My God and My Country

Titus 1:15-16 - (GNVT)

15 Unto the pure are all things pure, but unto them that are defiled, and unbelieving, is nothing pure, but even their minds and consciences are defiled.
16 They profess that they know God, but by works they deny him, and are abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.

Open my heart to Your words this morning – amen

Brethren:

All things are right, pure and noble to those that are likewise so. There is nothing that the Holy Spirit gives unto us that is not so, for all gifts and blessings proceed from His abundance and are the providence of God's throne given to us. - R.P. Woitowitz (Read Acts 10:10-15)

“Everything is made the means of increasing their depravity. No matter what ordinances of religion they observe; what distinctions of meats, or drinks, or days they regard, and what events of Providence occur, all are the occasion of augmented depravity. Such distinctions in food they make the means of fostering their pride and producing self-righteousness; the mercies of God they abuse to pamper their own lusts, and the afflictive events of Divine Providence they make the occasion of murmuring and rebellion. Naturally corrupt at heart, no ordinances of religion, and no events of Providence, make them any better, but all tend to deepen their depravity. It is not a mere external defilement - a thing which they so much dread - but a much worse kind of pollution, that which extends to the soul and the conscience. Everything which they do tends to corrupt the inner man more and more, and to make them really more polluted and abominable in the sight of God. The wicked, while they remain impenitent, are constantly becoming worse and worse. They make everything the means of increasing their depravity, and even these things which seem to pertain only to outward observances are made the occasion of the deeper corruption of the heart. [Therefore], it was so important for Titus to exercise special care in introducing men into the ministry, and in completing the arrangements contemplated in the organization of the churches there. Yet is this character confined to them? Are there none now who profess that they know God, but in works deny him; whose conduct is such that it ought to be abhorred; who are disobedient to the plain commands of God, and whose character in respect to all that pertains to true piety is to be disapproved by the truly pious, and will be by God at the last day? Alas, taking the church at large, there are many such, and the fact that there are such persons is the grand hindrance to the triumphs of religion on the earth. “'The way to heaven is blocked up by dead professors of religion.'” - Albert Barnes