You’ve Offended Me!

Introduction:

Why are people offended?

Compelling truth

Correction

Communicated facts leading to conviction

being accountable

Confrontation

What are you doing that offends people?

More than likely it is the same things and more not mentioned.

Have we considered what has offended God? (Intentional pause) let this sink in….

Body

How is Elohim (God-head) offended

God The Father

His Creation in heaven (Lucifer & 1/3 of the angels)

Isaiah 14:12–14 ““How you have fallen from heaven, You star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who defeated the nations! “But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’”

Ezekiel 28:14–18 ““You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. “You were blameless in your ways From the day you were created Until unrighteousness was found in you. “By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence, And you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane From the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, you covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire. “Your heart was haughty because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I threw you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may see you. “By the multitude of your wrongdoings, In the unrighteousness of your trade You profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you; It has consumed you, And I have turned you to ashes on the earth In the eyes of all who see you.”

Revelation 12:3–4 (NASB 2020) Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven crowns. And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and hurled them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her Child.

His Creation in Earth (Man)

Law given to man to obey (One law)

Genesis 2:16–17 “The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may freely eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die.””

Genesis 3:6–7 “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves waist coverings.”

Man’s failures

Rejected God’s law

Obeyed the words of woman over God’s

He did not protect his helper from the serpent

He did not ensure that she understood the law of God against false teachings/teachers

He lacked courage to rebuke the offering of the woman

He prioritized her offering (Forbidden offerings of knowledge)

He tried to restore the glory but couldn’t

He blamed God for what God gave him

He did not repent when confronted by God

Woman’s failure

She didn’t refer to the man’s instruction (Husband) 1 Timothy 2:11–15 “A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. But I do not allow a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a wrongdoer. But women will be preserved through childbirth—if they continue in faith, love, and sanctity, with moderation.”

She failed to defend the word properly (Apologetics 101:Know the word)

She doubted the person of God

She saw herself greater than what she was created for by God

Believed she would no longer need counsel from man, and God

She lusted for a desire beyond her own insight 1 John 2:15–16 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”

She didn’t take responsibility for her own actions and was unrepentant before God

God The Son :Jesus the Christ of Nazareth

In Heaven: fall and defeat Jesus bore witness to the fall of Lucifer Luke 10:18 “And He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like lightning.” Genesis 3:15 “And I will make enemies Of you and the woman, And of your offspring and her Descendant; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise Him on the heel.””

In Earth

Because he is just he was sent to be the propitiation for sin. 1 John 2:2 “and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1 John 4:10 “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Being equally both God, and man (hypostatic union) is just and demands justice Isaiah 53:7,Isaiah 53:10 “But the Lord desired To crush Him, causing Him grief; If He renders Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.”

Being Just but having abundant mercy he became despised Isaiah 53:3–5 “He was despised and abandoned by men, A man of great pain and familiar with sickness; And like one from whom people hide their faces, He was despised, and we had no regard for Him. However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself bore, And our pains that He carried; Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted, Struck down by God, and humiliated. But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, And by His wounds we are healed.”

He became a curse for us and bore our sin Galatians 3:13 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a Tree.

Holy Spirit: Sent by the Son of God, Jesus The Christ of Nazareth.

Being just and witness of the things in Heaven, and Earth testifies of the Lord Jesus Christ to a skeptic world and church

Being sent from Jesus, to address the non-believers He shares the same offenses as the person of both Father, and Son.

Being sent from Jesus, to address the Church, He addresses a few unique aspects of church from the leadership, Members, and Ministry.

How Is the Holy Spirit Offended? (In the Church: Leadership - Ministry)

Pastors/Bishops/Elders that offend: (Revelation account, Church of Corinth account)

Neglecting preparations Ecclesiastes 12:9–11 “In addition to being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out, and arranged many proverbs. The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly. The words of the wise are like goads, and masters of these collections are like driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd.” 1 Timothy 4:14–16 “Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was granted to you through words of prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders. Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to the teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.”

Fostering a critical environment (Gossip, Cynicism, unconstructive criticism in church leadership leadership which creates an atmosphere hostile to the supernatural. Satisfying itching ears, and a different gospel. 2 Timothy 1:13–14 “Hold on to the example of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Protect, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.” 2 Timothy 2:15–16 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a worker who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness,” 2 Timothy 4:3–5 “For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But as for you, use self-restraint in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

Prioritizing Tradition over Truth: Limiting the movement of the Holy Spirit to fit in Human programs, denominational comfort, or strict control.

“Habits over time become traditions, traditions over time become unwritten by-laws, and decades later becomes the churches unverified constitution” I.E. The seven churches in Revelation 2,3 (Loveless Church, Persecuted Church, Compromising Church, The Corrupt Church, The Dead Church, Faithful Church, The Lukewarm church)

Walking in Unforgiveness: Harboring offense or pride, which disrupts prayer and hinders the flow of God’s love in the church. Colossians 3:13 “bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so must you do also.” 1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.” Proverbs 19:11 “A person’s discretion makes him slow to anger, And it is his glory to overlook an offense.”

The Perspective of the church and ministry

Cultural warfare within the church

Celebrity leadership

Lust for wealth and prosperity

Charismatic environment and clever trend ministry

Dominant heretical influences that has mass appeal or corrupted gospel message This is similar to many of the early generations church in Corinth, Ephesus, Galatia and others….(No perfect people, no perfect environment) Also, you can see further evidence of the seven churches as stated before but these were also dispensational personalities of the church age.

The Holy Spirit is offended by the church in three ways

Quenching 1 Thessalonians 5:19 “Do not quench the Spirit,”

Grieving Ephesians 4:30 “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

Blasphemy Matthew 12:31 ““Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.”

The Offense of the Cross & The Gospel Message

Galatians 5:11 “But as for me, brothers and sisters, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been eliminated.”

1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:23 “but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness,”

The Cross (The Human Response)

If I preached an acceptable message, there would be no persecution. (The church body would not have to endure the suffering regarding the cross.)

To the church the cross, has meaning and purpose, but to the world its foolishness.

While some will accept the cross as part of the process if there are tangible signs that would make them believe Jesus is the Christ.

Question: What personally is the issue, is it really the cross, or the one on the cross? Or is it the commited that come with embracing the cross?

There are those who seek to make philosophical argument about the cross, and how it doesn’t make sense.

Acts 17:18 “And some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers as well were conversing with him. Some were saying, “What could this scavenger of tidbits want to say?” Others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.” Colossians 2:8 “See to it that there is no one who takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception in accordance with human tradition, in accordance with the elementary principles of the world, rather than in accordance with Christ.”

Even believers are cautioned not to lose heart regarding the faith. (Persecutions changed the minds of believers) Hebrews 3:12–15 “Take care, brothers and sisters, that there will not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another every day, as long as it is still called “today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we keep the beginning of our commitment firm until the end, while it is said, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me.””

The author considered it an evil to believe than become unbelieving due to a change of heart from persecutions and persuasive arguments. While challenging us to remain steadfast until the end either by death or Christ return.

The account of the cross isn’t believable, and that Jesus didn’t die.

Additional offense:

Its just a symbol without real value, purpose, reason

Its a fashion piece without discernable meaning

Ashamed of what it represents and its message that Jesus died. Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Deminishing the power of the shed blood….it redeems, restores, covers my debt.

Disrespecting what Christ became for us on the cross Galatians 3:13 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a Tree”—”

The Offense of The Gospel

I don’t want to change for noone…. John 3:19 “And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil.”

The defensive stance

Angry with God (assuming that their will supersedes God’s authority regarding events in life, and results of death)

Theoretical positions about Jesus

Cultural hyphenated religious belief (Black-Christian, White-Christian, Conservative-Christian, Liberal-Christian, etc….) Acts 11:26 “and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers of people; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”

Discrediting the message and messenger

The dethroning of your pride

The demand of repentance

The disrespect our present conversion (People who knew the old you) 1 Timothy 1:15 “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost.”

The destruction of your worldly expectations 1 John 2:15–16 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”

The False gospel Galatians 1:6–7 “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel, which is not just another account; but there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 11:4 “For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, this you tolerate very well!” 9