205 Friday, July 24, 2009

205 Ezekiel 32 – 34; Acts 19.1 – 19.20

In our day and age people want a God that is benevolent, kind, and full of grace. I want that kind of God as well. However, that is not the God of Scripture. As you have been reading in these chapters God is going to punish these nations as well as His own people Israel. What we have lost is that God is not just a Father, but that the Lord is also a judge who has to bring justice to this earth. In chapter 33 we see a God who is a judge with a heart of compassion.

Ezekiel 33:11-13 (MSG)
11 "Tell them, 'As sure as I am the living God, I take no pleasure from the death of the wicked. I want the wicked to change their ways and live. Turn your life around! Reverse your evil ways! Why die, Israel?'
12 "There's more, son of man. Tell your people: 'A good person's good life won't save him when he decides to rebel, and a bad person's bad life won't prevent him from repenting of his rebellion. A good person who sins can't expect to live when he chooses to sin.
13 It's true that I tell good people, "Live! Be alive!" But if they trust in their good deeds and turn to evil, that good life won't amount to a hill of beans. They'll die for their evil life.
We need to understand that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. The Lord wants them to change their wicked ways and turn to Him in repentance. Choices are very important and reveal a persons heart. If a person says they repent but keep on sinning then they have not truly repented. If a person is in deep sin and turns from their evil ways then they will live. Today we can turn to Christ Jesus and know that we are forgiven and are alive in Him.
In our N.T. reading we find Paul teaching a group who had believed in the message of John but had not believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ. The difference is huge because it is through Christ one is born from above and is then filled with the Holy Spirit. In the next section we see Paul casting out demons and some Jews who thought they could just copy Paul without having the power of the Holy Spirit in their life. The Jews without the Spirit got beat up. Do you believe in Christ Jesus? Do you know the influence and power of the Holy Spirit in your life? Take a moment to pray and ask for His Spirit to control you. You may have to repent of some sin in your life.