From His Heart

Speaker 1

Today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve, we'll be reminded of a lesson many people try to avoid.

Speaker 2

The devil wants you to blame other people for your lot in life. Now, how old is the blame game? It's as old as sin itself.

And you know, in our world today, victimhood status has really taken on high moral ground. If you can come up with being a victim in several stages and levels. Man, I'm really something because I was victimized here and here and here and here.

You're never going to get ahead and succeed in life until you take responsibility for your life.

Speaker 3

He can heal every scar with real truth, real love, real hope from his heart.

Speaker 1

Do you know why some grapes are sour? Well, not always, but oftentimes grapes that are harvested too early have lots of acid in them and the sugar in them hasn't had time to increase and overpower the taste of the acid.

That's a bit like life. The bitterness we have in us when we're young, if allowed to ripen in a healthy environment, can soften when the sweetness of our relationship with Christ matures and overpowers that bitterness we might hold onto.

Today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve, we're going to continue the message "Sour Grapes and the Justice of God." That'll give you insight into how to start sweetening up as you mature in your faith and what you can do to mature in your walk with God.

Today's lesson is from the five-message series, "Discernment in the Days of Deception," taken from Ezekiel, chapter 18, verses 1 through 20. Open your Bible there now as Pastor Jeff explores this topic about our heart's discerning spirit and God's determined judgment.

Speaker 2

Did you know when it comes to the Scripture, it's really important to be precise? The Bible says in Second Timothy, chapter two, verse 15, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth." That word "accurately" means to make straight, to rightly divide. Rightly dividing the word of truth is crucial because the word of truth is a sword. The word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, as it says in Ephesians 6: "Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

Now, if you don't know how to use the sword, you can end up cutting yourself. You can end up hurting people because you're unstable. We need to study to show ourselves approved and be diligent so that we can handle accurately the word of truth and cut straight. We are in a series called "Discernment in the Day of Deception," emphasizing how important it is to discern right from wrong, truth from error, and good from evil. The Bible says that as you spend time in the word of God, you will receive solid food, as mentioned in Hebrews.

The devil wants you to blame other people for your lot in life. He loves that! He wants you to get the situation off of yourself. Don't look at yourself; don't soberly evaluate your own actions. Just blame others for what's going on in your life. The blame game is as old as sin itself. In Hebrews 5:14, we read that solid food is for the mature, who, because of practice, have their senses trained to discern good and evil. This means you can look at situations and run them through the lens of Scripture to determine if they are right or wrong, true or false, good or evil.

As we've said in this series, the devil is slick and clever. We read about him in Genesis 3: "Now, the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made." The devil doesn't come at you in an obvious way that you can easily identify as wrong. He disguises himself as an angel of light. It's very easy for us to recognize when a clock is five hours wrong, but it's not so easy to recognize when the clock is just five minutes wrong. Similarly, it's easy to see a flight plan that's 20 degrees off course, but it's not so easy to see when it's just one degree off.

The devil, who is a liar and the father of lies, the master deceiver, comes at you, me, and our world, trying to deceive us by being just a degree off, just a little bit off. People say, "Well, it's close enough for horseshoes, close enough for hand grenades." While that may be true in those contexts, it's not close enough for heaven. We need to be precise and able to discern between good and evil. Tragically, many in the church today are not able to do that. They hear things that sound good, but they aren't critical thinkers. They don't run those ideas through Scripture to determine if they are right.

This lack of discernment is not a new issue; it has been going on for a long time with God's people. In the Old Testament, during Ezekiel's day, people were unable to discern between good and evil. They repeated a particular proverb that was prevalent in their day, believing it to be true, even though it was far from the truth. This proverb had some elements of truth in it, but it was a degree off and would lead to disaster.

If you have your Bible, please turn to Ezekiel, chapter 18, as we discuss a message I've entitled "Sour Grapes and the Justice of God." Ezekiel is a major prophet in the Old Testament. Major prophets are those who wrote a lot, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. Minor prophets, like Jonah, wrote less. The distinction is not about importance but about the volume of writing.

Ezekiel was ministering at a time when the nation of Judah was falling apart. In 605 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon conquered Jerusalem and the nation of Judah. The two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, had lasted longer than the ten tribes, which had already been conquered by the Assyrians in 722 BC. The area became intermingled, leading to the Samaritans we read about in the New Testament.

In 586 BC, Nebuchadnezzar returned and destroyed Jerusalem, wiping it off the map and destroying Solomon's temple. You can read about the devastation in the book of Lamentations, where Jeremiah expresses his heartbreak over the destruction of Zion, the city of the great king. Ezekiel was among the captives taken to Babylon in the second round of captivity in 597 BC. He was called by God to be a prophet, tasked with warning His people of impending danger, even though God told him they would not listen.

When we come to chapter 18, the Word of the Lord comes to Ezekiel. The Lord asks, "What do you mean by using this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, 'The fathers eat the sour grapes, but the children's teeth are set on edge?'" God declares that they will no longer use this proverb in Israel. He emphasizes that all souls belong to Him, and the soul who sins will die.

This proverb, "The fathers eat the sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge," was very popular among the people. They repeated it often, believing it to be true. They thought, "Our fathers ate all the sour grapes, and we have the tart taste in our mouths." God hated this proverb and instructed Ezekiel to tell them not to say it anymore.

Why was God so upset about this proverb? The issue is that it is one degree off, and believing it leads to disastrous consequences. This proverb is laced with lies. It teaches the lie that you are not at fault. It suggests that your fathers did the sinning, and you are merely suffering the consequences. It's not your fault; it's your father's fault, your mother's fault, your brother's fault, or your sister's fault.

The devil wants you to blame others for your situation. The blame game is as old as sin itself, dating back to Genesis 3. When Adam and Eve sinned, they tried to hide from God. When God confronted Adam, he blamed Eve, saying, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate." Eve, in turn, blamed the serpent. This pattern of blaming others has continued throughout history.

In our world today, victimhood has taken on a high moral ground. People often seek to identify themselves as victims to avoid taking responsibility. However, true growth and success come from taking responsibility for your life.

In the early 1900s, a false teaching known as the social gospel emerged in America, promoted by Walter Rauschenbusch. This teaching emphasized good works in Jesus' name, such as feeding the poor and clothing the naked. While these are important aspects of Christianity, the social gospel was one degree off because it detached itself from the true gospel, which emphasizes the need for salvation through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

As Adrian Rogers pointed out, if all you give people is soup and soap without leading them to salvation, you only make the world a better place to go to hell from. The social gospel ultimately led to empty churches because it lost the vibrancy of the word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Today, we see a similar trend with the social justice gospel. While helping people is important, the social justice movement is rooted in Marxism, dividing people into oppressors and the oppressed. This ideology tells the oppressed that they are victims and do not need to repent, while the oppressors are told they cannot repent for their actions. This undermines the core message of the gospel, which requires everyone to face their sins and seek forgiveness.

The proverb teaches the lie that you are not at fault. It's essential to recognize that we must take responsibility for our actions and seek God's forgiveness to be saved.

Speaker 1

Well, sometimes the truth hurts, but when dealt with honestly, it can be the most freeing thing that we can ever do. You're listening to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve today and the message "Sour Grapes and the Justice of God." It's the third lesson of five in Pastor Jeff's series, "Discernment in the Days of Deception."

Now, all this month, he is asking this question to consider: do you have discernment? Are you able to discern good from evil, right from wrong, truth from error? It's so important to be able to do that. It's more than just important; it's a matter of spiritual life or death. And that is why Pastor Jeff wants you to get this empowering five-message series, "Discernment in the Days of Deception." It's our special gift to you to say thank you for your support of any amount to From His Heart.

This month, From His Heart is teaching real truth each day on this and on hundreds of stations across the country and also around the world. With your gift, we'll send you the timely series on a USB Flash Drive, on CDs, DVDs, or an immediate MP3 download—your choice. Just call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-BIBLE) or go to FromHisHeart.org. Again, call 866-40-BIBLE or go to FromHisHeart.org and get "Discernment in the Days of Deception" with your gift. God bless you.

We also hope that you know your regular monthly giving is what sustains this ministry through the ups and downs of fundraising. If you don't mind, we'd like to ask you to pray about becoming a monthly vision partner. It's foundational support that allows us to be confident and to expand when opportunities arise, and they are all around us.

If you want to be a VP, as we call them—Vision Partners—you can go online to FromHisHeart.org and click the Vision Partner link or call 866-40-BIBLE. Thank you for praying about what God would have you to do today and discern His will for your support this month. Pastor Jeff receives no income from this ministry.

Again, go to FromHisHeart.org. Thank you for joining us today on From His Heart. I'm Larry Nobles, inviting you to be here again next time when Pastor Jeff will share part two of the lesson called "Sour Grapes and the Justice of God." That's next time here on From His Heart.

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There is treasury There is love that you always dream love he can heal every scars from his heart.

Speaker 1

From His Heart is the listener-supported broadcast ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve, speaking the truth in love to a lost and hurting world.

Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

Find out more at fromhisheart.org.