What if God was true, but on a limited basis? This would be a cause for great concern; however, this is quelled by the fact that He is both true and faithful.
After Christ removes the church, He will establish the time of Jacob’s trouble. After this, Christ will return as a thief in the night to make up His jewels.
Men rob God by simply withholding what God requested. This robbing takes on two forms: not giving what God has required or giving less than one’s best.
To steal is to wrongfully and selfishly take something that belongs to someone else and place it amongst one’s own possessions.
Sin affects men in various ways, but it attacks them in every facet of life. It hinders their walk with God and hurts their ability to reach others for Christ.
When man shuns God’s word, he passes up his only hope for knowing what sin is and how it affects him both now and for all eternity.
God is a jealous God, yet that jealousy is only manifested when men provoke the Lord because of their unfaithfulness. Men can provoke the Lord through various means, but ultimately, they all unite in the fact that they place something or someone else ahead of the Lord. The Lord does not want the leftovers of man’s time, love, money, and strength (Malachi 1:7-9). Instead, He wants the first and greatest of man’s possessions. Anything less is idolatrous and offensive to the God who gave man everything he has. Each man must make a daily evaluation of his life to insure that he is doing nothing to provoke the Lord to jealousy.
Some people incorrectly conclude that someone is blameless only when he does nothing wrong, but the scripture teaches that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The Bible continues by stating that “there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Romans 3:12). In other words, no one ever born upon the earth, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, has ever been sinless. This includes people like Zacharias and Elisabeth although the Bible does say that they were “blameless” concerning the commandments and ordinances of the law. How could someone be blameless and not be sinless? To be blamed suggests a failure to make wrongs right. As such, one can deduce that when Zacharias and Elisabeth sinned against the Lord, they did what the law required to make things right with God. They were blameless in the law.
Since God is the rightful recipient of man’s sacrifices, then, by necessity, He is the only One who can rightfully provide the rules for the administration of the sacrifices. In the Old Testament, God established rules about the place (Joshua 22:29) and purity (Malachi 1:8, 14) of man’s sacrifices. Men who violated these rules, choosing rather to adopt their own rules of sacrifice and worship, often suffered harsh consequences, including death. The sacrifice of Christ for sin has changed many details of God’s demands for sacrifice; it has not, however, changed the fact that man must do things God’s way. God’s rules for sacrifice whether performed in the past, present, or future are to be dictated by scripture.
God tells us in His word that He never intended for a marriage to end in divorce. He desires for one man and one woman to remain together until death parts the two asunder. Divorce would be nonexistent apart from sin (Mark 10:5). Just as God hates sin, He also hates the results of sin. Instead of recognizing God’s true feelings for divorce, men often seek to justify their sinful choices suggesting that God understands and would not want them to remain in an unhappy environment. As sin increases, men’s opinions concerning divorce continue to drift away from God. Years ago, communities, families, and churches frowned upon the act of divorce; however, today divorce has become accepted as the norm rather than the exception. Unfortunately, divorce is not only accepted in the world but readily accepted in the pew and the pulpit.
