우리들교회

The island of Greenland has been in the news a lot lately. It is the largest island in the world, and 80% of it is glacial. According to NASA scientists, glaciers melt and weaken over hundreds of years before finally collapsing in two or three years. The moment when this gradual melting suddenly collapses is called a tipping point, and todays passage shows Israels wickedness building up over 200 years before finally collapsing with a crash. God documents and shows them their wickedness in detail and tells them to turn away from the wickedness that is in them. Today, lets consider what it takes to turn and walk away.

First, we need to recognize the injustice that is gradually being done.

Last week, northern Israel was destroyed. It had been through many wars and suffered many plagues and could think of no tomorrow, but this was a case of despair, of no tomorrow, when both the people and the land were gone. God explains in detail why, and gives a long-winded judgment that begs even one person to listen and turn and leave. In a single sentence, verses 9 through 12 tell us why Israel is doomed and the sins that led to it are numerous. All of these reasons, in one sentence, are attributed to 'unrighteousness'-their rebellion against God, their disobedience to Gods will, and their 'gradual practice of unrighteousness.' Instead of following Gods Word, Gods people imitate the heathen, build shrines and wooden images, and become servants to idols, burning incense before them and serving them. God writes His will on tablets of stone and sends prophet after prophet to tell them, but they dont listen, so He brings about their destruction. He gives us these words so that we, too, can turn away from this gradual unrighteousness. The first thing we need to do in order to turn away is to recognize that we are practicing gradual injustice. The injustice we need to see, especially in todays text, is the kind of injustice that we do in secret, thinking, 'Im not doing much harm to others, so whats the big deal, Im not doing anything wrong, everyone does it,' and then when we dont get caught, we do it over and over again, and we do it gradually and in a big way. The reason the Lord is angry today is because He set us up as pillars of the temple, and we set up and worshiped the pillars of Baal, the up and down pillars. When He set us up as pillars of the temple, its not the pillars that exalt themselves, its the pillars that hold up the temple, the pillars that bear the cross. Its the pillars that build up the home, the church, the nation. Repenting of the injustices Im gradually doing, keeping my place in the mission to which Ive been called, and obeying my part is the way to stand as the pillar God has set up.

To turn and leave the sins, you should know the injustice that is gradually being practiced. To know it, you should listen, believe, and keep Gods commands, so that you may be a remnant in the midst of all that is being taken away.