The Problem of Religion.7

"False teachers! In your hypocrisy you are no better than whitewashed tombs, which might appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of death and decaying bones. You may impress people by your superficial demonstrations of virtue, but inside you are consumed with hypocrisy and have fallen short of the truth. How can you claim to serve God, who live only for your colleague's praise, never seeking the honor that comes from God alone?"  

--Jesus

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"The only triumph the truth can ever have is its recognition by the heart of the liar.

Its victory is in the man who, not content with saying, 'I was blind and now I see,' cries out,

'Lord God, just and true, let me perish, but endure thou! Let me live because thou livest, because thou savest me from the death in myself, the untruth I have nourished in me, and even called righteousness!

Hallowed be thy name, for thou only art true; thou only lovest; thou only art holy, for thou only art humble! Thou only art unselfish; thou only hast never sought thine own, but the things of thy children! Yea, O father, be thou true, and every man a liar!' 

MacDonald, George. Unspoken Sermons.  

The resurrection means Life conquered 

the death inside us! 

lying

envy

coveting

murder

torment

anxiety

addiction

lust

lewdness

resentment

revenge

bitterness

immorality

arrogance

ambition

pride

impurity

insolence

indolence

impertinence

indifference

rebellion

rage

selfishness

self-will

self-righteousness

self-worship

adultery

lasciviousness

concupiscence

hypocrisy

bigotry

prejudice

unmerciful

unforgiving

unkindness

ungratefulness

unloving

rudeness

impatience

partiality

cheating

stealing
antagonism
accusation
destruction
deviancy
carelessness
slothfulness
disobedience
insubordination
discontent
grumbling
gossip
slander
malice
intolerance
capriciousness
cruelty
indecency
indiscretion
foolishness
fickleness
deceitfulness
cowardice
idolatry
impunity
pugnaciousness
pornography
greediness
swindler
conceit
faithless
hostility
dishonor
desecration
dissembling
obfuscation
sneering

Years ago a friend asked me to prayerfully walk her through Neil Anderson's Steps To Freedom, a remarkable spiritual house cleaning encounter.  During an especially intense moment recounting the number of men she'd been immoral with, she tearfully exclaimed: "There were so many...how could God ever forgive me for all of that?"

Indeed. No soul is saved who would not prefer hell to sin.  Created for good, it is a fearful and dreadful thing what capacity for evil we carry in our moth eaten, worm burrowed hearts.  There is not a sin on the list that we have not conceived in thought or action. Only till we recognize the awful condition of our heart can Truth triumph.

But the real tragedy, as Jesus exposes, is rather than acknowledging our true condition we whitewash the lie.
Thwarting the Holy Spirit's attempt to speak truth to our inmost being, of lying to the Spirit, is the unforgivable sin, for God cannot and will not forgive those we will not let go.

What relentless, amazing love that He would die to make us good. O! What a Savior!