible refers to this life of separation from God as one that is dead in transgression and sin (Ephesians 2:1). In other words, from God’s perspective, a person who is living a life without any meaningful reference to His moral authority over him, is, for all spiritual and eternal purposes, really dead while he lives on the earth. That person is dead to his true condition before God; dead to the salvation that God has provided for him in Jesus Christ; and completely oblivious to all God is doing in his life and in the world, to lead him in the direction of eternal life through Christ.

Truth Nugget #2: Humanity’s alienation from God has given the race a false sense of reality, and a corrupt understanding of morality and evil.

The apostle Paul gives us a very colorful “clip” of what characterizes a life that is alienated from God in the following passage of scripture:

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. ¹⁹Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

Ephesians 4:17-19

Some observers may consider this a very troubling portrayal of fallen humanity, yet this picture is what is so very typical of our modern secular society. Human beings seem to have lost all sense of moral direction, being swept away in the raging seas of hatred, crime, violence, drunkenness, sensuality and un-godly acts of every description.

However, such moral and social depravity is the direct result of the vain thinking, darkened understanding, and hardened hearts that emerge as the fallout of humanity’s alienation from the life of God. In this regard, Paul gives a more comprehensive, jaw-dropping depiction of estranged humanity in Romans 1:18-32 that is worthy of our prayerful review.

¹⁸For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, ¹⁹because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. ²⁰For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

²¹For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. ²²Professing to be wise, they became fools, ²³and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

²⁴Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. ²⁵For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

²⁶For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, ²⁷and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

²⁸And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, ²⁹being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, ³⁰slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, ³¹without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; ³²and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

There is absolutely no doubt that modern humanity is living right in the middle of this uncompromising prophetic Word of God. Here is a clear summary of the above scripture:

1.See verses 18-20. People live in denial by suppressing the truth about God and morality, in their attempt to silence God’s witness against their corrupt behavior. Is there any wonder then why electronic media and conventional “wisdom” try so very hard to squeeze God out of every public conversation? But the Holy Scriptures say that they are without excuse because of God’s un-erasable, internal witness against them through the voice of their conscience.

2.See verses 21-23. In order to pursue their futile speculations, immoral people willfully and unashamedly refuse to include God in their thoughts and conversations. Instead, they give more recognition and glory to their kind and to their foolish “wisdom” concerning their lifestyle.

3.See verses 24-32. Because of their rejection of His moral authority, God allows the ungodly to follow their immoral lusts and permits their sinful behaviors to run their course to their devastating end. Consequently, we are experiencing today an increasing manifestation of vicious hatred and evil in our world, and of an intense surge of unnatural human affection—men with men, women with women. What was once considered to be a dark, covert, “closet” phenomenon is now openly declared as acceptable, while its conspirators try desperately to force the God of light into a “closet” of “forgettable” darkness.

Every fabric of modern society is reeling under the growing influence of the gay and lesbian movement and their demand for a re-definition of the marriage institution. The same-sex marriage agenda has force its way into the religious community and is seriously testing the integrity and moral resolve of what was once regarded as society’s conscience—the Church. Church leaders are now compelled to negotiate a position of compromise to accommodate the fleshly demands of these spiritually blinded victims of the evil one.

Interestingly, the Word of God confirms that if the truth of the gospel is hidden, it is hidden to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world [satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)

Moreover, those who advocate the same-sex lifestyle by utilizing the power of electronic media, celebrity “out-of-the-closet” disclosures, political funding and the “worldly-wise” intelligentsia to endorse and promote their agendas, are completely unaware that they are operating against the merciful—though permissive—will of God, whose judgment against sin and evil is an uncomfortable certainty.