In tears, Gordon McDonald told Ravi Zacharias, after Gordon’s moral failure and loss of ministry, “The Lord told me He would humble me. ‘If you don’t humble yourself, I will humble you.’ The Lord humbled me !”
Then, Ravi had a catastrophic moral failure, ending a massive, worldwide apologetics ministry with dozens of associates.
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Consider the impact of one person, one mighty man of God, man of faith, in a single act of sex outside God’s will.
Consider the resulting devastation on billions of people for over 3000 years—hatred, fighting, killing millions—continuing today.
— The descendants of that sinful sex became a great people.
— The descendants of the same man of God and his wife (from their promised son years later) became a great people.
—- The child from sinful sex—Ishmael.
The descendants, as promised to his desperate mother, Hagaar, became a great people—the Arabs, mostly muslims.
—- The child of promise—Isaac.
The descendants, as promised to his father, Abraham, became a great people—the Children of Israel (Isaac’s son), the Jews.
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God kept His promise to Abraham—all people are blessed (can be blessed) in Abraham’s descendant, Jesus, who died to save anyone who believes.
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One-time sinful sex—consequences ?
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David and Bathsheba—
— Their child died.
— The prophet/preacher told David, “You’re the man!”
— Wrong sex—adultery.
— Stole Uriah’s wife.
— Killed Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah.
— Nathan told David, “The sword will never leave your household.”
— One of David’s sons raped David’s daughter.
— Another of David’s sons killed the rapist.
— Another of David’s sons led a rebellion and took over David’s kingdom (forcing David to flee), until he was killed.
— Another of David’s sons was killed after David died.
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One-time sinful sex—consequences ?