Romans 1:30
30 Backbiters [katalalos], haters
of God [theostuges], despiteful [hubristes], proud [huperephanos],
boasters [alazon], inventors [epheuretes] of evil things [kakos],
disobedient [apeithes] to parents [goneus], KJV-Interlinear
30 slanderers,
haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to
parents, ESV
The biggest mistakes that anyone can ever make, is
taking God for granted, and assuming that they have nothing more to learn. The entire thrust of the Bible is to
communicate doctrine, to teach doctrine, and to have the individual learn
doctrine. From the gospel to the greater
depths of the spiritual life and beyond, all come from the detailed
instructions provided by the word of God.
To ignore them, or to presume that you know them,
or to remain indifferent toward them is the fools greatest folly.
One has only to look around the see the phenomenal design
that God has provided in this world and then recognize the even greater design
that He has provided each one of us.
From the most beautiful of people, to the most
talented in athletics, in the arts, in the area of intellect and more, God
designed it all from nothing but dust.
Look around and say to yourself, God made me and
God made them, from dust, and here we all are.
That is our true equality in this physical life.
But in the spiritual world, the differences of this
world pale to the differences that will occur when people resist growing up in their
spiritual lives, due to the vast array of sins that are more than willing to
enter in and take over their souls.
Yesterday, we studied several sin categories, that
many will miss the point, in presuming that they do not apply to them, when every
one of them applies to the believer who does not take God and the spiritual
life seriously.
You do not have to engage in sexual misconduct in
order to be a sinner, every disregard of Gods mandates means that you are
cheating on Him. And that is a far more
serious transgression than fooling around with silly girls or boys.
And yet there are many more sin categories that can
easily be misconstrued as the errors of others, when it is our responsibility
to not evaluate others, but to evaluate ourselves.
God is more than able to evaluate everyone and does
not need your help. If He is gracious with
you, then He will be gracious with everyone.
Your first order of business is to remember that
God owes you nothing, and that you can earn nothing, and that you will never
deserve anything. And yet God deals with
you, based on doctrine, not your sincerity or looks or talent, which by the way
you did not deserve or gain or earn for yourself, either.
The only thing that stands in the way of God
building you into far more than you are capable of yourself, is your refusal to
be taught, to learn, to advance in your spiritual life.
And when the vine fails to produce fruit, which
simply means when you fail to produce in your spiritual life, then the vine,
meaning you, are torn out of the ground as worthless and replaced with someone
else who will produce.
This parable has nothing to do with salvation , but
has only to do with your loss of eternal reward. And when the rewards being offered are
infinite, then the loss is therefore infinite.
And what kind of fool throws away an infinite treasure?
Slanderers, speak evil of others who are not
present. They are cowards unwilling to face their victim. They speak publically so all can hear, unlike
the whisperers who speak in secret.
Cowards all. Judgmental without
the right to judge. Presuming guilt
without even a fair hearing.
Haters of God, is a title that applies to all who
are indifferent, who are disobedient, who disregard truth and Gods mandates. Many are the people who justify themselves,
elevate themselves, and yet are the worst of the worst of those who hate God.
Insolent, means disrespectful. To disrespect is to presume that you are
better. And yet if you pick up two handfuls
of dust, from the same ground, which is the better handful?
Haughty is pride.
Not the pride of some legitimate accomplishment, which in itself is a
good thing, but the pride of arrogance of oneself. It is inordinate self-esteem, a conceited
attitude, a disdain toward others, a presumption of superiority or entitlement. It is a presumption that someone owes them
recognition, or even that the world owes them something.
Boastful, is the person who claims or presumes
something that they do not rightfully possess or are not entitled to.
Inventers of evil, are those who justify sin, and
then justify even more sin. They
disregard truth and replace it with untruths.
They promote false ideas as truths, even to the point of stating that it
is Gods will. All religions and most
politics, all alternative lifestyles or beliefs, are nothing more than
inventions of evil.
Disobedient to parents, is the very first stage of
rejection of authority, and ultimately the rejection of the ultimate authority,
who is Christ.
There are only two environments in which you can
live your life.
The first is of this world, wherein you reject
truth or attempt to compromise it to conform to your definitions of truth, and
from which you will fail miserably.
The second environment is the spiritual life,
wherein you must, repeat, must abide by Gods mandates and design. Which by the way, is extremely easy to
accomplish. It takes far less energy to
follow Gods way, than it does to reject it.
There is no third environment.
You are either following Gods very strict yet easy set
of rules, or you are not.
