August 30, 2016 Bible Study — Do Not Whitewash Sin

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 13-15.

    As I read Ezekiel’s prophecy against false prophets, both men and women, I am convinced that a similar prophecy can be made against many of the popular preachers of our day. I know that we have many who preach something other than Christ’s Gospel. There are those who preach that the gospel is a way to become prosperous. There are those who preach that we can have peace in the Church if we just stop talking about sin. The audience for these preachers know that our society will fall apart around our ears if we do not retain righteousness but they are unwilling to discipline themselves to follow God’s definition of righteousness. Preaching to these people is like putting whitewash on a stone wall that has no foundation, nor mortar between the stones. It will make the wall appear more solid and may even prevent the stones from shifting when someone brushes against it. But when the waters rise and the wall needs to stand against the flood, the water will scour that whitewash and overturn the wall.

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    There is a flood coming and a wall built of true righteousness is the only thing which will stand against it. That wall of righteousness must be built on the foundation of Jesus Christ and must be held together by the fear of God. We must be careful not to listen to those who discourage the righteous and encourage the sinner. Even more, we must make sure that we do not join them in their false prophecy. We do sinners no favors by telling them that their sin is not sin. Our society has been proclaiming that sexual sin is not sin for decades. Yet recently a study revealed what those who trust the Bible have known for generations: that those who practice these sins are deeply unhappy and telling them that their sin is not sin does not relieve their unhappiness in the least.