Romans 10:1-3 says, Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they disregarded the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.
Do you have a zeal for God? Honestly, are you excited about the prospect of going out into the world to preach the gospel to a lost and depraved society? There is much I could write to those of you who have no zeal whatsoever for the Lord and yet call yourself a Christian. No, today, I am writing to those of you who do in fact have a zeal for the Lord.
Having zeal can be a good and a bad thing? How is this possible?
There are two possibilities...
1. Zeal with Knowledge
2. Zeal without Knowledge
Let me attack the second part first.
Zeal without knowledge...
This describes so called Christians. 80% of this country calls themselves Christians and yet by their very actions, they prove themselves to be followers of Satan. They desire the things of the world.
What are the things of the world?
This describes many things...
1. sex outside of marriage
2. using vulgar language
3. dressing inappropriately or immodestly, exposing too much skin
4. listening to music that condones the things of Satan (drugs, sex, violence, etc)
5. tattoo's or marking your skin to be like the world (your body is the Temple of the Holy God)
6. worship of idols such as money, car, home, people, etc
You get the idea? It is doing or saying anything that goes against the Word of God. It is worrying about whether you will be accepted by the world, because you desire to be like the world. Te be accepted by man!
1 John 2:15 says, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."
What do you think it means to know that because you love the world, that the love of the Father is not in you? Many "Christians" will read this and make excuses for why they do what they do. The Bible never tells us to make excuses for our behavior. But to confess to God what we have done. Not only confess because confession without repentance leads to damnation.
Are you still willing to continue doing the things you are doing? Still want to please man? I know some will say that "I only want to please God" but in the next line they will say that they don't "think" that God will judge them. Or they will say it is only my opinion and of course everyone has an opinion. Since when did God's Holy Word, found in the inspired Scriptures of the Bible come under opinions? His Word is easy to understand. To the homosexual, He says they will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. To the liar, He says they will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. To the one who loves this world and the things of it, He says, the love of the Father is not in him.
To each of these and others, the answer is easy. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (and NO, He is not your homeboy!==that is the ultimate in disrespect for the LORD JESUS CHRIST!) A Day will come when you will fall to your knee's and bow down to Him as Lord and Savior. You will not be calling Him your homeboy at that time! You will then realize that you should have feared the Lord your God. A Holy Fear!
These very same people who claim to follow Christ and yet live in absolute disobedience to Him will do more harm to the church than can be imagined. These very people are a cancer to the church. We are told in the Bible to not have fellowship with the works are darkness. We are to rebuke those who are living in sin and if they do not listen, we are to not have anything to do with them. This is a hard one to live with, but for those of us who truly love God, it is most necessary. I do not want to face God and have to answer to Him for why I did not rebuke a sinner and tell them the errors of their ways.
If God's Word tells us to not have fellowship with someone then WE ARE NOT TO HAVE FELLOWSHIP WITH THAT PERSON!
1 John 1:6 says, "if we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth."
Ephesians 5:11 says, "and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them."
If someone is openly living in sin and openly living for the world by the words or their actions, we are to have no fellowship with them. I would not want that kind of person in my church to harm the true believers. That type of person might have all the zeal in the world for the things of Christ, but if they live in sin, they lie! The ultimate liar is Satan and he has a message he wants the church to hear...
surely, God did not say you can't do this or that...
Those of us who truly love God and desire to not be like the world, can see right through this kind of thinking from Satan. But there are many who profess to be Christians who are blinded to the truth. You can tell them what scripture says and they will always fall back on their old standard of...
God surely did not say this or that! It is your opinion. We all have opinions. I choose to listen to the ones who think the way I do!
BEWARE! There are many false prophets among us! You have a zeal for God but your life shows that your zeal for life on this earth is stronger than your zeal for godly living.
sex, drugs, language, tattoo's, idol worship, etc the things that please the world are what rule your life. God's Word tells us that when we are born again, He will give us a new heart and the old self has died away and we become a new creature. If you are still living for the world, you are not a new creature in Christ. hence, you are most likely not truly saved! Are you willing to take that chance by living by your "opinions" of God's Word?
Now let's talk a bit about having a zeal with knowledge of God's Word.
Too few people qualify for this one and that is a shame. Many people claim to know the Word of God but they fail to witness to people. The best example I can think of is way of the master host, Ray Comfort. He has a strong zeal for the Lord and goes out witnessing to lost souls every day. he has a knowledge of what God's Word says and he uses it to bring people to a point of salvation and repentance.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=seal+beach&aq=f
(if above link does not work, go to youtube and search seal beach kid way of the master
ZEAL with or without knowledge.
Which do you have?
Do you even have any zeal at all?
If your zeal is without knowledge, then realize that you will be judged according to how you teach others (and realize this, you teach others not only by what you say, but by how you live)
If your zeal is with knowledge and you are actively out witnessing to people correctly giving the whole counsel of God, then praise God for your faithfulness. May God continue to bless you in all you do!
Only 2% of Christians actively witness to people.
Out of that 2%, are you one of them that is teaching heresy? Are you living in sin?
Now imagine what the percentage truly is with faithful, God-fearing Christians who desire to live for Him and desire to put the world aside for Him!
Scary, isn't it? Is it any wonder why our world is in such as mess.
If it isn't the atheist corrupting the world, it is the so called Christians who corrupt the Word of God. Satan truly has his foot involved in the life of false believers.