"Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His
commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all
nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because
you obey the voice of the Lord your God: -
Deuteronomy 28: 1-2 (NKJV)
The key verses come from the end of the Torah. Over 600 Mosaic laws had been given to the people of God. Laws that in their entirety could never be kept unto salvation. Think of it this way -- we have two problems - one has to deal with where we spend eternity after this life and one has to deal with how we live while in this life. Both are important to God. He wants to see us successful and prosperous in both. The eternal life problem was the one Jesus Christ came to earth to resolve. It was the shedding of the sinless Lamb of God that took away my sins, reconciled me to my Creator, and has guaranteed me eternal life through my faith in the Lordship and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Glory -- hallelujah!
Once that has been resolved however, people really need to
get the salvation issue out of their heads. If you are saved and have a
personal relationship with Jesus Christ -- not as your buddy but as your Lord
and Savior -- then the salvation question has been settled. We will not be
judged by our failures to adhere to the law but rather by the blood Christ shed
on
Let's face it, we live in a world that runs contrary to what
we believe as Christians and seeks to derail us at every turn. We also live in
the flesh, which is always seeking to gratify its basest desires instead of
listening to what the Lord says. Lastly, we have an enemy to our souls who
never sleeps from his mission to steal kill and destroy. All in all, it is not
surprising when we fall as believers with so much bearing down on us. But as
the Bible teaches us:
My
people are being destroyed because they don't know me. Since you priests refuse
to know me, I refuse to recognize you as my priests. Since you have forgotten
the laws of your God, I will forget to bless your children. -- Hosea 4: 6 (NIV)
In the times of the Prophet Hosea, we see that the people of God were being destroyed because they did not know God. The Lord then quickly lays the blame at the feet of the people responsible for teaching them who God is and correlates the lack of knowledge to the priests forgetting the laws of God. What God is saying here is that the people are being destroyed because they do not know the laws of God and it is a failure of the leadership for not teaching them. As it was, so it goes again today. We must understand that as believers we desperately need to understand the Bible and the laws God has put in place. Not for just for eternal salvation but for our own good on this temporal existence. When you have to go out every day and face this world, Satan, and our sinful flesh the only way to combat the odds is to have God on your side! Not this fluffy candy coated God that current leaders are selling but the God of the Bible. When you focus on material wealth and the "bless me" or "God is love" theologies what you are choosing to move away from are the edicts of God -- His law.
There is a problem underlying the logic for this shift away from thus sayeth the Lord. The proponents of the new age Christianity and church growth movements will surmise that all of these laws and doctrines are not "seeker friendly." They make God out to be some old angry guy in the sky hurling lightning bolts down at us and people do not want to hear that. The problem with that logic is that it is the law that protects us. It is the law that prepares us. It is the law that works for our best interest. Not in terms of salvation because God knew we could never keep the entire law -- that was why He sent Christ to earth. But there are people who espouse that because of the atoning work of Christ on the cross we shouldn't have to worry about the law anymore. Sure -- if you want to fail miserably at combating the evils of this world, the schemes of the devil and to desires of your flesh! Because that is what you are setting yourself up for when you dismiss the law. There is a vast difference between salvation and how we live our lives. Thank God that Jesus died for my sins so that I will not be judged by the law. But thank God for the law which provides me with the guidelines for how to survive and thrive in this life until Jesus comes again.
Take for example adultery. What does the world say about adultery? If it feels good do it! There are websites designed solely to hook up people looking to commit adultery! What will Satan be whispering in your ear about adultery? Will he be telling you not to worry? That you deserve happiness? That you can't pick who you fall in and out of love with? What does our flesh want when it comes to adultery? You know as well as I do -- the flesh wants what it desires. The flesh wants the adulterous act probably more than Satan and the world. THAT is what we are dealing with every single day when it comes to the subject of adultery. That is what we are fighting against -- a world that encourages it, and enemy that excuses it for us, and flesh that is fighting for it. And then we commit the act and watch as our entire world unravels. Marriage is ruined. Trust is broken never to be recovered. Children forever changed. House has to be sold, assets divided, lawsuits, court appointments, respect in the community and church lost and any number of other negative results for that one decision. And we sit there and bemoan our situation and say -- "If I only knew." The truth is that we did know because God's law had told us.
God's law. We have the Word of God that says to not commit adultery. Beyond that we have Jesus teaching us that merely looking lustfully at a woman is committing adultery in our hearts. We should have known but we are being destroyed for lack of knowledge. We are being destroyed because we are not being taught God's Word and His law correctly. Modern day Christianity has been perverted by a wave of prosperity preachers and snake oil salesmen selling a watered down - God is love -- Gospel or a seeker friendly compromised Gospel. This has led to a "bless me theology" that sells the notion that God is just waiting to supernaturally bless everyone. While God is a loving and kind God, He is not a cosmic ATM for our whims.
No the true bless me theology is found back at the end of the Torah -- at the end of the Mosaic Law being given to the people; starting with the key verses. Because within that law was how to navigate this life and be blessed. Not just that God will reward our obedience but that the actual adherence to the directions of God is what directly leads to the blessings! I hear a lot of Christian pining to discover God's will. "Oh if I only knew God's will for this or for that..." We do know His will because He was kind enough to provide us with it in the Bible. We just do not like to follow it sometimes! Following His Word is adhering to His will and it is this obedience that directly leads to the blessings of God.
Don't believe me? Let us go back and revisit the adultery discussion. Having read the Word and understanding the law regarding adultery we also have hopefully had it reinforced through the church teaching we receive when we get away from this new age, seeker friendly, bless me nonsense. Now when the world comes selling websites to arrange affairs we can say with confidence that we are not buying. When the enemy whispers in our ears about this woman or that one -- we can say get behind me Satan because God said no. when our flesh rises up with us we can combat it directly with His Word, knowing it is His will, and stay pure to the vows we have made. What will be the result? A healthy marriage? A healthy family? A prosperous home? Not just because God saw the obedience and blessed it but because following His law alone leads to it!
The blessings shall indeed overtake you because you obey the voice of the Lord our God. After these key verses there are 11 verses outlining the blessings we can expect for doing things God's way. After that there are 58 verses outlining the curses for disobedience. Again, not that God is hurling lightning bolts down upon us but rather, like Peter when he was denying Christ called curses down upon himself -- we do the same thing when we deny God by disobeying His Word and His law. So don't buy the snake oil. The true bless me theology is found in the law -- the path to God's will. Unto salvation for eternal life and prosperity for this temporal life. Amen.
Rev. Anthony
