Lukewarm Christians

King James Bible Daily Devotion – Learning Scripture One Day At A Time
Date: Tuesday, September 02, 2015
Chapters: Ezekiel 19-20 http://imfollowingjesus.com/Bible-Reading-245.html
Message Title: Lukewarm Christians

Hello My Friend,

Lukewarm, moderately warm, as lukewarm water, lukewarm heat. Did you ever turn on the ac in your car and the temp is right in the middle? Hot and cold air at the same time, it feels awful. How about lukewarm water? A little chill to it, a little heat, it's awful, you can't drink it, and it's not hot enough to clean anything real good. Well, there is another kind of lukewarm, and this is type that God gets angry with, it's a lukewarm Christian. Those who are saved and hot for God when something goes wrong, but cold for Him once everything gets straightened out. “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” - Revelation 3:15,16.

Let me tell you, our faith in God goes up and down like a roller coaster, we can be strong and zealous for Him one second and weak the next, but as long as we have some faith God can keep working on us. There are many Christians living some pretty wicked lifestyles, they may even go to church every Sunday to say they need God, but out of church it's a different story. While we are certainly saved by grace and nothing we do can take away our salvation that does not mean that we are not going to be put in the fire for living a sinful life. God often refers to His people as grape vines, He uses a parable to explain how fruitful Jerusalem was when they abode in His vine. This vine is now destroyed although it is not plucked up by the roots. She has by wickedness made herself like kindle to the sparks of God's wrath, so that her own branches serve as fuel to burn her.

“Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches. But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them. And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground. And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.” - Ezekiel 19:10-14.

God encourages Ezekiel to feel deep sorrow for the state of His people. We as Christians should never gloat or make fun of the misfortunes that others receive by living in sin. We are all sinners saved by only by the grace of God, any of us can fall given the right circumstances and how strong our faith in God is. Praise God for the one and only Branch of the vine, Jesus Christ, who is not only a strong rod for the scepter of those who allow Him to rule, but is Himself the true Vine. All who come to the Vine, although through sin they can still be burned, will not be plucked up from the root. “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” - John 15:5-7.

Ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you, what an amazing concept, and truth. You know, we forfeit so many things from God because we can have lukewarm faithfulness. Think about this, how many times do we do something irrational because we what something done right now? It can be quite often if we truly think on this. We are a great work in progress, we're not always going to look to God for all the answers we need, and if we are not careful, we can stop depending on Him all together, and only come to Him when we get into some kind of trouble. Ezekiel gets a visit from some elders with questions for God, it was then that God refused to answer them, reminding them of how they have been lukewarm toward Him since He freed them out of Egypt.

“Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye come to enquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you. Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? cause them to know the abominations of their fathers: And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the LORD your God; In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands: But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.” - Ezekiel 20:3-6,13.

We can't live a sinful life and put God in the middle of it, we are going to get burned. Yes, we are free to live the way we want, but if we are going to choose God we need to do it His way. God gives us rules not to keep us from living a good life, but so we can live a great life without all the corruption of the world. Okay, we are going to face difficulties in life with or without God, at least with God we will not suffer more for any sin we get caught up in. “But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.” - 1 Peter 4:15,16.

Glorify God on this behalf, you know, while God can intervene at any time, He often allows us to walk right into the sin we are tempted by for the sake of showing us our sin and that we need Him at all times. While not the idea way in which God wants to show Himself, if He has to let us dangle off the edge of sin He will, but it's up to us to come to Him wholeheartedly for help. God continues telling the elders why He is so angry, He also gives them some hope, only to give a response that made Ezekiel angry.

“As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you: And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables?” - Ezekiel 20:33-38,49.

The elders didn't listen to a word God said to them directly, they wanted stories. Lukewarm Christians want the best of both worlds, they want to live in the world and want God too, they suffer greatly for this and yet wonder why God is causing the suffering. God is not causing the suffering, they are, yet one day, all the suffering will be over, Jesus will call His people and they will join Him in His Kingdom, even if we did live a rebellious life. Jesus often spoke in parables to show some form of truth through a story, this was to distinguish the faithful from the unfaithful. We all get discouraged sometimes and even ask questions to God about the circumstances we are facing, but if we are faithful to Him, He will be faithful to us,, and He will answer us. “For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.” - Matthew 13:12,13.

Today's Prayer: God, You have called all Your people to come out of the world and live apart from it. While we are here on earth we are a work in progress, and thanks to Your great mercy and unending grace, we always have those second chances when we come to You wholeheartedly. Lord, lead us and guide us, give us Your power to resist temptation, keep us looking to You so we do not fall, and give us the humbleness to come to You even it we mess up to make things right. Let Your Word be continual on our hearts that we might not sin against You, and let us not be lukewarm toward You. In Jesus' name, amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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