Christians Who Don’t Please God Rom 8: 8 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
God has given us clear doctrine in the Bible concerning what pleases him. We covered four of these things in a sermon entitled Ye Ought to Please God. Gospel preaching, obedience, faith, and spiritual sacrifices please the Lord. Today, we are going to talk about four kinds of Christians who don’t please God. They are:
Carnal Christians – Rom 8:8 “they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” “The carnal mind is enmity against God,” [Rom 8:7]. “We are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die,” [Rom 8:12-13]. A carnal Christian is not a spiritual Christian. A carnal Christian does what his flesh wants to do. He may say that what he does is of the Lord and he may “act” like spiritual people should live, but he is doing the will of the flesh. The Lord simply wants a willing vessel through whom he can do his will. He wants us yielded to his righteousness and his Spirit so that he can do the work in us that he desires. Then, and only then, can we can work out our salvation [Phil 2:12-13]. The Lord will not put his stamp of approval on your will.
Men-pleasing Christians – Eph 6:6, Gal 1:10 men pleasers don’t please the Lord. Men pleasers do what they do out of the fear of men. They would never call it fear. They would deny it vehemently if you suggested that they fear men. But it’s fear. And when you fear men; you don’t fear God. You cannot please men and please God. A preacher, for instance, who adjusts his preaching and tempers his message so that he doesn’t ruffle any feathers is a man pleaser. God is not pleased with that kind of preaching [Lk 6:26]. He said when you seek to please the Lord some men are going to hate you [Lk 6:22-23].
Cowardly, entangled Christians – 2 Tim 2:3-4 – entangled soldiers and soldiers who won’t endure hardness are soldiers who don’t please the Lord. You are supposed to be a soldier whether you like it or not. God has given you armor for the fight [Eph 6:10-18]. And things are going to get tough in this fight against spiritual wickedness in high places. When you don’t endure the hardness that goes with being a soldier of the Lord, you let the Lord down and you let your fellow soldiers down. When you become entangled with the affairs of this life [as in Lk 8:14], you can’t give your full attention to the fight.
Unforgiving Christians – Eph 4:31-32, Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. God has already forgiven us, thus, we must forgive others. Consider what Jesus said in Mk 11:25-26. There he said that if you don’t forgive, he won’t forgive you. Well, on this side of the cross, he has already forgiven us; yet his attitude about forgiveness hasn’t changed [Matt 18:23-35]. Then consider what Paul said in 2 Cor 2:10-11. We give the devil an advantage over us when we don’t forgive. God is merciful to the merciful [Ps 18:25].
Conclusion: Don’t fall into the trap of carnality, men-pleasing, cowardice, entanglement and unforgiveness. They are everywhere today and many have fallen prey to them. These things do not please God. If you find that you are affected by one or more of these, then repent and get away from them now. Start pleasing God. That’s why you are here.