Displeasing God

[Ryan&Amber2013]

I can sure use some input please. I'm studying 1 Cor 10 tonight. The Israelites displeased God in many ways, but death was brought upon them for unbelief and grumbling. Paul warns us to not be like them. But I know I have ashamedly gone through my own seasons of doubt and grumbling, and the scary things is, when I look at Numbers, I can see similarities from them and myself in seasons of doubt and complaining.

How does the Gospel affect God's displeasure with Israel compared to my same sins? After all, it was Christ who was with them even in the wilderness. Should I be in fear of God's judgment? If not, why not?

Thanks for taking the time to comfort one of the least of these.

 

[Boreal]

I’m interested in the responses as well.

 

[davejonescue]

I can sure use some input please. I'm studying 1 Cor 10 tonight. The Israelites displeased God in many ways, but death was brought upon them for unbelief and grumbling. Paul warns us to not be like them. But I know I have ashamedly gone through my own seasons of doubt and grumbling, and the scary things is, when I look at Numbers, I can see similarities from them and myself in seasons of doubt and complaining.

How does the Gospel affect God's displeasure with Israel compared to my same sins? After all, it was Christ who was with them even in the wilderness. Should I be in fear of God's judgment? If not, why not?

Thanks for taking the time to comfort one of the least of these.

You should not be in fear of Gods judgment, you should be in fear of his chastisement. You have been made perfect in Christ; but God will not spare the rod in making you perfect like Christ. Like David said, "better to be in the hands of God because he is merciful." If you are loved by God, he chose you knowing full well your future. He molds us by stripes, so that we may enjoy the image of his Son.

 

[Clemson_Gentleman]

I’m in my own season of doubting (doubting God’s love for me) and grumbling (health issues). Fix your eyes on Christ, His work and His promises. Second, examine yourself. Are you repenting and pursuing holiness? Our zeal may wax and wane, don’t get too caught up in the moment, examine the trajectory of your whole spiritual life.

In relation to Israel, meditate on the privileges of the current administration of the Covenant of Grace, the New Covenant, “in which grace and salvation are held forth in more fulness, evidence, and efficacy, to all nations” (WLC question 35).

 

[Zach]

Remember Jesus, your faith in him, your union with him, and the completion of his work for your salvation.

For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, "As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter my rest,'" although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. - Hebrews 4:2-3 ESV

 

[Alan D. Strange]

@Ryan&Amber2013

In our flesh, brother, then and now, we've never done anything but displease God. We deserve, always, nothing but the wrath and curse of God. Continually.

But thanks be to God, Jesus came and lived and died for us, keeping the whole law for us in every part and place, and dying for our continual violation of it. In Christ, because He took the full measure of the wrath of God that justly burned hot against us for our sins, we have the full forgiveness of sins and full acceptance with the Father. Because of Christ's merits and mediation, there remains not an ounce of wrath for us.

We are called now to walk with HIm as new men and women in Christ, to die to sin and to live to righteousness, not so as to gain acceptance with God, but because we have acceptance with God in Christ, full and free. Yes, the unbelief, murmuring, etc. is all sin to which we must die. And, as was said above, the Lord disciplines us in the whole course of our lives so that we will continually die to sin and live to righteousness. This discipline is not retributive, however, but sanative, purifying, etc. Christ has taken all that retribution that we so richly deserve and all that we experience now from the Lord is corrective and transforming.

This is why suffering, trials, etc. should not perplex us. We always need to be chastened and we should accept humbly and gratefully all that our Lord brings our way. Often, I murmur or grumble under such difficulties, but that just shows my sin even more and my need for correction from the hand of my gracious heavenly Father. May His matchless name be praised in it all. We deserve hell and He is pleased to work in us to fit us for heaven, even exposing our own wickedness to us always so that we come to hate that unbelief and murmuring that suffering typically discloses and makes clearer to us.

Thanks be to God that His grace is always greater than our sin.

Peace,
Alan

 

[MyCrows]

And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children,
My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord,
nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure;
but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous:
nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.

Hebrews 12:5-11

------------------------

True believers may have the assurance of their salvation divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted; as, by negligence in preserving of it, by falling into some special sin which wounds the conscience and grieves the Spirit; by some sudden or vehement temptation, by God's withdrawing the light of his countenance, and suffering even such as fear Him to walk in darkness and to have no light: yet are they never so utterly destitute of that seed of God, and life of faith, that love of Christ and the brethren, that sincerity of heart, and conscience of duty, out of which, by the operation of the Spirit, this assurance may, in due time, be revived; and by the which, in the mean time, they are supported from utter despair.

WCF Chapter 18 Section 4

 

[Joshua]

God is unaffected, by Gospel or otherwise. God is eternally displeased with sin, which is why Christ alone, as fully God and fully man, could satisfy the Father’s infinite wrath against sin for His people, and this is also why those who have rejected Christ will suffer for all eternity, because God’s wrath against their sins is, well, eternal.

As for practically, what you’re describing, you, Dear Brother, unlike the referenced Israelites, are not shrinking back in unbelief, You, unlike they, have a sense of your sin, and do not like it. Like the Apostle in Romans 7, you hate these things about yourself, and so, like a child to a Father (vs. a slave to a cruel master), you go to the Only Source of mercy and help, believing His promises not only to forgive your sins, but also to cleanse you therefrom, He having delivered you from sin’s dominion, though you still sometimes feel from its abiding residual corruptions not yet fully mortified. This is, by God’s wisdom, a feature, not a bug, though by way of a bug.

 

[Ed Walsh]

I can sure use some input please. I'm studying 1 Cor 10 tonight. The Israelites displeased God in many ways, but death was brought upon them for unbelief and grumbling. Paul warns us to not be like them. But I know I have ashamedly gone through my own seasons of doubt and grumbling, and the scary things is, when I look at Numbers, I can see similarities from them and myself in seasons of doubt and complaining.

How does the Gospel affect God's displeasure with Israel compared to my same sins? After all, it was Christ who was with them even in the wilderness. Should I be in fear of God's judgment? If not, why not?

Thanks for taking the time to comfort one of the least of these.

Ryan,

During one of the darkest times in my Christian life (circa 2000-2002), I was nearly sure my fate would be as King Saul. (1 Chronicles 10:13-14)

As to your desert of the same fate as some Corinthians, you must see how vague and subjective your concern was and how impossible any PB member can answer. Thus, the general posts you have received to date. But you gave a few clues.
[Your] "seasons of doubt and grumbling" – You speak of these seasons as past history.

• First, the obvious. You did not die.
• Second, The past tense you speak with implies repentance and a restored sense of God's love and acceptance.

As to God's judgment (chastening) of the Corinthians due to their sin, note the following:

1. Were the Corinthians true covenant members? – Yes, they were church members and partakers of both sacraments.
2. Were those Israelites who died in the desert covenant members? – Yes, (1 Corinthians 10:1-4)
3. "But with many of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness." – Some 600,000 of them over the 40 years in the wilderness. (1 Corinthians 11:30)
4. Gradation in the disciplinary action against some Corinthians – Here, in chapter 11, Paul gives an example of NT judgment – Back in chapter 10, Paul goes into great detail about the sin of unworthy partaking of the Lord's Supper; that it is in its idolatry, and spiritual adultery of the worse kind. This is what the judgment was about, and Paul's teaching that it is at least as applicable today as in the former days.

Of Most Importance – Are you willingly NOW committing willful spiritual adultery and teaching others to do likewise, and that publically, in church, during the Holy Supper? If you are, you should be concerned. Otherwise, let bygones be bygones.

Cath my drift?

EDIT: Wow! I just read Alan's post. Wasn't it beautiful?

I forgot to add that it will be no surprise to me to see Ananias and Sophofa in heaven. I think I like to hang out with those dead Corinthians who were lovingly chastened by the Lord (Paul calls it "sleep")

It would be good to remind ourselves of Paul's almost unbelievable greeting to the motley crew of which we are all members.

1 Corinthians 1:1-9​

1. Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,​

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2. To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ – their Lord and ours:​

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3. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.​

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4 I always thank my God for you because of his grace given to you in Christ Jesus. For in him, you have been enriched in every way – with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge – God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore, you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.​

 

[Deleted member 13126]

I can sure use some input please. I'm studying 1 Cor 10 tonight. The Israelites displeased God in many ways, but death was brought upon them for unbelief and grumbling. Paul warns us to not be like them. But I know I have ashamedly gone through my own seasons of doubt and grumbling, and the scary things is, when I look at Numbers, I can see similarities from them and myself in seasons of doubt and complaining.

How does the Gospel affect God's displeasure with Israel compared to my same sins? After all, it was Christ who was with them even in the wilderness. Should I be in fear of God's judgment? If not, why not?

Thanks for taking the time to comfort one of the least of these.

Howdy Brother. I hope you and your family are well.

I guess I’d first ask you to define judgment. If by judgment you refer to chastening or consequences as a result of your actions, then certainly, yes. If by judgment you refer to condemnation, etc., then no.

 

[dhh712]

Thank you, dear brothers, for your responses; you've really comforted my soul. This past week has been a tough one for me and I've done quite a bit of grumbling and complaining. At the service today, it was great to come into joy again with God our Father and the assembly of saints and my brothers and sisters in my church are amazing.

What jw mentioned about having our sins cleansed reminds me of a passage in "A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23" by Phillip Keller, the part of "he anoints my head with oil"--the Spirit cleansing us from the harmful effects of sin, what a disaster it is to our lives.

Somehow, these trials, they're never fun; but, they have a way of drawing us to our Lord when we may have wandered down a path. At Sunday school, we were talking about making decisions and what the will of God would be in our lives; whatever it is we decide, we do have to make decisions (and try to make them by giving them wise thought and counsel), but even if it seems like the "wrong" decision, it is God's will to mold us into His image to conform us more to Christ. A lot of times that's not fun and sometimes we think I guess I made the wrong decision and I should have done this instead so I wouldn't have this problem in my life. But that's God's will all along, to take us through the trials onward in our sanctification. It was just what I needed to hear. That really helped too. Well, just wanted to say thank you to you all.

 

[joebonni63]

I’m in my own season of doubting (doubting God’s love for me) and grumbling (health issues). Fix your eyes on Christ, His work and His promises. Second, examine yourself. Are you repenting and pursuing holiness? Our zeal may wax and wane, don’t get too caught up in the moment, examine the trajectory of your whole spiritual life.

In relation to Israel, meditate on the privileges of the current administration of the Covenant of Grace, the New Covenant, “in which grace and salvation are held forth in more fulness, evidence, and efficacy, to all nations” (WLC question 35).

Clemson this is great wow perfect summary of how this goes down ……… amen thank you for this post ……

 

[Ryan&Amber2013]

Thank you all for the really good replies.