Is God Pleased With Us?

Psalms 95: 6 - 11, Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: "Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, when your fathers tested Me; they tried Me, though they saw My work. For forty years I was grieved with that generation, and said, 'It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know My ways.' So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'" NKJV

As I was praying in preparation for a service at church, the Holy Spirit told me, "There are some (leaders and believers) in the body of Christ, who have received instructions from Him; nevertheless, they've chosen to ignore His will."  He also said, "Those who are currently choosing to turn a deaf ear are doing so because of the deceitfulness of sin. They are rejecting the truth and believing a lie because they want to fulfill their own lusts instead of the will of God." 

When Christians choose to disobey God's voice, their hearts become hardened. The harder their hearts become, the less they will view sin as sin; they will begin to accept it as normal behavior. Sin becomes tolerated in the church when Christians justify disobedience. 

No Christian, who is truly born again, and who loves Jesus with all their heart intends to sin against God. However, many believers regularly sin inadvertently through the avenue of self-justification. Let me give you a perfect example: King Saul was told by Samuel, the prophet that he would return after seven days; and before the king and Israel's army went to battle, he would offer a sacrifice unto the Lord. Nonetheless, after the period of time had elapsed, Samuel was detained. In the meantime, King Saul noticed that his men were fearful because the Philistines far outnumbered them. As a result of this, the men began to scatter; and this caused fear to fill the heart of King Saul. 

Thus, King Saul, being motivated by fear demanded that the sacrifice be offered unto the Lord without Samuel...since Samuel delayed his return. However, when Saul gave up the offering unto the Lord, Samuel came and witnessed Saul's sin against the Lord's instruction. Samuel told the king that God doesn't take delight in burnt offerings and sacrifice, but His delight is in His people obeying His voice or instructions. It was fear that motivated King Saul to sin against the Lord. However, in Saul's mind, he had justified being disobedient (sinning) because Samuel didn't return; and he was losing control of his men. Self-justification caused Saul to harden his heart against the Lord's commands. Consequently, Saul acted in his own strength to try to appease God through works of the flesh. 

Whenever we seek to justify our wrong actions or disobedience to God's Word or instructions, we are hardening our hearts through unbelief and turning a deaf ear to God. Once our hearts are hardened in unbelief, we will consider another way, just as King Saul did to try to appease the Lord; and, we will have just fallen into the trap of the deceitfulness of sin. Here is a scripture that will verify my statement:

Hebrews 3 : 12 - 13, Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. NKJV

By this scripture, we can understand how Christians turn and walk away from God and their relationship with Jesus when they harden their hearts and justify being disobedient to God. When we justify our rebellion, our hearts are open to the acceptance and tolerance of sin. Our hearts will then grow cold toward God's presence and His convicting power. Hence, we have entered dangerous spiritual waters. James tells us that when we are hearers of God's Word, but we're not doers of the Word, then we will fall into self-deception. It is call "deceitfulness of sin" for a good reason; sin that becomes justified is deceitful and will lead sincere and well-intended Christians down a path to destruction. In other words, sin doesn't look like sin to us when our own evil actions in disobedience to God are justified by us as obedience. 

Christians ask me quite frequently how America has gotten in the condition that she is in right now. They also want to know why the church world is being apathetic about the decline of our nation. I'm sure this same question can be asked of any nation in the world. Even so, the Holy Spirit is giving us the understanding to this dilemma. He said, "It is called self-justification." We're told in 2 Chronicles 7: 14, if we will turn from OUR WICKED WAYS, God will hear our prayers. "Our wicked ways," is another term for self-justification. 

Has the Holy Spirit instructed you to do something, and you didn't exactly agree with His will? And, consequently, you sought another way to obey Him... other than by faith? The only way to please or agree with God is through faith, and obedience is the only way to walk by faith. It's time for us (Christians) to repent of the sin of self-justification and return to the Lord through obedient faith. In so doing, we will gain blessings and eternal rewards both for our nations and our own lives. 

May the Lord Grant Us Repentance, 

Pastor Asa Dockery