October 4 2017 – Click here to listen
Today I go to see a friend who is in jail. It is such a sad thing for me, because this man is a man of God who had made a miraculous comeback from drug addiction. His life has been a paradigm. He was a star athlete and talented quarterback in high school and was offered a scholarship with a major University as a pre-med student. He had never been in trouble with the law but was giving a guy a ride home and ended up getting involved with a crime that his friend perpetrated and it sent him to prison.
Gone was the scholarship, his reputation and standing as a gifted athlete and scholar. His hopes and dreams were seemingly quashed over one stupid act. He became very bitter and when released he immediately got involved with drugs and crime in a big way. He was caught by the police and returned to prison. In all he served over a decade in prison, but on his last stint he met the Lord through a prison ministry.
He got out of prison and met a lovely talented woman who loved the Lord and was world famous and who had a dynamic ministry and the two got married. He had studied the Bible in prison and was an excellent speaker and he preached and sang right alongside her for several years. They were very successful and traveled all over the world preaching and singing and glorifying God.
Then tragedy struck. His wife developed an aggressive form of breast cancer and she suffered greatly with it until her death last year. Once again, his world was shattered and once again he turned to drugs, and once again the police arrested him and now he sits in jail awaiting trial.
So, I am faced with what to say to him at 11:30 this morning. Do I chastise him for turning his back on his God? Do I encourage him and tell him everything will be all right?
Hmmm . . . If I chew him out for his actions it will be useless because I know he already feels bad about letting God and all those who love him and himself down.
I have been praying about this for two days. and the Lord did give me a startling verse: 2 Peter 2:20 – For a man is a slave to whatever has overcome him. If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through their knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse than it was at first. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and turned away from the holy commandment passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”
Yikes!
The Lord’s own words in Matthew 12:45 and Luke 11:26 reinforce this notion. The evil spirit had been cast out from these men; for a time they had lived in the full knowledge of Christ; but now the evil spirit had returned, and had brought with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself. Hebrews 10:26 – If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remain.
Double Yikes!
My friend made the mistake of turning to drugs, alcohol and crime when serious problems came into his life. All of it just made things worse. It was only when he turned to Jesus and received Him that his life turned around. I’m simply going to try to convince him that he must ask for forgiveness and repent, turn from his sins (including drugs and alcohol), if he is to once again regain the peace, joy, and love that is only available through Christ.
It is the same with this wicked, wicked, world in which we live. God cannot bless our nation until people recognize Him for who He is . . . Almighty God! We must seek His face, ask for forgiveness, and repent in order for him to heal us and bless our nation.
God is a God of love, but also of Holy Righteousness and He will not tolerate sin. He gave us the examples of Noah and Sodom and Gomorrah to demonstrate His judgment. Don’t think it cannot visit your life or this nation. In fact, I believe we are already seeing signs of it.
When you suffer don’t turn to drugs, alcohol, sex, or other sins to find comfort; they will just make matters worse. Turn to God for healing and remember this verse:
1 Peter 2:21
For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.
He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone.
He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered.
He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.
He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross
so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right.
By his wounds you are healed.
Once you were like sheep
who wandered away.
But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls.