God's Law, Reading the Bible, and False Teachers

Romans 7:7-12

"What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, 'Do not covet'. But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead."

How do you know sin is sin? Because the Bible says so, if we ignore what the Bible says we are sinning. So many people in our culture over look many sins, coveting in general. We think it is okay to 'really, really' want something. But according to God, this is very wrong. God hates covetousness, "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the covetous, nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swinders will inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Cor. 6:9-10) But now people in our culture seems to ignore these verses. 'Christians' get drunk, are sexually immoral, are 'swindlers' and covet (plus other sins). They will not inherit the kingdom of God if they continue in sin! God is so clear on this point, why then, do people not obey it? I believe because they are either, 1. totally ignorant of it and need to be 'enlightened' so to speak, or 2. they are willingly going against what God says and putting their desires before His--which of course, is even more sin to begin with. But I believe, if we can, we should tell these lost people that they are sinning, it is our responsibility to "preach the word" to these people: "Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction." (2 Tim. 4:2) Correct, rebuke and encourage, not look down on or chastise for being not like you. We are to pray for them and to remember to "Take the plank from our own eye before we remove the speck from there's". Please understand me, I hate it when I look down on people, I simply (well, not so simply) am stating that people who say they are Christians and do not follow God's law--by faith--are not really Christians. And if you do sin, don't wallow in it!! Pick yourself up, dust off, ask for forgiveness and keep climbing higher and higher up the mountain. What ever you do, don't get up and trip over the same rock again, eventually you'll end up picking up the rock and rolling down the hill, * and if you're not going up toward heaven...where are you going...? (I expect you know the answer)
Apart from the law-God's Word- we do not understand sin. This is such a convicting reason to read our Bibles. If we don't read our Bibles, how are we to know what God says? We wouldn't. And that is the problem with our society, we have stopped reading our Bibles and take what we are taught from others for granted. This should not be! We shouldn't believe what ever we hear, we have to take it back to the Bible, look it up, measure it up, and see if it's true. We should only believe the Bible, many, many preachers believe things which aren't true and preach it over a pulpit (or not over one). Be weary of these people! Peter calls them, "...springs without water and mists driven by a storm." and also that "Blackest darkness is reserved for them." (2 Peter 2:17) Remember, compare all things people say to God's Word, go look up what I say before you agree with me!

So to wrap up my lovely little rant, don't sin, God says what sin is, don't do it, read your Bible, don't believe what anybody says, read your Bible, and...don't sin... :)

* Hill analogy from Daniel and Mom.