Proverbs 16:6 (KJV)
6 By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.
Within the last week a national news source unveiled an investigative report entitled "Teens & Sex". In this investigation the news agency interviewed twenty-five teens, most of which were Jr. High aged children, from diverse ethnic, cultural, and social backgrounds about their views of and involvement in sexual relationships.
Of these twenty-five children interviewed none of them perceived premarital sexual relationships as a moral wrong and the majority of these children were involved sexually themselves. One young girl made the statement that she was having oral sex with a boy and that she felt it was not any different than kissing or holding hands.
As I was watching this interview my heart began to break for these precious children that were so blinded to their perilous condition. I cried out to the Lord as I searched for answers and soon a deep quickening took place in my heart and mind that alerted me to the reality that these kids had not been taught the fear of the Lord.
It is apparent that these youth had not been taught the scriptures that forbid fornication and sexual promiscuity. Their consciences had not been branded by the scorching truths revealing that no fornicator shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore these kids continue to dwell in the temporal and seasonal pleasures of sin without any awakening or awareness of the eternal consequences.
My next struggle was how could these children who live in a society that is so saturated with the Gospel of Jesus Christ - a society that posts a church on nearly every block in our communities like a sentry on guard - be so uninfluenced by their presence and influence?
As I meditated upon these thoughts the misty fog of confusion began to clear away and the light of understanding and Truth began to fill my heart. Beloved, could it be that the children of our society have no fear of the Lord because our churches no longer fear Him? Beloved, could it be that we in the church have such a perverted perception of God that we have lost our ability to fear Him?
It is very apparent that our modern pulpit has lost that age old art of ability to take the brush and paint and through much intricate labor - produce an accurate portrait of Jesus Christ. The beauty of His marred visage has been more disfigured and marred by modern, humanistic orthodoxy than by the whips of the Roman soldiers.
Our modern religion has severely misrepresented the Man of Sorrows as a sin-tolerant provider of monetary reward and temporal happiness and not a Redeemer who died to break the power of sin and redeem humanity from its curse!
It is the fear of the Lord that causes mankind to depart from evil and our churches have failed to reflect a Savior that this present world can fear. The result is a generation of sin-rampant rebels! What is the cure to stop this plague?
Jeremiah 6:16
16 Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.
Once again, our pulpits must labor to accurately depict the beauty of Jesus Christ through the faithful preaching of the whole counsel of His Word. We must return to the old paths of holiness, righteousness, and judgment to come and walk therein. Only then will we find rest for our sin-burdened souls.
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