October 22nd, 2010 | Uncategorized |
For four hundred years Israel waited for a deliverer that would bring them out of the land of Egypt. And when he did, he did it with such power that all the nations spoke of their deliverance for centuries to come. Then after their deliverer had fasted for forty days and forty nights having the testimony of God written with God’s own hand Moses was shocked to see what he saw. He saw the very ones God delivered dancing and playing around a golden calf and celebrating in a feast, not to the God’s of Egypt, and not only for their own lust, but an idolatrous celebration TO THE LORD! Consider the disgust that Moses, the meekest man on earth, must have had against this feast to cast down in anger the commandments of God at Mt. Sinai. But one may say, “but if it was to the LORD then God should have been pleased.” No, God has never been please with idolatry, least of all idolatry done in his name. Such a feast only added blasphemy to their sin. But there were other blasphemies to come.
Through out the Old Testament the bible records God’s continual fight against the sin of idolatry of his own people.
After Israel was given their land they again took the god’s of the land, Baal, and mixed it with the worship of Jehovah. But God made this promise by the prophet Hosea.
And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.
For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.
(Hosea 2:16-17)
What would make a nation who had seen the mercy of God so many times repeatedly turn their back on him? The scripture gives us a clue to their thinking. In Proverbs 30:20 the bible says
Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.
God repeatedly called Israel a strange woman and Proverbs 7 reveals her mind. I think the answer to the earlier question lies in verse 14 where she seduces a young man by saying “I have peace offerings with me; this day have I paid my vows.” The strange woman deceives her heart to think that she can be at peace with God while seducing others to sin. This is exactly what Israel was doing. She overlooked the sin of her Idolatry by saying in heart “I have done no wickedness” and then used that idolatry as a means to serve the LORD. (This is why there were groves in the temple.)
Now let’s bring things back to our day. Today God has given us a new name, Jesus Christ. He set aside his own people for their unbelief and set up his Son as the corner stone of his church. The deliverance of Israel from Egypt at the hand of Moses was only a picture of the great deliverance of sin by Jesus Christ. But is it possible that the Lord himself will see a sight as Moses did when he returns? Will he see his own children honoring the God’s of this world in the name of Jesus Christ the very one who delivered them from their sin?
When God had Israel clean out the land he said.
And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place. Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God (Deuteronomy 12:3-4)
When God delivered Egypt he did it through 10 plagues that mocked the 10 gods of Egypt. And when he gave them the promise land he made it adamantly clear that they were not to worship him in the manner that the pagans honored their gods. God hated idolatry then and he hates it now. So why then do Christians think that they can honor Christ through pagan customs?
The mercy God showed to Israel when he delivered them from Egypt was great indeed. But what deliverance can compare to the deliverance God did through Jesus Christ when he took the sins of all man kind on himself on the cross. Yet also amazing is the depth of hardness of the hearts of those very ones whom Christ has delivered to take the blessed name of Christ and mix it with a pagan festival. To “honor” the birth of Christ, which he never commanded, on the very day the pagans have honored the birth of the Sun God on December 25th. To celebrate the birth of Christ in the same way the children of darkness has celebrated their pagan gods. To pervert the scripture to find excuses so they can keep all their old pagan practices in the name of Christ. And instead of being transformed by the renewing of their mind they transform Christ to be a pagan idol. When God showed Ezekiel how the elders in Israel all faced east to greet the rising Sun and then said how they put the branch to the nose. Who would have thought that three thousand years later the blood washed saints of God would be practicing Sun rise services in the spring equinox and then not just put a branch to the nose but putting a whole tree in their house in the winter solstice. Of course they say “We are doing this to honor the birth of Christ and his resurrection!” Well that’s interesting that they honor the birth of Christ on the same day their pagan fore fathers honored the birth of Attis, the birth of Mithra, the birth of Tamuz, … etc. And wouldn’t you know it they honor the resurrection of Christ on Easter, which was a day set a side to annually honor Eostre, Ishtar, or Astoroth for the resurrection of Tamuz or Attis. In fact the pagan integration into Christianity is so thick that many believe that Christianity originated from paganism. If you doubt this is true then just do a quick search on the internet on “Jesus and Mithra” or “Jesus and Attis”. Usually those who want to show that Jesus is a modern day Mithra, Tamuz, and/or Attis will start with December 25. And why shouldn’t they? If we honor Christ the same way pagans have honored their false deities for years then why shouldn’t they think that Jesus is just another false deity? If parents lie to their children about Santa or the Manger scene then why shouldn’t children think that the rest of the story of salvation is a lie as well?
The Lord described this present state of the church very well when he said
“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” (Revelation 3:15-16)
Christians today seem to hold their bibles in their left hand while holding their old Catholic traditions in their right. I would think it would be evident by now that the Christ of the Catholic Church is NOT the Christ of the bible. It is one thing for the RCC to mock Christ by making him into a pagan God. But it is an entirely different matter for professing “bible believers” to mock him in the same manner. I know, I know, they are only using it as a means to win souls. But which Christ are you winning them to? The Christ of the bible or the Christ of the Catholic church? Do not think you are winning them to the Christ of the bible if his birth is based on a lie.
So what should bible believers do about this compromise? We should do the same thing that Moses did when he saw the golden calf. We should do the same thing that Jeremiah and the other prophets did when God showed them the idolatry of his people. And we should do the same thing that Paul commanded the Corinthian church to do when fornication was discovered in their church. They must be rebuked and then we must fast and pray for the mercy of God. It grieves my soul that the name of God is blasphemed among the unbelievers through us.
Before God judged the old world he was grieved over the fall of the sons of God. Before God raised up Babylon he was grieved to see his temple defiled with their compromised sacrifices and abominations. And before he judges this earth with fire it will grieve him to have to spew this apostate church out of his mouth.
Will you also grieve his Spirit? Or will you grieve with him for his church?
Copyright © 2010
August 12th, 2010 | Uncategorized |
Have you ever had to wake up from a nice nap to settle a fight with your kids? Or instead of going fishing you had to spend your day off recovering your teenager’s car that he abandoned because he did not fill the tank with gas before he left? I’m sure the list can go on and on of the times we’ve had to forsake our rest for the sake of our kids. According to my granddad, my grandpa, Mouett Cox used to have a saying, “When you’ve got kids that’s all you got.” We often don’t have a lot of time for ourselves because our children consume so much of it. This is not always a bad thing since our life is wrapped up in our children.
I think most parents can relate to rest depravation due to their children. But have you ever thought on this topic from God’s point of view? I can’t say I have until recently when my son, Allen, brought it to my attention. In his fair ministry with Amazing Grace Missions, he often takes people through the Law to show people that they are all sinners in need of a savior. To do this he’ll start with the 10th commandment (Thou shalt not covet) and work backwards to the first commandment. But when he gets to the fourth commandment (Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy) it gets a little sticky. Not only is this commandment not repeated in the new testiment but the judgment against this command is even nullified in Colossians 2:16. So why is it there and how should we keep it? As Allen and I were talking about these things he showed me John 5:17 in a way I haven’t thought of before. In John 5:17 Jesus said, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” The verse is referring to the healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda. That phrase “worketh hitherto,” he said, means that he is currently working and has been working. Allen went on to note when God rested on the seventh day he rested from “all his works.” In other words, God was done with his work. But when Adam sinned he had to start working again. Think about it. Creating the heavens and the earth in only six days was no small task. I’m sure it took much planning. Has he done any work like that since? No of course not. Ecclesiastics 3:14 tells us that “…whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever…” So if his work was eternal then his rest should have been eternal as well. In other words, if it wasn’t for us God would still be resting. And look what he had to do. When he found Adam in sin, he made the first sacrifice and clothed him with animal skins. And he has been working with sinful man ever since. But from the beginning I believe that God had intended the Sabbath to be an eternal day of rest.
When the Lord was on earth he often healed on the Sabbath day. Now keep in mind that, according to the Lord’s own words the works that he did was not his but the Father’s. God knew that it bugged the Jews to see Jesus heal on the Sabbath day, but yet he would do it time and again. If we, through Adam and our own sin, were not bothered in breaking God’s Sabbath, then why should he be bothered about breaking ours?
The fourth commandment was never meant to be a burden but rather a privilege. Have you ever wondered why is it that all men naturally understand the last six commandments, but when it comes to the first four it doesn’t seem so natural to them? The fourth commandment is not natural to us because it wasn’t given to us.
The bible says that “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1st Corinthians 2:14) The bible also says that “the law is spiritual.” (Romans 7:14) So there is no way man can understand the whole law until they are regenerated. They may accept the last six commandments but the first four commandments, and especially the fourth commandment is simply out of their reach.
For example in order to keep the Sabbath day holy you must …
1. Possess the Sabbath day because we can’t keep something that has not been given to us.
2. We must be holy. There is no way an unholy thing can keep a holy thing. Otherwise it would be like trying to wash the dishes with mud.
In the case of Israel, both of those requirements were met when God gave them the Ten Commandments. God bought them at the Passover and after sanctifying them through a covenant he gave them the Sabbath day. This was not given to any other people. This is why I think Paul told the Colossians not to let any man judge them of a Sabbath day. You might say that the fourth commandment was out of the gentile’s jurisdiction.
But yet he hasn’t taken away the law. In fact he said in 1st John 5:3, “this is the love of God that ye keep his commandments …” And yes this would include the fourth commandment. After considering these things I decided to rethink the way I look at these first four commandments. Consider the following
Commandment 1 – “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)
In this commandment we see that God must be first in our lives. If we break any commandment we break this one. This commandment demands that we commit our very heart and soul to God. Our old nature will not let God be first in our lives. Until we are willing to place our will on the Alter we will never keep this commandment.
To sin against this commandment is to sin against God the Father himself who created us for his own pleasure.
Commandment 2 – “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:4-6)
This commandment should fill our hearts with joy. This commandment not only says that he owns us but that he is also jealous for us. He didn’t just create us and walk away. He knows our very thoughts and imaginations. The only way we can keep this commandment is if we love him and him alone. The only image of God is Jesus Christ. He loved us so much that he came to die for our sins. To make any image of Christ or any image that symbolizes God to you is to make a lie. Christ is our only image of God. There can be no proxy between us and the Father but the Lord himself. Paul also condemned images of God when he described those who reject God as those who “… changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man …” (Romans 1:23) If you have pictures of Christ in your home you have taken to yourself the very thing God rebuked in his second commandment. The only way God wants us to know him is through his Son Jesus Christ. Creating any other substitute is a slap in the face to the Son of God because he is THE only image of the invisible God. (Colossians 1:15) To possess any other image is to possess a substitute for Christ.
There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
You cannot keep this commandment without faith. Paul said, “we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” (Romans 8:24-25) When the Lord promised the comforter to his disciples in John 14:17 he noted that they will receive him but the world will not. The reason for this was because they could not see him. The world will not believe what they cannot see. This is why they love images. But since there is only one image of God then we must accept him through faith alone. But this is all part of God’s design for “without faith it is impossible to please God.”
To sin against this commandment is to sin against the Son of God, who is the only image of God, who alone became sin for us.
Commandment 3 – “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” (Exodus 20:7)
Many think that this commandment has to do with guarding your tongue but that’s not even the tip of the iceberg. The only way we can receive the name of the Lord is through the power of the Holy Ghost. Just as a bride takes the name of her husband, so we through the Holy Spirit take on Jesus’ name through baptism of the spirit into his body. (see 1st Corinthians 12:13) You can’t take from God what has not been given to you. But once we have given our life to Christ he fills us with his Spirit and calls us out by his own name. But the bible says in Ephesians 2:10 that we are “created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” This is not our own work because we have no good works of our own. We were born with a sin nature. So the only way we can take his name is to first be made holy by his blood and then filled with his Spirit. Taking the name of Christ means that you must live a holy life through his power. Second Timothy 2:19 says “… Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” But if you know you are Christ’s but do not live holy, then haven’t you taken his name in vain? Indeed you have.
You cannot begin to keep this commandment until you have received the name of the Lord. And to sin against this commandment is to sin against the very Holy Spirit of God who sealed you in Christ.
Commandment 4 – “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath day of the Lord thy God: In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” (Exodus 20:8-11)
In commandment 1 we give up our own works. In commandment 2 we accept only his work and accept no substitute for Christ. In commandment 3 we let him work through us. All of these works are works of faith. So what is there left for us to do in this commandment? If you said “nothing,” then I think you’ve got it. This commandment is a commandment of rest. It is not possible for a person to keep this commandment until they are born again because they are not holy. An unholy thing cannot keep a holy thing. Further more you can’t keep something that wasn’t given to you. The Sabbath day as we know it was given only to the Jews because they were made holy by a covenant that we were not a part of. However, we can keep God’s Sabbath. Remember, when God ended his work he did not have any intentions to re-do it as we do with our works. When we belong to him we enter into an eternal rest, which was God’s original design from the beginning. Hebrews 4:3-9 puts it like this.
“For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, if they shall enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, Today, after so long a time; as it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.”
So how can we sin against this commandment? What work is there to do to keep this commandment? We are made holy by no work of our own, and we have been given an eternal rest by no work of our own. Hebrews 4:10 concludes as follows.
“Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”
And what is that final work? Well Jesus put it like this.
“This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” (John 6:29)
I think the only sin against this commandment is to sin against yourself by rejecting the gospel of Jesus Christ. But to receive this commandment is to believe in the finished work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost and rest with God and all his saints.