Stop Cheating on God 😭

I always say the Apostle John is my favorite of all the Apostles. One of the things I have learnt from him is his loyalty to Jesus. Apostle John like all the disciples, slept throughout the period of great stress for Jesus at the garden of Gethsemane. But guess who didn't run away and was at the foot of the cross before Jesus died. Yep! John. Jesus trusted the Apostle John with His mother above all others. That's saying a lot! So, when Apostle John warns us, we must listen and act accordingly:

1Jn 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

If there is any law for the new covenanter, this is it. Keep yourselves from idols.

This law is not new to those of the old covenant, it is the first law in the 10 commandments God gave to Moses.

Exo 20:1 And God spake all these words, saying,

Exo 20:2 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Exo 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

We must take some time to understand what a covenant is for us to see that this law is critical in the new covenant.

A covenant is an oath sometimes sealed and/or seconded by blood, between two parties. A covenant is not parasitic, in which one party keeps on taking and taking. It is usually symbiotic, which means that both parties offer something.

The new covenant therefore is an oath between an individual and God, sealed and seconded by the blood of Jesus.

So, you ask or say, when did I make an oath to God? You did when you accepted and declared him as your Lord and personal savior. This means you said you belong to God. That day you became born again.

This is not something that was created by your Pastor to bind you unwittingly... It is scriptural. God also made his oath to you, which is that He is yours or God belongs to you.

Jer 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

This is God summarily and personally saying, I am yours and you are mine.

So, you will notice that this oath is like the oath of a marriage. Where the twain have become one.

And like a marriage, when one party leaves the partner and goes after another, it is called cheating. And the Jewish law permits divorce to the man for a cheating bride. Yes, we are the bride in this covenant with God. But God doth not easily divorce us.

Idolatry is akin to cheating on God. It is honestly a very slippery slope. You can cheat on God with another god, with silver and gold (money), other people including close family. You can even cheat on God with yourself. When you trust more in your intelligence, skills, brilliance over solely trusting in God. The Bible is filled with a lot of famous cheaters from Adam, who ate the forbidden fruit, to Moses, who struck the rock, showing his power over the earth, rather than speaking to it and showing God's power. How about Saul, he decided to sacrifice to God by himself instead of waiting for Samuel because he wanted to please the people; and then there is King David who took out another man because he lusted after his wife. What about King Solomon, who forgot the warnings of His Father not to marry outside the tribe of Israel, whose wisdom taught him that making alliances through marriage will strengthen Israel and though became the biggest King at the time, lost his heart, his God and most of his Kingdom.

By these, I doubt there is a lot of people who aren't cheating on God (or serving God breakfast) and we need to repent immediately.

To take the subject a step further, we have discussed in the most recent previous blogpost how that the Old Covenant is Manasseh and the New Covenant is Ephraim in a matter of analogy.

So let's take a look at this poignant prophecy by the Prophet Hosea concerning Ephraim, that is, the new covenanter.

“Ephraim is joined to idols— let him alone. When their drinking is ended, they indulge in sexual orgies; they love lewdness more than their glory. A wind has wrapped them in its wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their altars.”

‭‭Hosea‬ ‭4‬:‭17‬-‭19‬ ‭NRSVUE‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/3523/hos.4.17-19.NRSVUE

There are many arrows the enemy has been able to successfully fire at the new covenanter, because that one was cheating on God. Once a person is consciously cheating on God, without a quick recourse to the forgiving and cleansing work of the blood and water of Jesus, there begins a moral decadence in that person. The verse shows that from Idolatry, it moved to drunkeness and then to sexual orgies and then to love of lewdness more than one's glory.

This is what the Apostle Paul was also talking about when he said:

Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Rom 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Rom 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

Rom 1:23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

Rom 1:24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

Rom 1:25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

Rom 1:26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

Rom 1:27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

Rom 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

Rom 1:29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

Rom 1:30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

Rom 1:31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

Rom 1:32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

Oh my!

We must Keep ourselves from idols. We must stop cheating on God.

Prophet Hosea had more to say, I will mention some and leave the rest for you to read up on your own.

“I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me, for now, O Ephraim, you have prostituted yourself; Israel is defiled. Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of prostitution is within them, and they do not know the Lord.”

‭‭Hosea‬ ‭5‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭NRSVUE‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/3523/hos.5.3-4.NRSVUE

This is the second clue of what we must do constantly to insulate ourselves from cheating on God. Satan's all time highest and most superior aim is to keep us from God. And Idolatry is his favorite weapon. Hosea talks about : "the spirit of prostitution is within them, and they do not know the Lord."

So what we want to do is ask God to remove this spirit of prostitution from within us. I pray he does so for us all in Jesus name Amen.

After this we want to ask for His Spirit as stated below because we do not want any vacancy in us...

Isa 11:2 And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord ;

Isa 11:3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord : and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:

Isa 11:4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth: with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

We must ask especially for the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord because this counters the spirit of prostitution as stated by Hosea. I pray that God grants this our request in Jesus name. Amen.

An admonition by the Prophet Hosea to us all:

““Come, let us return to the Lord, for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us; he has struck down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord; his appearing is as sure as the dawn; he will come to us like the showers, like the spring rains that water the earth.””

‭‭Hosea‬ ‭6‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NRSVUE‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/3523/hos.6.3.NRSVUE

Loyalty to God above all else will see all the benefits of our covenant with God flow effortlessly with grace into our lives. Selah.