MY PEOPLE ARE DESTROYED FROM A LACK
OF KNOWLEDGE
II Corinthians 10:5 -- We demolish arguments and every pretension
that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive
every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (NIV)
Proverbs 19:2 -- Also it is not good for a soul to be
without knowledge, And he sins who hastens with his feet.
Proverbs 2:6 -- For the LORD gives wisdom; From
His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
Today we find ourselves ensnared in an ongoing battle of ideologies
which threatens to rend this country as it's never been rent before.
A disjunction not so much of material class as that of a sense of what
is right and what is wrong, the breach seems irreparable.
Positions, masked by fancy slogans and rhetoric, have completely
obscured the foundations of said beliefs, instead hiding them within a
maze of obliquity. Removing the masks, to some, may seem harsh and
provocative; however, provocation, when effectuating truth, should
not be disdained, but rather applauded for its delivery of perspicuity.
II Corinthians 10:3-4 -- For though we walk in the flesh, we
do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds...
Ephesians 6:12-13 -- For we do not wrestle against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the
heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you
may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
In admonishing the Ephesians believers to
arm themselves, the Apostle Paul charged they brandish the word of God
as the primary offensive weapon in their struggle against the world.
Ephesians 6:17 -- And take the helmet of salvation, and
the sword of the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance
and supplication for all the saints...
The author of Hebrews also attributes the
characteristics of a sword to the word of God.
Hebrews 4:12 -- For the word of God is living and powerful,
and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of
soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart.
A key point which should not be overlooked in the believer's
struggle with the world is the emphasis God's word places on truth.
Ephesians 6:14a -- Stand therefore, having girded your
waist with truth...
Psalm 86:11 -- Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will
walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.
In Psalm thirty-one the psalmist David refers
to the LORD as "LORD God of truth",
a title also used of God twice in Isaiah sixty-five, verse sixteen.
In the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ is equated with both the truth
and the word of God,
particularly in the gospel of John.
John 1:14 -- And the
Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:17 -- For the law was given through Moses,
but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
John 17:17 -- (Jesus' prayer for His disciples)
"Sanctify them by Your truth.
Your word is truth."
John 18:37 -- Jesus answered, "You say rightly that
I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come
into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone
who is of the truth hears My voice."
John 8:31-32 -- Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed
Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you
shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
John 16:13 -- (Jesus speaking to His disciples)
"However, when He, the Spirit of truth,
has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak
on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He
will tell you things to come."
John 15:26 -- (Jesus speaking to His disciples)
"But when the Helper comes, whom I shall
send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the
Father, He will testify of Me."
John 14:6 -- Jesus said
to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through Me."
In all, the Lord Jesus uses the word true or truth
over one hundred times in the four gospels (where both aletheia
and amen
are translated as truth),
more than fifty times in the gospel of John alone.
Clarity of truth is not an ingredient likely
to be found throughout a majority of the media today. Indeed, were
the bulk of today's media winnowed through the sieve of truth, it would
be reduced to near extinction. One doesn't like the truth, so one
redefines it to suit one's agenda -- it's called a lie, a convincing
lie perhaps, but a lie nonetheless. Those who hazard to speak the
truth in an environment which openly and unashamedly opposes truth, generally
find themselves labeled as "intolerant" and "foolish". Nonetheless,
we as Christians bear a certain obligation to proclaim the truth, whatever
the cost; indeed, we have a mandate from our God to do no less.
This mandate is keenly reflected in two
passages from Ezekiel, and although these passages were directed specifically
at the prophet Ezekiel, I believe the principles are eternal and inclusive
to all believers.
Ezekiel 3:16-19 -- Now it came to pass at the end of seven
days that the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Son of man, I have
made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from
My mouth, and give them warning from Me: When I say to the wicked,
'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn
the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man
shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand.
Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness,
nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered
your soul."
Ezekiel 2:7 -- (the LORD speaking)
"You shall speak My words to them, whether
they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious."
Now, the LORD God doesn't speak to us directly
anymore as in the days of Moses or the prophets, nor is Jesus still walking
the earth as a man that we might inquire of Him and receive His direction
for our lives. Nevertheless, as believers today, we do share an indwelling
of the Holy Spirit, and have at our disposal, a complete, authoritative
and final canon of Scripture -- the Word of God -- something neither Moses
nor any of the prophets who followed him were ever blessed to have.
I Wrote for Them the Many Things of My Law,
But They Regarded Them as Something Alien
Proverbs 29:18 -- Where there is no revelation, the people
cast off restraint; but happy is he who keeps the law.
Deuteronomy 4:1-2 -- Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and
laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and
may go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your
fathers, is giving you. Do not add to what I command you and do not
subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give
you. (NIV)
Deuteronomy 4:5-10 -- See, I have taught you decrees and laws
as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land
you are entering to take possession of it. Observe them carefully,
for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will
hear about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise
and understanding people." What other nation is so great as to have
their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray
to Him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous
decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?
Only be careful, and watch yourselves
closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let
them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your
children and to their children after them. Remember the day you stood
before the LORD your God at Horeb, when He said to me, "Assemble the people
before Me to hear My words so that they may learn to revere Me as long
as they live in the land and may teach them to their children." (NIV)
Apparently Moses understood human nature
all too well. As the people of Israel were about to enter the Promised
Land, Moses was compelled to remind them again to follow the commands of
the LORD. In Deuteronomy eight he warns them of what will happen
should they, in their blessing, turn from and forget the commands of the
LORD their God.
Deuteronomy 8:19-20 -- If you ever forget the LORD your God
and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against
you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the
LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the
LORD your God. (NIV)
Now, many today look at these passages,
and indeed much of the Old Testament, and say: "But that doesn't
apply to us. The laws as given by God, through Moses, were exclusive
to Israel under the Old Covenant. When Jesus came, He did away with
the Old Covenant." Indeed, as the author of Hebrews stressed, the
Lord Jesus did bring a "new" covenant.
Hebrews 7:11 -- Therefore, if perfection were through
the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what
further need was there that another priest should rise according to the
order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron?
Hebrews 7:18-19 -- For on the one hand there is an annulling
of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness,
for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through
which we draw near to God. Hebrews 8:7 --
For if that first covenant had been
faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.
Hebrews 8:13 -- In that He says, "A new covenant," He
has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing
old is ready to vanish away.
Hebrews 9:1 -- Now the first covenant had regulations
for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. (NIV)
Hebrews 9:10 -- They are
only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings -- external
regulations applying until the time of the new order. (NIV)
Hebrews 9:15 -- And for
this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death,
for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that
those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
It is therefore safe to agree that we are
under a "New Covenant", and that we are saved, not through obedience
to the law of the "Old Covenant", but by grace, through faith in the atoning
and completed work of Jesus Christ our Lord. The Apostle Paul stated
this emphatically in his epistle to the Ephesians where he wrote: For
by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves;
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians
2:8-9)
This theme of salvation by grace is underscored
again by Paul in the third chapter of Romans.
Romans 3:19-20 -- Now we know that whatever the law says,
it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped,
and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the
deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin.
Romans 3:28 -- Therefore we conclude that a man is
justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.
Faith apart from the deeds of the
law -- the clarity of that simple
statement should, in itself, be enough to convince most Bible-believing
people that the law plays no part in the salvation of a believer.
Still, are those who say the law is now voided by grace right? It's
curious the Apostle Paul chose to tackle this very question only three
verses later.
Romans 3:31 -- Do we then make void the law through
faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.
And, in case there were a few people who
missed it the first time around, he delivered the same argument a little
further on, then again only a few verses later.
Romans 6:1-2 -- What shall
we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
Romans 6:15-16 -- What then?
Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly
not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to
obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to
death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
Apparently Paul understood he'd be dealing
with certain individuals who'd rather twist the Scriptures to fit their
own agenda than accept the truth, so he clearly illustrated the objective
of a law we are not under, yet charged to obey, in chapter seven: What
shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On
the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law.
(Romans 7:7)
Alright. So now we see that the purpose
of the law was to reveal sin. He'd already stated as much in 3:20
(and does so again, later in 7:13), but obviously felt it worth repeating.
Therefore the law, having made us aware of our sin, does nothing to save
us, for salvation is by grace, through faith, apart from the works of the
law.
I John 2:5-6 -- But whoever
keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this
we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself
also to walk just as He walked.
I John 3:9-10 -- Whoever
has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and
he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. In this the children
of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not
practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
I John 3:24 -- Now he who keeps His commandments abides
in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us,
by the Spirit whom He has given us.
I John 5:3 -- For this is the love of God, that we
keep His commandments.
James 1:22-25 -- But be
doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For
if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing
his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away,
and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks
into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful
hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
John 14:15 -- (Jesus speaking) "If you love Me, keep My commandments."
John 14:23 -- Jesus answered
and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My
Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him."
John 15:10 -- (Jesus speaking) "If you
keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept
My Father's commandments and abide in His love."
Luke 11:28 -- (Jesus speaking) "More than
that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"
For those who, even in the face of such evidence, still insist
there is no place for the law in the lives of believers, the words of the
Lord Jesus, as recorded in Luke sixteen and Matthew five, should silence
such folly.
Luke 16:16-17 -- (Jesus speaking) "The law and the prophets were until
John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone
is pressing into it. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass
away than for one tittle of the law to fail."
Matthew 5:17-19 -- (Jesus speaking) "Do not think that I came to destroy
the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or
one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches
men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever
does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."
Yet another function of the law is its application as pattern
for the believer, instructing him how to live a life pleasing to God.
Proverbs 15:9 -- The way of the wicked is an abomination
to the LORD, But the prayer of the upright is His delight.
Proverbs 11:20 -- Those who are of a perverse heart are
an abomination to the LORD, But the blameless in their ways are His
delight.
Proverbs 15:26 -- The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination
to the LORD, But the words of the pure are pleasant.
II Corinthians 7:1 -- Therefore,
having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness
of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Proverbs 28:9 -- One who
turns away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer is an abomination.
And clearly, as demonstrated by Deuteronomy
four (particularly the passage used to open this preface), the law of God
is also to act as a blueprint for societal direction. Apart from
it, we are destined for destruction.
Deuteronomy 8:10-11 -- When you
have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land
He has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your
God, failing to observe His commands, His laws and His decrees that I am
giving you this day. (NIV)
Deuteronomy 10:12-13 -- And now,
O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your
God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with
all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD'S commands
and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? (NIV)
Deuteronomy 5:32-33 -- So be careful
to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside
to the right or to the left. Walk in all the way that the LORD your
God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your
days in the land that you will possess. (NIV)
Joshua 23:6 -- (Joshua speaking) "Be very
strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the
Law of Moses,
without
turning aside to the right or to the left." (NIV)
The phrase do
not turn to the right or to the left warrants
special attention, particularly in light of the subject of this book.
What is clear from these passages is that it's God's way that's center,
not man's. God does not run a popularity contest to determine
right and wrong. There is no such thing as a democratic theocracy.
God is not a pollster, nor is He swayed by the winds of public opinion,
as fleeting or as entrenched as they may be. There is no "political
correctness" with God. His way is the only way.
God didn't ask our opinion when He created all that is, nor is He likely
to at any time -- ever.
God's way is center, not "politically correct"
centrist (as they like to think of themselves: "moderates all"),
but righteous and holy center. Those who add to it, taking it to
the right, and those who subtract from it, taking it to the left, are both
wrong.
This book only deals with the side which
subtracts from God's word -- the left, manifest today in the visage of
political correctness (or whatever they may be calling it at the time you
happen to be reading this). That is, by no means, to be misconstrued
as license for those who would take God's word to the right, adding to
it what does not belong there. Both deviations are equally evil,
and one should, in no manner, side with one over the other. I write
this attack on political correctness as it's my belief that the danger
from the left is currently the greater threat of the two. It is not
my intention to even appear to be condoning those who add to God's word.
Those who practice such are just as wrong and should be equally condemned.
That, however, is a subject for another book.
Proverbs 4:27 -- Do not turn to the right or the left;
Remove your foot from evil.
Deuteronomy 28:14 -- So you
shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day,
to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
Deuteronomy 12:32 -- Whatever I command you, be careful to
observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.
Deuteronomy 29:29 -- The secret things belong to the LORD
our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever,
that we may follow all the words of this law. (NIV)
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