May 18
Ps 75-78
We read in Romans 10:9 (NKJV), "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Can it really be that simple? Yes! God can work with anyone's past, no matter how sinful it has been. The main stumbling block for people is unbelief. We live in incredibly cynical times. I'm not sure if it is higher education, more access to 24/7 news coverage, but on one hand people seem to believe anything that so-called "experts claim, while on the other hand they have a complete distrust and disbelief to the things of God. History is continually being re-written, but it seems as though God's story as documented in the Bible, verified by archaeology, confirmed through the historical records of other civilizations, proved through prophecy, is relegated to fantasy. Though God has given us much to enhance our faith, ultimately we read in Hebrews 11:1, "Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see." So many elevate the opinions of the godless, hanging on their every word. So many are impressed with the credentials of these godless experts, but we read in 1 Corinthians 1:26-27, " Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful."
We read the importance of passing down the truths of God's story to the next generation in Psalm 78:2-7, "I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—stories we have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to us. We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders. For he issued his laws to Jacob; he gave his instructions to Israel. He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children, so the next generation might know them—even the children not yet born—and they in turn will teach their own children. So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands." Throughout this Psalm, the psalmist goes on to detail many of God's miraculous and irrefutable works that took place in the exodus and the desert wanderings. These were undisputable miracles. Yet we read in 78:32, "But in spite of this, the people kept sinning. Despite his wonders, they refused to trust him." Though that generation witnessed these works firsthand, they still suffered from unbelief. This unbelief was passed on, as we read in 78:56-58, "But they kept testing and rebelling against God Most High. They did not obey his laws. They turned back and were as faithless as their parents. They were as undependable as a crooked bow. They angered God by building shrines to other gods; they made him jealous with their idols."
We read of this in Hebrews 3:16-18, "And who was it who rebelled against God, even though they heard his voice? Wasn’t it the people Moses led out of Egypt? And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it the people who sinned, whose corpses lay in the wilderness? And to whom was God speaking when he took an oath that they would never enter his rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed him?" The people in that day could not enter in to God's place of rest due to the sin of unbelief. Jesus told us plainly that the majority are on the wide road not going to heaven, or the place of rest; while the minority are on that narrow road of belief (Matthew 7:13-14) which will lead to His rest. Our society is godless. God has been removed from our places of education, our government, the entertainment industry, etc. Godlessness is now generational, as unbelieving parents are passing down their unbelief to their children. While faith is dismissed, education is exalted. But what is education if it leads so many further and further away from the most important decision of their life, the decision to know and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Those in the wilderness, died scattered all over the desert, due to unbelief. So many now, will enter into an eternal existence which is more dreadful than they ever could have imagined. They can choose to disbelieve this all they want, but just as gravity will prove itself true to the person who foolishly jumps off a building, so will this decision. While there is still time, while there is still breath in your lungs, please rid yourself of all cynicism, and get to know and believe in the God of the Bible.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: