Intro Story- no on around(man)
His character wasn’t where it should’ve been when no one was around
It not only damaged his witness to his wife but everyone around him including old friends
There was consequences to his sin, he left the church and the fled to another state
But God is still gracious, he repented, God heard Him and now uses him in the ministry
Exodus 2:11-15
11 Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. 12 So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you striking your companion?”
14 Then he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”
So Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!” 15 When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from [a]the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.
In the beginning of this scripture during Moses life it says in those days
This was referring to the days of bondage and oppression that was on the Hebrews
They were slaves and made to work for and toil for the Egyptians
At this point Moses is now an adult
Between verse 10 to 11 about 40 years has passed
The scriptures tell us this in
Acts 7:21-23
21 But when he was set out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.
23 “Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.
Moses grew up in Egypt in the royal family
He had all the same education and enjoyed all the benefits that came with living in the pharaohs house
He was basically royalty
But he was aware of his Hebrew lineage
When Moses went to the Hebrew camp he saw the Egyptian beating the Hebrew
And Moses defended him, but in doing so, he killed the Egyptian
Now the original root word for beating in Hebrew also means to kill
The Egyptian could’ve been killing the Hebrew or beating him
It is the same root word used when Moses killed the Egyptian
Moses may have just been trying to defend the Hebrew and ended up killing the Egyptian
Moses, even though he was raised in Egyptian royalty still related more with his Hebrew lineage
Its like he knew he was their defender and sent to redeem them
Later Moses try to squash a quarrel between to Hebrews
But they weren’t having it
They mocked him and out of fear of what the pharaoh would do, Moses fled
Now that we have gone through the context of this story
This is what stood out to me while reading the scripture
Exodus 2:12
So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
Moses saw no one looking or at least he thought that and he killed a man
What are you doing when no one is looking
Do you maintain your Christian and godly character when no one is around?
Or do you look this way and that way to see if anyone sees you?
I’m going to be very direct
It doesn’t matter if you can fake it at church or around other Christians
Even if you think no one sees you, God still knows
You cant hide it
That is why it is important to uphold your Christian character
Then you never have to pretend
Just be the same person you are at home
That way if you aren’t upholding character at church, we can easily hold you accountable
Our Christian character is who we are in Christ
Because of His sacrifice
Our relationship with Him builds our character and helps us learn how to rightly respond as we follow Him
Our Christian character is not about our personality
A genuine faith in Christ leads us to repentance
And staying in the word teaches us who we are to be in Christ
What does godly, Christian character look like
Galatians 5:22-26
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 [a]gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
These are the characteristic of a Christian upholding their character
Even when no one is watching
We should desire to do be like this
It is a growing process, nobody is perfect
But because of our relationship with Christ we should daily strive to be above reproach
It is important
We should honor God in all aspects of our life
If you are falling short in these areas
And they aren’t corrected, you will fall into sinful lusts of the flesh
Galatians 5:19-21
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: [a]adultery, [b]fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, [c]murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
If you are doing these any of these STOP
The scripture is clear, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
These are characteristics contrary to godly character
If you are doing these things when you think no one is looking
It will be brought to light
Ephesians 5:8-13
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the [a]Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather [b]expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things that are [c]exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.
If you are not upholding godly character in your life
It will be damaging in your witness for Christ
Look what happened to Moses
Exodus 2:13-14
13 And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you striking your companion?”
14 Then he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”
Even though Moses was trying to defend a Hebrew man
The people he was trying to defend didn’t see it that way
It was damaging to what he was trying to accomplish
It actually did the opposite
He probably thought he would be greeted as a peace maker
Instead he was mocked and ridiculed
Story- old friend
After all this time when I Had changed
I allowed myself to somewhat revert back
Because I felt comfortable
I could’ve been a great witness for Christ
Instead I was greeted with, You haven’t changed at all
It cut deep
This was also a defining moment in my walk with Christ
I made the decision no matter where im at, even alone that I need to uphold Christian character
And it wasn’t anything like just modifying my behavior
I want a pure witness before Christ
If you don’t uphold character in your life and those you witness to, they will see it
You could work on someone with the gospel for years
And in a moment your witness can be corrupted
Because people notice
When you say you are a Christian, whether you like it or not, people are watching
And often it is because they are looking for a flaw in Christianity
We must maintain godly character at all times
Colossians 1:21-22
And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight
We are to maintain a godly witness to everyone around us
We are not our own
We are Christ’s
Because my character didn’t fully reflect Christ with my old friend it damaged my witness
My sin had consequences
Just like Moses
Exodus 2:15
15 When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from [a]the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.
Moses had to flee because of what pharaoh would do to him
His mistake had consequences
Our sin also has consequences
Now if you are in this room and haven’t placed your trust in Jesus
If you haven’t believed in your heart and confessed that Jesus is the Christ
Then your penalty for sin is death
Eternall separation from God
In a place of torment called hell
Repent and make Jesus the Lord of your life
Once we have accepted Christ there are varying degrees of consequences for sin
I will take you through some bible stories to show you
Adam and eve, they ate of the fruit when they were told not to
The consequence, God no longer walked with them and they had to leave the garden
Genesis 3
They brought sin into the entire world
Now we are all born into a sin nature
Their sin affected the entire world
Look at the story of when achen took accursed things when commanded not to
God allowed Ai to defeat Israel in this battle (Joshua 7)
This sin affected the not only achen and his family because they lost their lives
But the people suffered
Why do I tell you these stories?
Because there are consequences that affect the the body, the church
Your consequences of sin probably wont destroy the whole church
But it does have an affect
When people leave in rebellion, or they relapse
When you’ve been poured into for years then divorce your spouse and go back to the world
It affects all of us from pastors to attenders
It hurts us, we mourn, we cry, it hurts
There are also consequences from sin that affect your family
Look at king David in 2 Samuel chapters 11-12
He sees, Bathsheba, lusts for her, sleeps with her and she gets pregnant so he has her husband killed
This sin cost David his sons life
It affected David and everyone involved
Men if you aren’t treating your spouse correctly, you will suffer consequences through your family
Maybe not as drastic as loosing a child, but your wife might resent you
Or your kids
Wives, if you try to run your household and aren’t submitted to your husband
Which God set in place
There will be consequences, maybe your daughter will be the same later in life
Maybe your son will grow up weak and unable to lead his family
And your husband may just resent you
Repent and change, don’t tell them you are changing, just do it
It will take time for them to notice but that is your consequence
There are also individual consequences to sin
Look at judges 16
Samson gives up were his strength comes from to Delilah
He gets captured, his eyes plucked out, and mocked
The story of Jonah
He was in rebellion and got swallowed by a big fish for 3 days
Personal consequences
Some of them aren’t as direct and take time to notice
First, It grieves the Holy Spirit
Your bible study will begin to become unfruitful
James 1:21-24
Therefore lay aside all filthiness and [a]overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
You are to be doers of the word not hearers only
You will just be gaining biblical knowledge
Sin takes away our peace, joy, and excitement of serving the Lord
It hinders your prayers
Psalm 66:18
If I regard iniquity in my heart,
The Lord will not hear.
Also it can cause you to separate from the body because of your guilt and shame
Eventually leaving the church
I’ve seen it to many times to count
If you are living in sin, repent, the time is now
Deal with the consequence
While you go through them remember not to blame God for your poor choices
Don’t get mad at Him, just deal with it
Our God is merciful and He will forgive you
I’m not trying to ruin the rest of exodus for you, but God used Moses to deliver His people
God still used samson
He repented, got his strength back and crushed the philistines, still at a price though
He lost his life in the process
And Jonah, he didn’t want to go to Nineveh
They were savages, they would filet jews alive
But that’s not why he didn’t want to go
He didn’t want to go because he knew God was merciful and if they repented
God would forgive them
And that’s exactly what happened
We serve a merciful God
If you repent, the Lord will still use you
Be obedient to God and His word
Although there can be consequences, He will use you
Don’t give any place for the devil
Completely surrender to Him and do what He has called you to do
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