When was the last time that you were ashamed of the sin that you committed? Christians today are not ashamed. I don't believe it really bothers them. They spend their time blaming others for all of their problems. It always seems to be somebody else's fault. Prisons are full of people who never take responsibility for their actions. Even in prison, they are not ashamed for what they have done. We justify our sin as if we had a good reason to sin. We have to become ashamed of our sin if we are going to be what God wants us to be. We need men and ladies to start taking responsibility for their sins and be ashamed because of them. It takes a man and a lady to smite their thigh and truly be ashamed of their sin. I have a saying about being a man. I don't know if I made it up or if I heard it from someone else. The saying goes like this, “A boy does what he wants to do and a man does what he needs to do.” You have to become ashamed of your sin. Too many Christians have become calloused to their sin. America today kills thousands of babies, and many think it is not a big problem. Christians cheat on their income tax as if it’s par for the course. Sin doesn't bother us. That is why a husband or wife can become unfaithful and there is no remorse for their actions. We in America today are not ashamed by the sin in our lives. We act as if we can't do anything about it. Does the Word of God smite you when you read it, or do you just simply go on with your life?
Notice also in verse nineteen, he makes one more response to his sin. It says “... I was ashamed, yea even confounded...” This means that it was detestable to him. It made him sick. Boy have we gone the wrong way from what God wants us to feel about our sin. We just live our lives and go on through our days and never feel bad or even bothered by what we have done. That is why churches across America have members who come faithfully but never seem to grow in the Lord. Sin has control of their lives, and they are unwilling to let it bother them. Missing church is not that big of a deal. Forgetting to read their Bible or pray doesn't seem that important to them either.
Christians, we need to get back to where our sin is ever before us. We need to work on living a holy life, instead of ignoring the wicked sin in our life. We need to get back to having our sin break our heart and bring the kind of conviction that will cause us to change. We need to come to a point where our sin is detestable to us. That is the only way we can grow as a Christian. God will then show us what we need to work on next in our life, and then we can grow. There is so much we can accomplish for God; only the sin in our life will hold us back. We need true repentance of sin, not something fake, or what others want to hear. Our sin has to bother us. We cannot become calloused to our sin. A tender heart will help keep you on the straight and narrow. When God speaks to your heart, don't ignore it. Do something about it.
Frank Burton
Co-Pastor
Agape Baptist Church
Stockton, MO
Showing posts with label Just for Youth Frank Burton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Just for Youth Frank Burton. Show all posts
1/2 For Youth Only
Part 2 of 3
Next, we see in verse nineteen, that after he repented, he was instructed. Now that is interesting. God didn't bother speaking and giving him instruction until he repented. How can God teach you and help you to grow if you haven't responded to the last sin “He” spoke to you about? God is waiting for you to repent so He then can give you instruction. Listen, God may have spoke to you saying that your sin was wrong through His Word or through preaching. Most Christians say to themselves, what's wrong with that? Remember what God thinks is the important thing. You must simply obey God and repent of your sin, then He will instruct you and explain why your sin is wrong. I hear Christians all the time say, “God hasn't convicted me of that sin yet.” I believe the problem is you really haven't been paying a lot of attention. God doesn't say that one thing is wrong for you and right for another. Sin is sin. It will always be sin, and it will always be wrong. I am not talking about weights. God wants to give us instruction, but we must first repent of the sins in our lives. This is the main reason that Christians never grow.
Now let's look at verse nineteen, it says that after Ephraim was instructed about his sin that he smote his thigh. His sin bothered him to the point that he smote his thigh. He was bothered by what he had done and where he was in his life. He was thinking how could he have done what he did. Does your sin bother you at all? Do you ever think about your sin and how it hurts you and those around you? I believe Ephraim showed sorrow for the sin in his life. It would be great if Christians had sorrow and remorse for the wrongs in their lives. Just saying you're sorry really doesn't mean a whole lot. Words sometimes are just too easy to say without any heartfelt meaning behind them. Ephraim showed actions by hitting his thigh. It had more of a meaning to him. He actually felt bad about what he had done. Just saying you're sorry and then meaning it are two completely different things. Not only did he smite his thigh, but also the next few words in verse nineteen say that he was ashamed.
Next, we see in verse nineteen, that after he repented, he was instructed. Now that is interesting. God didn't bother speaking and giving him instruction until he repented. How can God teach you and help you to grow if you haven't responded to the last sin “He” spoke to you about? God is waiting for you to repent so He then can give you instruction. Listen, God may have spoke to you saying that your sin was wrong through His Word or through preaching. Most Christians say to themselves, what's wrong with that? Remember what God thinks is the important thing. You must simply obey God and repent of your sin, then He will instruct you and explain why your sin is wrong. I hear Christians all the time say, “God hasn't convicted me of that sin yet.” I believe the problem is you really haven't been paying a lot of attention. God doesn't say that one thing is wrong for you and right for another. Sin is sin. It will always be sin, and it will always be wrong. I am not talking about weights. God wants to give us instruction, but we must first repent of the sins in our lives. This is the main reason that Christians never grow.
Now let's look at verse nineteen, it says that after Ephraim was instructed about his sin that he smote his thigh. His sin bothered him to the point that he smote his thigh. He was bothered by what he had done and where he was in his life. He was thinking how could he have done what he did. Does your sin bother you at all? Do you ever think about your sin and how it hurts you and those around you? I believe Ephraim showed sorrow for the sin in his life. It would be great if Christians had sorrow and remorse for the wrongs in their lives. Just saying you're sorry really doesn't mean a whole lot. Words sometimes are just too easy to say without any heartfelt meaning behind them. Ephraim showed actions by hitting his thigh. It had more of a meaning to him. He actually felt bad about what he had done. Just saying you're sorry and then meaning it are two completely different things. Not only did he smite his thigh, but also the next few words in verse nineteen say that he was ashamed.
1/1 For Youth Only
Part 1 of 3
We Need to be Ashamed
by: Frank Burton
We read in Jeremiah 31:18, “I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me and I shall be turned; for thou are the Lord my God.”
Here, Ephraim was not lost, but in a backslidden state. This is evident by Jeremiah 31:17 when it says, “And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border.” In order for Ephraim to return, he had to be right with God at one time.
Christians today have become calloused to their sin. I remember a time when you would see Christians at the altar weeping because of the sin in their lives. Just think about it for a second. When was the last time you shed a tear because of the sin you have committed? Our heart does not burn inside of us anymore. We just live our life day in, and day out, never thinking about our sin.
True repentance of sin can have an affect on us. Remember verse eighteen, Ephraim said that he was chastised as a young bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. That means when God was working in his life, he fought it. The fight was between God and the sin that he enjoyed. Too many Christians today fight the Holy Spirit when He brings conviction in their lives. I hear many Christians make the statement when it comes to some sin in their life, “It's not that bad.” Did you just hear what you said? You just said, “It's not that bad.” Somehow we feel that some sin is not as bad as other sin. I wish somebody would show me a verse in the Bible that states that. Ephraim did say one thing in verse eighteen that I find very interesting. He said, “…turn thou me and I shall be turned.” Ephraim made a good statement when it came to God working in his life. He said he would be turned. When it comes to sin in our life, we must turn from it. We must go another direction, away from the path that we once trod. In order for us to make any headway in our life, we must turn from our sin.
Now this brings me to the point of this article. Let's look at what Ephraim said in verse nineteen, “Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh; I was ashamed, yea even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.”
The first thing he did after he turned; he repented. Christians today seem to think that once they accept Christ, they don't have to repent of their sin. You will see that his repentance wasn't simply words, but something that had smote his heart. When was the last time you truly repented of your sin? That means that you turned from your sin and worked hard never to return to that particular sin in your life. I'm afraid that most Christians today don't think their sin is that big of a deal. Of course, everyone else's sins are a big deal. If we are going to grow in our Christian life then we must repent of our sins with our whole hearts.
We Need to be Ashamed
by: Frank Burton
We read in Jeremiah 31:18, “I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me and I shall be turned; for thou are the Lord my God.”
Here, Ephraim was not lost, but in a backslidden state. This is evident by Jeremiah 31:17 when it says, “And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border.” In order for Ephraim to return, he had to be right with God at one time.
Christians today have become calloused to their sin. I remember a time when you would see Christians at the altar weeping because of the sin in their lives. Just think about it for a second. When was the last time you shed a tear because of the sin you have committed? Our heart does not burn inside of us anymore. We just live our life day in, and day out, never thinking about our sin.
True repentance of sin can have an affect on us. Remember verse eighteen, Ephraim said that he was chastised as a young bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. That means when God was working in his life, he fought it. The fight was between God and the sin that he enjoyed. Too many Christians today fight the Holy Spirit when He brings conviction in their lives. I hear many Christians make the statement when it comes to some sin in their life, “It's not that bad.” Did you just hear what you said? You just said, “It's not that bad.” Somehow we feel that some sin is not as bad as other sin. I wish somebody would show me a verse in the Bible that states that. Ephraim did say one thing in verse eighteen that I find very interesting. He said, “…turn thou me and I shall be turned.” Ephraim made a good statement when it came to God working in his life. He said he would be turned. When it comes to sin in our life, we must turn from it. We must go another direction, away from the path that we once trod. In order for us to make any headway in our life, we must turn from our sin.
Now this brings me to the point of this article. Let's look at what Ephraim said in verse nineteen, “Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh; I was ashamed, yea even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.”
The first thing he did after he turned; he repented. Christians today seem to think that once they accept Christ, they don't have to repent of their sin. You will see that his repentance wasn't simply words, but something that had smote his heart. When was the last time you truly repented of your sin? That means that you turned from your sin and worked hard never to return to that particular sin in your life. I'm afraid that most Christians today don't think their sin is that big of a deal. Of course, everyone else's sins are a big deal. If we are going to grow in our Christian life then we must repent of our sins with our whole hearts.
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