Reference: I Peter 2:6-8 and II Timothy 4:1-4
Can you begin to imagine why the word ofGod will be a rock of offence to some people and yet can be very precious toothers? Looking at the above verses of scriptures we can see that there will bemany people that the word of God will actually be an offence to them. Jesusmade the statement that whosoever is not offended in him will be blessed. Theword of God will be an offence to many people because of the fact that thesepeople are not being obedient to the word as they say that they are. Theapostle Peter tells us that to them that are receiving and believing the word,these people count God's word to them as being precious, but to them that aredisobedient, the word is a stumbling stone and a rock of offence. Have you myfriend ever been offended at someone for telling you what the word of God saysabout a certain subject? Why should the word of God be an offence to you if yousay that you love God with all your heart, soul, and mind? Have you everwondered about why you may have gotten upset or mad at someone that may differwith your way of thinking about spiritual things? Do you think that you couldtalk with a Jehovah Witness without you getting mad at them? I know for a factthat many people who confess religion are hated for their stand if they seem tobe over religious. Have you ever called someone a religious fanatic thinkingthat they are too religious?
Did you ever realize that you may be trying tojustify yourself by thinking everybody else is too religious? If you are thetype of person that gets mad at someone that may differ with your way ofthinking then this proves that you are not where you think you are, nor whatyou think you are. If this is not true, why then do you get so easily offendedwhen someone tells you things that you do not or did not believe? The word ofGod reveals that a minister is to reprove, rebuke, and exhort with alllongsuffering and doctrine, for the time will come when most people will notendure sound doctrine. Paul says that the time will come when people will aftertheir own lust heap to themselves teachers, having itchy ears. Did you knowthat the time has already come when people will not receive sound doctrine?Most people today want preachers that will tickle their ears with theirtip-toein-through-the-tulip type of teachings. If a preacher screams hell fireand brimstone more than ninety five percent of the people will think he is a wildmaniac that escaped from an insane institute somewhere. Can you imagine whatJohn the Baptist looked and acted like when he began preaching his baptism ofrepentance? Would you believe that John came eating grasshoppers and wild honeytelling the people to get right with God? What would you think of a person thatdid this today? God told the prophet Hosea to go marry a harlot to show Israelthat they were commiting whoredom by their departing from him. God does manythings that the carnal mind cannot understand. The hardest thing for mostpeople to do is to admit that they may be wrong in what they thought was thetruth. The reason why people are so easily offended is because of the pridethat they are so full of. Sometimes I wonder why so many people believe thatChrist was actually born in a manger and covered with swadling clothes.Swadling clothes is what is used to cover an animal with. Can you truthfullysee the Lord choosing to be born in a barn instead of a kings palace? Mostpeople can't take the word of God because of the fact that his word tears awaythe veil and reveals exactly what the flesh is and that there is absolutelynothing within it but stinking pride. Pride was the very cause of Satan'sdownfall. He was lifted up in his pride thinking he was something. This is whatis wrong with most people today. Their pride keeps them from God. The word ofGod says that God resists the proud but he has mercy on the humble. A personfilled with pride will utterly hate and despise the word of truth, because thetruth lays them open showing what they really are as Almighty God sees them.Most people today are depending on their high intellectual capibalities to knowGod, but God cannot be found no matter how smart you are and how many degreesof theology you have earned. Ninety-five or more percent of today's ministerslean on their own understanding instead of putting their faith and trust in theword of God. God's word says that he takes the wise in their own craftiness.Looking at the condition of the world should show you that man's wisdom isdestroying himself. Man will not receive God's way because he doesn't want tofeel incapable of doing anything himself. Man has rejected God's way of lifethinking he could do things better. Look at the condition of the world todayand see if you think it is in a better condition than obedience to God's wordwould have made it. Man chose his own way and he has forever been declining inhis condition and he is also destroying the condition of the earth. When the truthof the word of God is revealed to most people today they reject it thinking itis false and deceiving. They think this because it is so contrary to their way.Man's high intellectual ability cannot come down to the level that the word ofGod reveals him to be. This is why the word of truth will offend them. Theythink that the truth is only criticizing them or trying to deceive them. Mantoday just can't see how receiving the truth will make him a better person andgive him a better way of life. Man in his own thinking and ways of doing thingswill never receive and obey the word of God as it is revealed in the gospel. Tohim it is foolishness, but to those that are saved and know the truth, the wordof God is precious. God's true way is considered to be foolish to the highintellectual minded people today. God's way will be thought to be foolishbecause it will completely be void of any means of achievement that man canplace his own ability on. Man has always refused to be led or taught in a waythat he himself cannot receive the glory for what was done. Man is a creaturethat will not give the glory to anyone other than himself. The Bible revealsthat the Holy Ghost will glorify Christ, but to look at the religious worldtoday you will find that man is the one being glorified instead of the word ofGod revealed in the gospel of Christ. Man in his own wisdom is trying to teachthe way of God but if you are an honest person you will have to admit that manis destroying himself....