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How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert!

Psalm 78:40

A couple of years ago, a pastor from my ex-church said to me in a text message, that the reason why no one is preaching against sin in his church is due to the sensitivity of the issue. I was told that raising such questions would put a lot of people off. And as such, he never preached against sin and would prefer to stay on course with less provoking topics about Christianity.

However the Bible recorded time and again, that God’s heart is grieved by the sins of His people. Adam and Eve grieved the Lord when they did what they were told not to do (Genesis 6:6). The Hebrews rebelled and grieved God in the wilderness when Moses led them out of Egypt (Psalm 78:40). The prophet Isaiah wrote, “A people who continually provoke Me to My face …” (Isaiah 65:3).

A common disposition preached in churches today, that we are sinners, we are fallen, we will continue to sin and there is nothing we could do to rectify this concern about our sins. It is our natural, fallen nature. Only by believing and accepting Christ, will we be forgiven for what we are and be made righteous by Christ with His divine power. Honestly, I have great difficulty standing up to such theory and teaching; that there is nothing we can do about it and God is okay with that. In fact, Jesus said to the woman caught committing adultery, “Go and sin no more.” (John 8:11).

How is it possible that a God who said He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8), a God who is historically so easily grieved by various incidents of sin, in a sudden turnaround, becomes okay with sin? That God so loved us, He gave up His Son to die for our sins; that we can go on with our lives, business as usual, and in sin and grieving Him?

The truth is the Bible never describe in any instance that God is going to be good or okay with sin. In fact, sin grieves God so intensely that He turned again His own people, He fought against them and became their enemy (Isaiah 63:10). And in the New Testament, we have been warned not to do things that could possibly grieve the Holy Spirit before the arrival of our day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30).

In an Instagram feed posted recently, “Preachers who teach the “once saved, always saved” doctrine, have already entered into the difficult season of explaining to the world, why bad things are happening to good people.” Today, we are living in interesting times, having first hand experience to observe how church leaders are going to reason out the causes behind God’s wrath, that appears to be sharply increasing each passing day.

A good God could never be punishing forgiven souls. A merciful God cannot bring so much destruction to people that are no longer required to abide by old covenants. And a loving Father cannot turn against His own and become their enemy instead. Or is it not?

Even more alarming; Jesus foretold in Matthew 24:37-38 that in the last days, humanity would once again return to their wickedness as in Noah’s time.

In Matthew 18:7, “Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!” God may have been grieved; but let it be known that it will be those who are grieving Him now, that shall soon be sorry in eternity. If you still do not fear God, think again (Hebrews 10:31).