“I WILL HUMBLE YOU”

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 ?