God is looking for a people who are willing to CHOOSE to live by His laws and REFUSE to go the way of this world! We are to learn from the past, but not dwell on it. God is judging us for how we live now, with a focus on our future. We are called to be DOERS! We are to be INVOLVED in the fulfillment of His purpose. This sermon will help you understand God’s purpose and what it is we are called to do.

Why is sin so bad? God’s laws are living laws–they produce results no matter what we do. If we please God, He blesses us. If we do wrong, we cause harm to ourselves and others. We truly reap what we sow–either good or bad. The Bible gives many specific examples of how wrong actions actually return to the sinner in the same manner as was intended for someone else.

It is not God’s intent to destroy His people, but He deals with them as is necessary so as to bring about repentance. Israel would not repent and faced serious punishment unless they did. God urged Israel to seek Him spiritually, individually, with a repentant heart and a changed attitude. What about us? Do we sincerely seek God in this way?

Why did God allow Satan to try Job? Because Job was so righteous in his own eyes that he thought he should not suffer trials. He focused on what he had done according to the law and failed to see the intent in his own heart. God says that there is no one who who doesn’t sin. God had to bring Job to repent of his self-righteousness so that he could eventually be in the Kingdom. God also works with us through various trials so that we can learn the lessons that we need to learn in order to be in His Kingdom.

After Christ died and was resurrected, He still had to be accepted by the Father, as represented by the Wave Sheaf Offering. He was the FIRST of the firstfruits. In Ancient Israel, the firstfruits of the early harvest were given to the Levites–the priesthood. We who are spriritual Israel today–spiritual firstfruits–BELONG to Christ. God intends that we make use of His gifts to us–His Word and His Spirit–to make changes in our life. What changes? Putting sin OUT! God is in the process of enlarging His family, and He will not allow sin to come before Him!

Job was “blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.” Why, then, did he suffer such affliction? While Job’s friends groped for answers to this question, Job sought only to justify his own righteousness. He had, in fact, become proud of his righteousness, but failed to see that that was his problem.