Cherished Yet Despised

Cherished Yet Despised Sins.

Do you have any cherished yet despised sins?  Cherished because you cling to them and hold them dear to yourself refusing to give them up but at the same time you hate that you cherish them. You despise that you cherish any sin at all. We war against the sin in our lives. We feel shame, regret, and heartache over the sins that plague us.  And our Savior tells us this...

Mar 9:43  And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched

So tell me, just how important is it that we in recognizing the cherished yet despised sin in our lives, give them up? Strive, resisting unto blood to give up these sins, isn't this what we are called to do? Confess to one another. Pray for one another. These are the things we need to do. And if we simply cannot seem to 'cut off' the sin in order to live for our Savior, we'd better NEVER EVER stop striving to do so!

Do NOT become complacent with cherished yet despised sin.  Do NOT let the cherished yet despised sin become accepted to the point you no longer strive against it.  When we become complacent with our sins arguing that it's pointless to strive, we are in grave danger. When we tell ourselves that 'God understands' and then simply embrace the sin, we LIE to ourselves!

Sin SEPARATES us from God, so when we accept sin we are accepting the separation and we will NOT be forced to be with God.

Satan wants us to call evil good, to call our sins good, to make excuses for our sins. Satan absolutely does NOT want us to 'cut it off' in any way!  Satan doesn't want us to be serious about sin. Satan would do away with the fact sin even exists if it gains him the single destruction of one person.  How many millions and millions, possibly billions of people does Satan have deceived?

Remember Sodom and Gomorrah and how desperately Abraham tried to get God to spare those cities? But in the end they couldn't be spared because--

Gen 18:20  And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous

Isa_3:9  The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.

Jer_23:14  I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

2Pe_2:6  And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly

And now read this---

Jud 1:1  Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:

Jud 1:2  Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.

Jud 1:3  Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

Jud 1:4  For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jud 1:5  I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.

Jud 1:6  And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

Jud 1:7  Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Jud 1:8  Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

Jud 1:9  Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

Jud 1:10  But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.

Jud 1:11  Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.

Jud 1:12  These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

Jud 1:13  Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

Jud 1:14  And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

Jud 1:15  To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

Jud 1:16  These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.

Jud 1:17  But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;

Jud 1:18  How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.

Jud 1:19  These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

Jud 1:20  But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,

Jud 1:21  Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

Jud 1:22  And of some have compassion, making a difference:

Jud 1:23  And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

Jud 1:24  Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

Jud 1:25  To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

Are you walking after your own ungodly lusts?  Are you sensual, not spiritual?  Are your cherished yet despised sins fulfilled because you are tempted and drawn away by lusting after those sins?

We cannot forget these words of our Savior--

Luk 17:26  And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.

Luk 17:27  They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.

Luk 17:28  Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;

Luk 17:29  But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.

Luk 17:30  Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

We MUST remember this--

Heb 3:13  But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Sin is deceitful! Sin WILL harden us! We live in the days where sin is accepted without any qualms.  We live in the days where sin is celebrated.  We live in the days when it is wrong to even call sin- sin.

Jesus proved that many of those caught up tight in sins embrace were angry that He dare rebuke them and their sin- because their hearts were so hardened they couldn't even see sin for what it was anymore least of all in their own lives. We MUST NOT allow this to happen to us!  We must strive against SIN! We have to NOT let sin deceive us!

2Co_13:5  Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.

By the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior, through the power of the Holy Spirit may we strive against all the sin in our lives, never giving place to it, never calling it good, never accepting it in our lives but forever and always seeking true repentance, forgiveness and overcoming through our LORD.

Amen.