In every way, God is greater than man. A man would have to be a thief to claim equality with God. Yet, Christ thought it not robbery to be equal with God.
Men rob God by simply withholding what God requested. This robbing takes on two forms: not giving what God has required or giving less than one’s best.
The world is full of religion, but this religion bears little to no resemblance to the truth of the scriptures. Why? Because man-made religion is vain.
Men seek pleasures for various reasons, but sometimes they simply desire to escape sorrows and grief. In the days of Amos, the people were at ease in their “beds of ivory,” feasting upon “the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall,” listening with anticipation to their new “instruments of musick,” and indulging themselves by drinking “wine in bowls.” In other words, they pampered their flesh “with the chief ointments.” In the midst of all these pleasures, the people of God had no heart to grieve for others who were suffering. Similar to Israel, the church spends so much of its time seeking pleasure that it devotes no time to grieve for their fellow brethren in suffering.
Sobriety helps the believer “not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.” In other words, it keeps him grounded rather than haughty. Pride is one of the greatest destructive forces in the world. Pride led to the fall of Satan and will likewise destroy the believer’s walk with the Lord along with his testimony before others. Sobriety is a companion to gravity (1 Timothy 3:11; Titus 2:2) and causes a believer to perceive himself as he really is. The Devil fell when he began to think more highly of himself (Isaiah 14:12-14). In his heart, he thought to exalt his throne and be like the most High. If the believer is not sober, he too can begin to think thoughts of pride. Just as it was with Satan, this pride will be his downfall.
The Devil despises any praise offered toward God. Men who sacrifice to God demonstrate their valuation of Him. For this reason, the Devil longs to eliminate godly sacrifices. Daniel 9:27 references a future time known as Daniel’s seventieth week when the Devil will cause the reinstituted Jewish animal sacrifices to cease. In the present age, God has clearly shown that He has no desire for man to sacrifice animals. Instead, believers offer spiritual sacrifices to God thus demonstrating their praise and declaring their love for God. Just as the Devil will one day seek to end the physical sacrifices given to the Lord by the Jewish people, he presently works hard to keep New Testament believers from offering the spiritual sacrifices of praise to God.
As it is with all sin, rebellion originates within the heart. Long before it manifests itself in the individual’s actions, it finds life by taking root within his heart. The Lord described a rebellious generation by saying that they were “a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.” A man with a wicked heart and the wrong spirit cannot enjoy sweet fellowship with the Lord. As rebellion takes root in his heart, the rebellion pushes out the desires for prayer and for God’s word. Humility is crowded out because of pride and self-will to the extent that a man justifies, perhaps even with scripture, his rebellious spirit. His once soft heart becomes hardened because of the deceitfulness of sin.
God exhibits the perfect standard of righteousness through His character and work. Any person desiring to know the right way to do something should look to the Lord for his example. The Bible says that God gives liberally to man. If one needs wisdom, all he need do is to ask the Lord for wisdom and God promises to give man the wisdom and to give it in a liberal fashion. Fortunately, this promise is not in any way restricted exclusively to wisdom but also includes the manner in which God gives to man in other areas of life. Look no further than Calvary for proof of this truth. At Calvary, God gave liberally in the sacrifice of His Son. As a result of that sacrifice, God promises that whosoever will can come to God for salvation. Since God gives so liberally to man, how should man give to God?
Peter admonished “newborn babes” in Christ to lay aside all hypocrisies. It is a natural battle that every babe in Christ must face. A new believer might have an inappropriate longing to please the one who led him to the Lord rather than giving the Lord preeminence. He might perform actions in hopes that his spiritual mentor will take notice. Eventually, this fault blossoms to the point where he begins to see problems in others while failing to realize the same problems exist in his own life. He might work hard to obey the strictest of commands while missing the overall desire of the Lord in his own life. Even as a babe in Christ, he must work to lay aside hypocrisy. Until he does, he will never grow into the mature believer the Lord wants him to be.
During the Lord’s earthly ministry, His most malicious enemies were not common men or even the Roman government. His greatest enemies were the religious leaders charged with maintaining the spiritual purity of the people of God. How could those most religious create discord with the very One who gave them the dictates for the Jewish religion they claimed to defend? The answer is simple. It was envy! According to John 11:48, the religious leadership of Israel determined that they could not allow Jesus to continue teaching, preaching, and ministering to others. These leaders realized that all men would believe on Him causing the Romans to demote them. They would not allow this to happen. How far would they go to keep their place and nation? The Bible reveals that they would even cause the crucifixion of the innocent Son of God.
