Msg#2508 Forsake Sin Early On
What The Bible Says
Good Samaritan’s Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice
At Youth-Ablaze it was said,“Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” When one commits an evil work, sucks that smoking weed, sips that mocking wine, watches that vile video, and sees no consequence but the pleasure of sin for a season, they fall headlong into Ecclesiastes 8:11. Prime example, Abimelech in Judges 9. His father, Gideon, was a Bible hero but prone to sin, he had many wives, 70 sons, and a concubine in Shechem. She named her son “my fathers a king”, and pulled strings to make him one. He slew his 70 brothers, which pleased the men of Shechem, but displeased God, who said so out loud in a poignant fable (vrs.8–20). Abimelech ignored God, had a successful reign for three years, and when Gaal rose up against him, Abimelech defeated him soundly, destroyed Shechem, and burned 1000 men and women in its tower.
Reveling in victory he came to Thebez and when he set out to do it again; “A certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech’s head, and all to brake his skull” (9:53). He tried a cover-up story, but God recorded the truth for us (9:54). “Thus God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did unto his father, in slaying his seventy brethren: And all the evil of the men of Shechem did God render upon their heads: and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal” (9:56-57).
Forsake your presumptuous sin; “God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day” (Ps.7:11); “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal.6:7).
An Essay for week #8, Feb 23, 25
Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs250223.mp3
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A weekly 300 word essay- The Penny Pulpit
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