Churches of Christ -- Sermons; Sermons, American -- 20th century
These last four are sins of the disposition. In some instances they are
committed, especially the first three, by people who come to worship
every Sunday and pass as devoted Christians. But friends, I want you to
see what ugly company they are keeping. They are classed by the Holy
Spirit right along with idolatry, adultery, uncleanness, and
lasciviousness. That’s mighty bad company, isn’t it? We are inclined to
be more tolerant of sins of the disposition than of sins of immorality,
but we’d better be very careful how we appraise sins without Biblical
authority. God has put them all in the same catalogue, and therefore
sins like hatred and jealousy will send you to hell just as quickly as
idolatry or adultery. If you’re guilty of any of them, you must repent
before you can go to heaven for people who continue in the work of the
flesh cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.
10. _Strife, Seditions, Heresies._ The word “strife” represents a
courting of distinction, a desire to put one’s self forward, contention
and wranglings with a partisan and factious spirit which tends to result
in division. The word “sedition” suggests the act of dividing. It means
dissension. The word “heresies” applies to the parties or sects arising
from diversity of opinion and aims.
Note, therefore, that division is condemned in every stage of its
development. The disputing, arguing, wrangling, and vanity which lead to
it are condemned by the word strife. The act of separating into parties
is condemned by the word “divisions” or “seditions,” and the parties
themselves are condemned after they occur by the word “heresies.” Again
I call your attention to the fact that God puts these sins in the
category of fornication and adultery. The very disposition to divide is
wrong; the act of dividing is wrong; and the parties and sects which
result from the division are likewise wrong. Division is evil from
beginning to end. It is a work of the flesh and all of those who are
guilty of it, who encourage it, who endorse it, or who support it,
morally or financially, will be condemned as following the flesh rather
than following the spirit.
11. _Envying._ This is another sin of the disposition. The best
definition I have found of envying is this: “Pain felt, and malignity
conceived, at the sight of excellence or happiness.” Did you ever notice
someone who is happier than you or more successful than you, and as a
result feel some sort of pain within you, or some sort of uneasiness?
Well, that’s envy. It is pain felt or malignancy conceived at the sight
of happiness or success on the part of another.
After reading in some religious paper a glowing report of a very
successful meeting, a preacher may have a strange feeling of discontent
or chagrin which self-analysis would show to be the result of his
natural (fleshly) reaction to the success of a brother evangelist. Is
not this a case of envy? Is it not a work of the flesh? Can those who do
such things enter the kingdom of God?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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