PLEASING GOD
If dear old Enoch had had a tombstone, the epitaph
would have read “He pleased God” (Hebrews 11:5). And the apostle Paul reminded his readers … and that includes us
… that we ought to do the same:
“Furthermore then, we beseech you, brethren, and
exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to
walk and please
God, so ye would abound more and more” (I Thessalonians 4:1).
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1. IN THE
MATTER OF SALVATION
The person who is not a Christian cannot please
God. No matter how kind and gracious
and helpful your neighbour (or yourself?) might be … if one has never been
saved, then that one cannot please God.
All our righteousness is as filthy rags in His sight (Isaiah 64:6). The very best a person can do cannot alter
the fact that sin needs to be forgiven.
And that does not take place by one’s own efforts. Proverbs 21:4 says …
Why? Because
the unsaved man who plants the crop fails to give gratitude to God for the
blessings of the harvest.
Back
of the loaf is the flour,
And
back of the flour is the mill,
And
back of the mill is the grain and the rain
And
the sun and the Father’s will!
No matter what an unsaved person does, he, or she,
cannot please God:
“… because the carnal mind is enmity against
God; for it is not subject to the law
of Christ, neither indeed can be. So
then they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:7-8).
2. IN THE
MATTER OF PROCLAMATION
We are to preach “the whole counsel of God” … Hell
as well as Heaven. God’s Holiness as
well as His mercy. There is to be no
trimming of the message God has entrusted to us that we might curry the
applause of men.
“As we said before, so say I now again. If any man preach any other gospel unto you
than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men?
For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:9-10).
Whilst some, these days, preach only half the Gospel
… others preach no gospel at all.
Social issues … anti-casino … land rights … drug rehabilitation … urban
renewal … these may be important matters but they can become a side-track from
the real issue of man’s need of a Saviour.
Wesley and Whitefield tackled England’s appalling social conditions in
their day by striking at the heart of the matter … the need for man to be
converted!
3. IN THE
MATTER OF JUBILATION
“I gave the Lord the equivalent of $1,000 at the
Salvo meeting this morning,” said one hobo to another. “Go on with ya!” says the other, “You
haven’t got a penny to bless yourself with!”
“True, but I praised Him with my whole being when we sang the good old
hymns … and the Bible says that when you do that He is more pleased than if
you’d given Him an ox!” (Psalm 69:30-31):
“I will praise the name of God with a song, and will
magnify him with thanksgiving. This
also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs.”
Too many folk live in Grumblin’ Square instead of on
Hallelujah Avenue! Count your blessings
and you’ll be surprised just how much you have for which to praise God! Praise Him! … and thereby please Him!
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