ACTS 5:1\u201310<\/b><\/p>\n
Then Peter said, \u201cAnanias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit \u2026\u201d When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened<\/i><\/p>\n
(Acts 5:3, 5)<\/i>.<\/p>\n
When godly men encounter the holiness of God, they become aware of their sinfulness and cry out for salvation. The primary way we come to see God\u2019s holiness is in His law. Today we want to consider the punishments for sin that are included in God\u2019s law.<\/p>\n
In the Mosaic law, which God gave to Israel, we find over 30 offenses for which God commanded the death penalty. Capital punishment could be measured out not only for murder, but also for homosexual acts, adultery, or consulting a fortune teller. Liberal theologians regard these laws as cruel and bloodthirsty, unworthy of the \u201cmerciful God\u201d revealed (they say) in the New Testament. According to the Bible, though, the God of the Old Testament is the same as the God of the New. It was the \u201cGod of the New Testament\u201d who slew Ananias and Sapphira for lying to Him. You see, the problem is not that a holy and righteous God punishes willfully disobedient sinners. The mystery is that such a God can tolerate such cosmic treason on the part of His creatures for generation after generation.<\/p>\n
Even though there are some 30 capital punishments in the Old Testament, this is not a sign of God\u2019s severity. Actually, it represents a massive reduction<\/i> in the number of capital crimes. Remember the rules set forth at the beginning. All sin was viewed as a capital offense, even taking a single bite of the forbidden fruit!<\/p>\n
And notice, it was not a threat of eventual death, but God said, \u201cThe very day you eat of it you shall die.\u201d This does not mean just spiritual death. It means that you shall die physically the day you sin. It is only of the forbearance and mercy of God that He did not kill Adam and Eve immediately.<\/p>\n
CORAM DEO<\/b><\/p>\n
Deuteronomy 20\u201322<\/p>\n
Mark 14:27\u201352<\/p>\n
Far from being cruel, God is most merciful, acting with a measure of grace even unto those who scorn Him. In Romans 2:4, Paul asks. \u201cDo you show contempt [for God], not realizing that God\u2019s kindness leads you toward repentance?\u201d God has not exacted from us what His justice would demand. In your prayer time today, thank God for His lovingkindness toward you.<\/p>\n
For further study: Genesis 2:4\u201317; Exodus 21:12\u201325; Leviticus 20<\/i><\/p>\n
wednesday<\/p>\n
march<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ACTS 5:1\u201310 Then Peter said, \u201cAnanias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit \u2026\u201d When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened (Acts 5:3, 5). When godly men encounter the holiness of God, … Continue reading “IS GOD CRUEL?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11140\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}