Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore

In the last chapter, chapter 9, we saw the blessings of God-ordained worship, all the wonderful blessings that flow from God’s redemptive presence. People who experience that will not fall for any cheap, worldly, man-made tricks. But sadly, when churches became very sinful, disobedient, and went away from the truth, they lost the redemptive presence of God and became dead. Services were very boring, and traditional churches were losing people. Instead of turning to God and pleading for His presence, a new generation of false teachers rose, trying to get even unbelievers into the church.

To get crowds and make worship interesting, churches, mainly Pentecostal groups, learning from American Word of Movement preachers, started competing with worldly entertainment programs and movies. They made church services vibrant with music, action, drama, dance, and singing. This approach aimed to attract those who might find traditional services dull. All they were doing was prioritizing emotional stimulation over spiritual depth. Very sadly, we have a generation who do not recognize the difference between true worship and wrong worship. It is all entertainment-driven services. The stage and building are designed to create a highly entertaining atmosphere with lights and flowers, as if it is a marriage hall, with concert-like music. There is a glossy amusement fixation, sparkling handheld microphones, and transparent podiums. The pastor has to laugh every five minutes like a joker, creating laughter and a general feel-good atmosphere.

There will be a group of musicians with different instruments in the center of the stage, not worshiping, but doing a performance. If you look at the content of the songs, instead of great hymns based on truths that give us big thoughts about God, all these songs are all self-focused, and most of the lines are heresy. Without people realizing it, through music and this atmosphere, false teaching is sown in the minds of the people. That place completely quenches faith in the invisible God, and that emotional, mob-charged atmosphere doesn’t allow people to think, but only to feel, so there is no room for clear, in-depth Bible teaching. You see that live in the YouTube videos of Bethel AG Church and Full Gospel Church. All sermons are stories, punch dialogues, and anecdotes, with no attempt by the preacher to make people understand what the Bible says in the text. These have become mega-churches today, the largest in the country.

This was all learned from American churches and preachers like Kenneth Copeland, Joel Osteen, and Paula White. People saw that by doing that, they could get crowds and make a lot of money. So many, in the name of growing the church, are following their practices today. All that happens at Bethel AG and Hebbal Full Gospel is based on their principles. Peter Wagner, who is the father of the church growth movement, says that the church growth movement is based on the principle of pragmatism. He calls it “consecrated pragmatism.” “We make decisions about worship on the basis of what pragmatically works, which ruthlessly examines traditional methodologies and programs, asking the tough questions,” says Wagner. He goes on to say, “If some sort of ministry in the church is not reaching the intended numerical goal, consecrated pragmatism says there is something wrong which needs to be corrected.”

“What’s the big problem if we do that, Pastor? We also can grow a big mega-church, right?” a nice question. This may all seem good if it is a business or a worldly thing or even worshiping an idol or some other religion, but these people don’t realize the horror of playing with the living God and His worship. God so strictly warns in His first tablet of the law, with a terrible threat, that he who plays with His worship, not only he, but his children and children to the third and fourth generation will be cursed. It is a horrible thing to play with worship.

Today we will see the curses of man-invented worship. We have a sample of this in today’s passage. We will see what happens to two men, not just ordinary men, but two sons of Aaron, trying to play with God’s rule all with good intentions.

Three headings:

Arrogant Innovations

Verse 1: “Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them.”

Let us ask three questions under arrogant innovation: What did they do? Well, the ordained sons of Aaron, the two oldest sons, each of them took his own utensil called a censer. Now the censer would be choked full of red hot coals. And then what they did is they sprinkled upon those red hot coals an aromatic incense, a powder of sorts, as it had been finely ground. And when they took that incense and put it on those coals, there was a very bright and strongly scented burst of flame that went up. And they presented this burst of flame before the Lord and before the people as it provided the seasoning accent to the soothing aroma provided in the sacrifice. That’s what they did.

The second question is, what was their sin? One reads through and marvels that God struck them dead. Some say they were proud and did what Aaron was supposed to, and some say they were drunk. But we don’t have to imagine all that. The passage clearly tells us their sin. I believe their sin was innovation. Innovation means to creatively try to do something new. That was their sin: innovation. Because notice right within the text, the explanation is given. At the end of verse 1, “they offered profane fire before the Lord.” The word “strange” does not necessarily mean contorted, perverted, or evil. Strange faces mean faces which were not seen in the past, uncommon or foreign. This is the essence of the problem. There was a strange fire offered before the Lord. Why was something strange, uncommon, or unexpected? It was unappointed. The reason is because there was an expected and appointed type of incense which God required them to bring. Notice what it says in Exodus 30:34. This is describing the recipe for the appropriate incense before the Lord. Notice then the Lord said to Moses, “Take for yourself spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, spices with pure frankincense; there shall be an equal part of each. There’s the recipe for the incense God wants. And with it you shall make incense of perfume, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure, and holy. And you shall beat some of it very fine, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting, where I shall leave with you. It shall be most holy to you. And the incense which you shall make, you shall not make in the same proportions for yourselves. It shall be an incense wholly to you for the Lord. Whoever shall make any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from his people.” That was the familiar and appointed incense, but these fellows brought another kind of incense, a strange incense before the Lord. They brought something unappointed, foreign to what God had asked for. This is a human innovation added to the recipe that God had given for appropriate worship before Him. We see this theme of bringing something that God had not required verified by the context. Also, what was the drumbeat that leads up to this passage? The whole of chapters 8 and 9. They did it how? “Just as the Lord had commanded Moses.” “Just as the Lord had commanded Moses.” It comes again and again, which makes us frustrated in our reading. Why? Because we find in 10:1 there is a striking change in their approach to God as it says they placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the Lord and notice, “which he had not commanded them.” It doesn’t say He prohibited it; it says “which He had not commanded them.” It was a human innovation. We find it was not something God asked for. It wasn’t something forbidden. God simply wouldn’t ask for this. Just an example: A great king on his birthday tells his cook to make a fruit punch mixed with mango, strawberry, and grape. This chef, maybe new, wanting to impress the king, likes kiwi fruit. So he says, “I will mix kiwi flavor and the king will be very happy.” But mixing that acidic fruit made it bitter, and the king’s stomach was upset. It spoiled the whole thing. We find, to clarify, that the nature of this sin was not bringing something God had forbidden, and the king never said, “Don’t add kiwi.” But we see that the sin of Nadab and Abihu was adding something that God had not asked for. Where something God had not prescribed was added, it was, therefore, a strange, unappointed fire. So we’ve asked, “What did they do?” We’ve asked, “What was their sin?”

Thirdly, let’s ask the question under arrogant innovation: What motivated their sin? Do you think this was on purpose? They wanted to disobey God and arrogantly defy Him and see what He does. This would have been a suicidal challenge of consuming fire. These men were not offering up pagan incense to a false god. Consider the situation of these men. They were from ordinary families, but now God raised them to become the most noble family in Israel. They have just reached personal mountain peaks for themselves. Out of thousands of families, God has chosen them, and they have been placed in prestigious positions among the nation. They have just seen the fire of the living God come down in power and filled their circuits of senses with awe. God is confirming their ministry and blessing. These men were filled with joy, adoration of the living God, and gratitude. They were rejoicing and enjoying God’s redemptive presence. I believe the motivation for this activity was not defying God’s orders, but rather it was an act of goodwill toward God on their part. They wanted to somehow express their gratitude and appreciation for Jehovah, their God. I believe it may have even been that this was their favorite scent that they themselves brought in. They thought God will enjoy this and appreciate their innovation and initiative. “Good job!”

Like the chef trying to impress the king with his favorite fruit, they were expressing their own personal joy in their own personal way. So I believe it was an act of goodwill. And you say, “Pastor, how can God kill someone when they did something with an honest and good will act toward God as an expression of love to God?” Let me show you. Turn with me, please, to 2 Samuel 6:6. Notice what it says here. A man named Uzzah had goodwill toward God. Listen very carefully. Second Samuel 6 and verse 3: The Ark of the Covenant is now going to be brought to Jerusalem. There it is on a new cart in verse 3. “And they place the Ark of God in the new cart that they might bring it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill, and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were leading the new cart.” “So they brought it with the Ark of God from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill, and Ahio was walking ahead of the ark.” “Meanwhile, David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with all kinds of instruments.” But notice this: “When they came to Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah reached out toward the Ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen nearly upset it.” Now, if ever there was an act of goodwill toward God, this was it. But no. Verse 7: “Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God.” Even David did not understand and he became angry. “How can God do this?” But people realize this is God we are dealing with. You play with His worship and you risk a big curse and even lose your life. The sin of Nadab and Abihu is like this sin. These men were attempting to help God in the context of worship. Like Uzzah, both were interpreted by God as arrogant innovations. The introduction of man’s will into the worship of the living God. Mr. Kellogg said, “We have to do with a God who is very jealous. A God who will be worshiped as he wills, or not at all.” The Holy Scriptures teach that He is such a being who demands His inalienable right to determine and prescribe how He will be served and how He will be approached. Not with arrogant innovation, but with submissive preparation. So, arrogant innovation.

Punitive Execution

Secondly, we come now to punitive execution in 10:2: “Then fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.”

Now, isn’t it amazing, this is the same fire which moments before burst forth as a blessed token of God’s redemptive love. Instead of falling on all people, it fell on the sacrifice and accepted that sacrifice and blessed the people. And now we find that this bursts forth as a furious expression of God’s anger. This was a violent outbreak of God’s wrath. It consumed the childless high priest’s sons instantly. Other passages say these men didn’t even have children to provide offspring for their wives and for Aaron. You see, they were fatally arrested in their misguided course. Now, in reading commentators on this passage, some people say we see God is unfair, a severity that is unworthy of God. How can this be your God of covenantal loving kindness? How can this be a God who is merciful and gracious to His people and forgiving?

Listen to what Calvin says in responding to this: “If we reflect how holy a thing God’s worship is, the enormity of the punishment will by no means offend us. Besides, it was necessary that their religion should be sanctified at its very beginning, for if God had allowed the sons of Aaron to transgress without punishment, they would have afterwards carelessly neglected the whole law. This, therefore, was the reason for such great severity. That the priest should anxiously watch against all disobedience and profanation of worship.” At the beginning of worship, the establishment of the Tabernacle worship of the living God, there was a slight deviation. For those who are gun training, if there is a slight deviation in the gun target, when you shoot 50 meters, it is a big deviation. And so, a slight deviation at the inception of worship in the first generation. What kinds of aberrations and perversions will take place in succeeding generations if God does not correct the deviation at the beginning? We can answer that question because in our day, in our age, we are seeing these deviations and perversions and abuses in public worship. Why? Because this principle that is found in this passage has been forgotten and lost. In our day, we see reckless, careless, and cavalier innovation that disregards this consuming fire principle about the living God as people supposedly worship God publicly.

Arrogant innovation, punitive execution.

Mosaic Warning

Now finally, the Mosaic warning. Here, the spokesman for the offended God utters verse 3: “Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘It is what the Lord spoke, saying: “By those who come near Me I must be treated as holy; and before all the people I will be honored.”’ So Aaron therefore kept silent.” Listen to what the Lord says, “I will be treated as holy.” That’s what God wants. Holy means God is saying, “I am lofty in majesty. I am exalted in glory. I am the set apart sovereign over all. And because I am holy as I am holy, no mere man dare approach Me on his terms, his likes and dislikes, but only on My terms.” You hear that? God is holy. We approach Him on His terms, not on our terms or likes. God is saying in these words, even as I am the covenant God of tender loving kindness, and even as I condescend to dwell in love with sinners, God is saying to man here, “I am not your casual pal, whom you are to treat with a backslapping, nonchalant attitude. No. I am the Holy God and I ever remain your exalted Lord whom you are to treat with awe-filled reverence.” You see, many in our day think they can backslap the living God with their casual nonchalance and God says no, “I will be treated as holy by all who approach Me.”

Bishop Hall says this, “It is a dangerous thing in the service of God to decline from his own institutions. For we have to do with the God who is wise to prescribe his own worship, just to require what he has prescribed, and powerful to avenge what he has not prescribed.” You see the God of the Bible? You see the living God of heaven? In this passage, Aaron saw Him, and Aaron learned a lesson that he as the high priest would never forget for the rest of his days. He should not play with God’s worship. We see even in Aaron’s keeping silent a striking picture as the father is looking on the corpses of his own sons. There he stood, tearless and silent. Think of that. I believe we see in Aaron a great display of godliness. He was silent and knew that even the tenderest affection must be silent when God smites for sin. He didn’t say anything. I think if he spoke anything, it would have been something like this: “The honor of God is more important even than the lives of my sons.” For this, brethren, he clearly conveyed to all who saw him, even though his heart was breaking inside. But the honor of God was more important even than the lives of his sons. So what a lesson for us. So there then is the exposition.

Application

A striking model for appropriate awe in the worship of God. This is a model for temple worship. We are a New Testament temple, gathering together for a redemptive visitation of God’s presence, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is in heaven, visits with us through His Holy Spirit walking among us. We find a model here for appropriate awe. Yes, there should be shouts of joy, spontaneous heartfelt praise in song, and prayer. We say something glorious about God, there should be a shout of Amen. But at the same time, there should also be among us an expression of awe-filled prostration and holy fear. “Oh, Pastor, that is all Old Testament, New Testament God is our pal.” Oh, is it? Has God changed now? Is He not holy now? Let us see the New Testament God. When the living God came to the New Testament temple through the Holy Spirit, how did He come? The Holy Spirit came as flames of fire, evidencing God is dwelling not only among His people, but now inside His people. What was the tone of worship there when God visited them in fire in the New Testament church? They were filled with the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:42: “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” Verse 43: “Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.”

We see God never changes. He is holy as He was holy in Leviticus, so therefore we should come with fear and reverence. There was awe when God was in our midst. “Oh, it was all Old Testament. New Testament, we can just be careless and do what we want.” Is it? When someone tried to play there, Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira. They lied to the fiery Holy Spirit. The husband died first, and then the wife. Acts 5:10: “Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband.” Verse 11: “So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.”

We come to worship the God of fire who is still among us. “Oh, that is just in the beginning; now we can play.” What happened to the Corinthian church? 1 Corinthians 11:30: some were playing at the communion table. Because of their lack of reverence, some were weak, sick, and a number had fallen asleep. Death came to the Corinthian church because of their trampling. People, He can punish and even kill people today if you play with worship. The Christ in Revelation looks at churches now with laser eyes and warns them, “Repent or I will stamp you with bronze feet,” which is very painful. Then don’t cry. Don’t play with God’s worship.

Hindus are so fearful before dead stones. But this is the place of the living God. Be careful. Don’t get caught. It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Brothers and sisters, children, this is why our services are characterized by solemnity, not by backslapping, carelessness, and jokes. The living God, a consuming fire, is in our midst. That is why you should stop coming late or coming like you are going to a cinema theater and sit. Stop tripping and skipping irreverently, entering the worship of God in a careless way without any preparation. Instead, come 5 or 10 minutes before and sit and pray and prepare. As deacons and other men, we should be zealous to guard the worship of God and not allow people to disorderly disturb our worship like that. In our worship, our faces should be delightful and joyful, not with loose joking or carelessness. Our content should not be jokes, smiling, and happy, but serious. We worship a holy God. That is why children should sit properly. Children, you know why we want you to sit and listen? Not to impress the church or the pastor, but because the living God is in our midst. You are sitting in His house.

Secondly, previous chapters 9 and 10 teach us a regulative principle, not a normative one. The idea that “whatever God has not forbidden is allowed” is not correct. So bringing dancers, wrestlers, or performances is not allowed in worship. It clearly teaches the regulative principle. Chapter 22, “Religious Worship”: The light of nature shows that there is a God, who has lordship and sovereignty over all; is just, good and does good unto all; and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart and all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God, is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures. It also shows that when we worship Him as He has commanded, with submissive worship, there is a promise, just like the fire came down on the sacrifice, not on the people. It blessed the people with His redemptive presence. There will be wonderful redemptive blessings in the midst of God’s people if we worship Him according to His word. Not artificial stirring of emotions by music, but by truth and the Holy Spirit. That worship is not just when we are inside the church for one hour; but we go home with peace and joy, feeling that God met with us and spoke to our hearts. The fire keeps burning in our hearts. When we worship like that, when God is in our midst, even when unbelievers come among us, as it says in 1 Corinthians 14:25, they will not say this is mental blabbering or a nice dance like a movie theater. They will fall prostrate, saying, “The living God is truly here.” God will convert unbelievers and our children by His redemptive presence. This will not happen with programmatic, man-invented worship. The blessing that comes from the redemptive presence of God is to submissive, regulative worship. Oh, here we will experience visitations of the living God. To enlighten our eyes, to purge out fleshy attachments to sin, and to kindle hearts of burning devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, I would not trade away this kind of biblical worship for all the impressive big stages and 10,000 crowds.

Let me say a few things about the curses of man-invented worship. The most serious crimes against God occur in corrupt worship. If God’s 10 commands have weight in the order of which commands are important, the first tablet is most important, right? The second tablet only punishes man. Breaking that, which relates to worship, brings generational curses, curses on families and even whole communities and nations. At the golden calf, God killed thousands of Israelites. You see that when whole Philistine cities suffered with plagues when they played with God’s ark in 1 Samuel.

This morning we studied the temple of Artemis and how it was brought to ruins by the power of the gospel. I think the temple of Artemis is the Pentecostal churches around us. I think the main enemy for the gospel today is these Pentecostal churches. MacArthur wrote a book, “Strange Fire.” Let me share what he says. He says the “strange fire” church today is the Pentecostal church. They don’t do anything but offer strange fire to God, breaking all the first tablet commands. They worship God in man-invented ways and take His name in vain by attributing to God things He would never do. Groups in Pentecostal churches today continually dishonor God in its false forms of worship. It dishonors the Father. It dishonors the Son. But most specifically, it fully dishonors the Holy Spirit. With irreverent ideas, irreverent actions, untrue beliefs, false claims, false promises, and fleshly behaviors. They have a different spirit. It is not the Holy Spirit of the Bible who convicts sin or teaches truth, but their spirit knocks us down, gives them blabbering, makes them laugh in a silly way, amps up our body heat, gives us the hiccups, convulsions, makes us drunk, causes us to fall down, speak gibberish, make primal sounds, jump, roll. Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous. All these acts, sometimes even of demons, are attributed to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth. He uses the preaching of truth to grow true Christianity. No movement has done more damage to the gospel than this movement, no movement. It has made unbelievers think they are believers, chasing carnal desires and false promises, with little or no understanding or interest in the true gospel, true repentance, the true Christ, and true salvation. Its success comes not from its connection to the truth, but its success comes from its connection to the kingdom of darkness, full of lies. It is successful because it is promising what unregenerate sinners already want. We saw how Paul changed Ephesus by the gospel. True Christianity grows by gospel truth. When truth is clear, people understand what the Bible teaches about God and Jesus Christ. The power of the gospel works by truth. Out of all the different Christian groups in church history, this group has added no clarity to scripture truth. They have only successfully confused people fully, confusing people about faith, prayer, worship, praise, and blessings. They have fully confused millions of people so much; they will never come to the knowledge of truth and be truly saved. That is their victory. They have made no contribution to biblical clarity. It has made no contribution to biblical interpretation. It has made no contribution to sound doctrine. We can say that 80% of the Pentecostal religion is not Christianity. But Evangelicalism has thrown its arms open and welcomed the Trojan Horse of the group into the city of God, and its troops have taken over and placed an idol in the city of God, not the truth. Is there anything more serious than this? It is a den of thieves where everyone who doesn’t know the Bible properly hides, where those who don’t meet Bible qualifications for pastors hide. Frauds go there, greedy deceivers, and drama ends up there. Where you find liars and those who misrepresent the truth, false miracles, false visions, false prophecies, false anointings, and bizarre, mindless pandemonium breaking out. All in the name of the Holy Spirit. Anything attributed to God that is not of God is taking His name in vain. Hebrews 10:29: “How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which He was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?” “Audacity, insolence, a violent insult, or an outrageous insult.” These people are doing this to insult the Spirit of grace. Yahweh’s Ruach. This is the breath of the Almighty. We feel so much unbearable anger. The Lord says, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Read our Lord and the apostles’ rebuke and punishment that will come on these people. All the woes of the Lord in Matthew 23 will come on them. “Woe to you, blind guides! You do not enter, neither will you allow others to enter.” “Woe to you, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.” Verse 25: “Woe to you, whitewashed tombs. You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.” Verse 33: “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?” 2 Peter 2 describes their destruction. Verse 2: “Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.” Verse 3: “In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.” If God didn’t spare angels, these unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals, they too will perish. Verse 13: “They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.” Verse 22: “Of them the proverbs are true: ‘A dog returns to its vomit,’ and, ‘A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.'” They will receive the worst judgment, the hottest place in hell. What about people who attend there? Yes, they will be punished. But do you know it is God’s judgment already on them to give them up to go and listen to such preachers? In the Old Testament, one form of punishment in Ezekiel and Jeremiah, and 1 Kings 22:20-23, is that God sends a deceiving spirit into men so people listen to them, not to be saved, and fall into God’s punishment. The Bible points to terrible consequences and curses of man when you participate in man-invented worship.

1. Worshiping God in unbiblical ways with wrong and unworthy thoughts of Him is idolatry, and we will face all the consequences of idolatry. Man-invented worship often involves creating idols or focusing on created things rather than the Creator. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind and uncleanness to do those things which are not fitting. Verse 29: “being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful.” Verse 32: “who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.” Don’t we see this curse today? You wonder why people go to church but it never impacts their life. They are no different from people who worship idols. It is the curse of today’s Christianity, the result of man-invented worship.
2. God gives them up to Spiritual Blindness and Deception. This is terrible. 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12: “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who do not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Don’t we see this curse today? Spiritual blindness and deception. They do not have a love for the truth, so they cannot be saved. For this reason, God will send them a strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, so that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. They believe only lies.
3. Spiritual Confusion and Division: Man-invented forms of worship often lead to conflicting beliefs and practices, causing confusion and division among people. They never have clarity about the truth or their lives. There is no guidance in life. They are always confused but cannot get out.
4. Vulnerability to Evil Influences: When people turn away from God’s truth, they become more susceptible to negative spiritual influences and deception. This can lead to further spiritual decline and harm. We see demonic mental torture, horrible dreams, and visions. It is a hellish torture in and of itself, with so many negative things going on, demonic oppression. In Revelation, we see things like scorpion bites; sometimes cases even involve possession.
5. The saddest part is Missing Out on God’s Blessings: True worship, based on God’s truth, opens the door to His blessings and favor. Rejecting this truth means missing out on the spiritual blessings and abundant life that God offers. They really don’t know what they are missing by rejecting the truth and living in deception.
6. Do you see how dangerous so many worship places are, full of strange fire? So brothers, let us come with fear and awe when we worship. Hebrews 12:28-29: “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.”