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Heb 11 : 6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him”.
MANY CHRISTIANS CAME TO GOD BECAUSE OF THIS FAITH, BUT WHAT IS AMISS IN SOME PEOPLE TODAY ?
If the above scripture is clear to men, there will be no casualties in the faith. Despite this statement about faith, which many claim to have, there are many pretenders and casualties.
HOW FAR COULD THIS SERMON TAKE US?
We should take this sermon today with great caution to us and to our type of Christianity. There is an epistle which warns us, ” He that thinks he stands should beware lest he fall.”
No one is above falling from Grace. It happened in Israel and I have noted it among contemporary christians in which I am a witness.
THIS EXPERIENCE DETERMINED THIS SERMON
During the Biafra-Nigeria war 1967 -1970, we gathered to pray and seek the protection of God. In that time of trouble God revealed Himself to us. Many joined the faith.
God’s word says:
“And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
and I will hear you and you will glorify my name”. (Ps. 50 :15)
We called upon Him and none of us in that little assembly was lost in a gruesome war, which lasted for 30 aweful months. We were in great faith.
God spoke to us in great Words and revelation and we saw His deliverance.
At the end of the war however, those who repented, because of crisis, not because they had saving faith for salvation, returned to their erstwhile churches and ways of life.
They soon forgot the Lord and His goodness.
Some degenerated to become native doctors and please, do not be surprised, that some declined finally to other faiths. Where then has the cry of “Lord, Lord gone to?
Read the following of what Joshua told the children of Israel, when he was winding up his service to the Lord.
Joshua 24 : 14 – 20
24:14 Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.
24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
WE SAW WAR AND MADE PLEDGES TO GOD TO BE FAITHFUL.
Threatened by war, we pledged to serve the Lord during the war in Nigeria. In that desperate condition we had told ourselves that we wiil serve the Lord. Israel waking up from the pot of Manna, were delighted by the freshness of their experience to say ” We will worship the Lord”
Just read through this :
24:16 And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods;24:17 For the LORD our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed:24:18 And the LORD drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land: therefore will we also serve the LORD; for he is our God ( Joshua 24 : 16 – 18).
AND IN MY EXPERIENCE !
If anyone told us at that time that some us today, would backslide after enjoying Divine protection, we could have rebuked such a person just as the children of Israel said to Joshua.
24: 19 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.24:20 If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.
WHAT PRETNDERS OF FAITH WILL SAY:
24:21 And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the LORD.24:22 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses.24:23 Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel.24:24 And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey.24:25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. (Joshua 24 : 14 – 25)
THE SAME DIALOGUE AS SUCH OCCURED AMONG US AND I AM A WITNESS. SEE WHAT HAPPENED:
2:10 And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.2:11 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim:2:12 And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger.2:13 And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. (Judges 2 : 10 – 13).
This same thing is what happened in my generation.. The Nigeria /Biafra war ended in 1970 and from then to 2024, we are just counting 54 years and see how many mighty men had fallen from faith.
THE JUDGEMENT OF GOD WILL NOT BE COMFORTABLE, ESPECIALLY TO THOSE WHO TASTED GOD’S GOODNESS AND TURNED TO WORSHIP IDOLS.
Israel worshipped Baal and Ashtoreth the gods of Caanan and the Sidonians.
To you as a believer, who preached on the altar of God and now swept away by the lusts of this life what will you tell Jesus at the rapture?
WE ALL HAVE HORRIBLE ANSWERS TO PRESENT, IF WE KEEP NOT THE SALVATION DELIVERED TO US BY FIRE.
Pretenders in Faith, who have waited for earthly opportunity to denounce the goodness of God are not wise.
Most homosexuals were not born so, neither did they grow in the home of homosexual parents.
Some christians, who became wordly, never knew they will be so.
Also none of us knows the direction which the wind of life will drive us to. We must remain diligent in what we have believed in.
Most people among the cults were not born so and like Israel that loved the gods of the Sidonians, they were transformed by Satan to love evil. They derived devilish power in doing the abnormal.
So they mocked the Word of God with unbelievable courage, because of what Satan gave them, so temporal are those things, which will take men to tears which no one can ever wipe away in eternity. Pretenders in faith will miss heaven.
Brethren, we must beware, pray and think well, about our salvation to the end. We may be good today, but what of tomorrow.
Prayer :
Lord God, I want to have eternal life, save my soul. Let no delicious food make me to forget You in Jesus name and I offer this prayer also to all my friends.
Sermon coming from Miracle Valley Gospel Ministries Covenant Bethel Umuehiri Umuele, Njaba LGA Imo State, Nigeria.
email : outreach.mvgm@yahoo.com
*March 10, 2024*