The Importance of Knowing God's Word

THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWING GOD’S WORD

Jesus is the very Word of God incarnate.  We know this from reading John 1:1-14.  Jesus knows the power of the Scriptures with regard to overcoming temptation and walking in obedience to God the Father.  Perhaps the most poignant Biblical example of this fact is found in the “Temptation of Christ” in Matthew Chapter 4.  In reading this passage, it becomes apparent that the way to overcome the temptation to sin is through the power of the written Word of God.  Every time Jesus is tempted to sin, His response begins with “It is written.”  Jesus never falls for the tempter’s offers because He knows, “IT IS WRITTEN.”

Matthew Chapter 4, starting at verse 1 says:

1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2  And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered. 3  And when the tempter came to him, he said, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” 4  But he answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God’.” 5  Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6  And saith unto him, “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, ‘He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone’.” 7  Jesus said unto him, “It is written again, ‘Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God’.” 8  Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9  And saith unto him, “All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” 10  Then saith Jesus unto him, “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, ‘Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve’.” 11  Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. (KJV emphases mine)

I love the many insights provided from this account of Jesus’s temptation after He had been fasting in the wilderness for 40 days.  There are various points to ponder in this text, but the things that jump out at me today are:

1. The Word of God is Powerful  It is a double-edged sword, cutting to the heart of the matter.  It is so powerful that it is able to separate joint from bone.  Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
2. The Word is Always Relevant  God’s message never changes, throughout the whole of Scripture.  While we think of Jesus as being a “New” testament, Jesus is in fact quoting from Deuteronomy! Psalms 119:89 says, “Forever, O LORD, thy Word is settled in heaven.” The Word of God is the same yesterday, today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)
3. The Word is the Believer’s Only Weapon  Ephesians 6:16-17 says, “16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (KJV emphasis mine)  While Faith is our shield, the Word of God is our Sword.  The Sword was the only part of the “whole armor of God” which is classified as a weapon.

In examining the subject text, we see that when Satan first approaches Jesus, his temptation involves food, something every human needs to survive.  Does that sound familiar?  Remember in Genesis when Satan tempted Eve, he used food as a ploy.  He appealed to the physical, to the need and the desire for food, in order to get Eve to disobey God’s Word.  He used something physical, but the consequences were both physical and spiritual.  Satan was attempting to get Jesus to use His great spiritual power to turn stones into bread and thus satisfy His belly.  Satan wanted Jesus to take His focus off of the spiritual and put it onto the physical.  When Jesus was fasting 40 days, He was no doubt sustaining Himself through His communion with the Father.  Jesus had been denying Himself physical food, but had been nourishing His spirit through prayer. 

When Jesus responds to this temptation to fulfill the flesh at the expense of the spirit, Jesus clearly states that man shall not live (spiritually speaking) by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of GOD.  Do we get that today?  This is incredibly powerful.  Chew on it, consider what it means.  Do you believe what Jesus is saying here?  You shall not live unless you feed on His every Word.  Peter tells us that, as believers, we already have everything we need for life and Godliness.  If you’re looking for spiritual sustenance, your search is over.   (That is, unless you can’t find your Bible!) 2 Peter 1:3 says, “According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue.”  This “knowledge of him that hath called us to glory” is found in the pages of the Word of God.  You really want to know God? Then seek Him out by reading every Word that has proceeded out of His very mouth.  Remember what Paul says in II Timothy 3:16:  “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” (KJV emphases mine)

In re-reading my study here, it occurs to me that Satan tries to take Jesus back to the Garden of Eden, the garden of plenty, by tempting Jesus’s belly.  In contrast, Jesus takes Satan back to the Wilderness of Sinai, where the Israelites wandered forty years before crossing into the Promised Land.  The wilderness was a place of utter dependence upon God.  A place where man was utterly deficient, unable to provide even the meanest essentials of food and water.  When Satan wants us to focus on our own independence, on our need to provide for ourselves the means of survival, Jesus’s answer is to return to a place of utter dependence on the Father.

The text Jesus quoted from in His response is found in Deuteronomy Chapter 8 verses 1-3.  

All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers. 2  And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou would keep his commandments, or no. 3  And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. (emphasis mine)

The next part of Jesus’s temptation touches on the issue of tempting God.  At first glance, I would say that Jesus was being asked to do something pretty foolish (i.e., jumping off the top of a building) in order to prove to the Devil that Jesus was really the Son of God.  This was a fairly ridiculous ploy on the part of the enemy, in my opinion.  But if we remember that all Scripture is profitable, we will see that it happened for a good reason.   

You may think, as I did, “Man, I would never even think of doing something so stupid as jumping off a building in order to test God and see if He would really protect me as He  promised in His Word.”  How could this have even tempted Jesus?  This would never have tempted me.  Of course Jesus doesn’t even flinch, and why should He?  Jesus doesn’t need to give the Devil any more proof that Jesus is God’s Son.  Jesus knows, that the Devil knows, that Jesus is the only Son of God. 

Please note here that the Devil quotes Scripture to Jesus.  It seems patently absurd, Satan’s misquoting Jesus, to Jesus, as if Jesus would somehow not know the true meaning of His own words.  But this is the point: Do you and I realize this, that the Devil knows the Words of God?  I daresay he may have a better command of Scripture in his arsenal of weaponry than many who profess to know and follow Christ.  Brothers and Sisters in Christ, if this isn’t motivation to begin feasting on the Word of God, than I don’t know what is! 

I can testify to the fact that far too many times the enemy has come at me misquoting, misinterpreting, and perverting God’s Words as written in the Bible. Many times I have not been able to instantly answer back, “But it is written!”  As a result of having had those experiences, I finally said, “That’s it; I’m tired of being defeated because my enemy knows my Lord and His Words better than I do.”  I began to search the Scriptures once again, as Jesus commands us to (John 5:39), as the Bereans did (Acts 17:10-12), as Josiah the King did (2 Kings Chapter 22), as Daniel the prophet did (Daniel 9:2).  When you really dive in to the Scriptures it becomes obvious that those who are found faithful to God are always those who know, understand, and heed His Words.  Do you truly desire to hear those most precious of words from your Savior, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:21)  If this is your heart’s desire, if you seek to please Him more than anything else, then beloved, you must commit yourself to know, understand, and heed His precious Words.

Returning to the text, we see that the Devil was busy trying to get Jesus to tempt God.  I began by saying that this was a shallow ploy.  Who among you would cast yourself off a building just to test God, to see if God would do as He promises in His Word, and send His angels to catch you?  Not many would do such an unwise thing.  But we have probably all tempted God in other ways.  We have ventured out sinning, in one way or another, all the while holding God to the promise of His protection.  Do we not see how that is tempting God?  Of course God loves us.  Of course He will keep us to the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30) by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ even though we still sin while in this “body of death” (Romans 7:24, Paul’s words-not mine). But, beloved, we should never forget that God will not always keep us from experiencing the natural consequences of foolish or sinful actions.  As someone who has often had to learn the hard way, I can say with certainty, that foolish actions bring painful consequences. 

God did not always protect Israel when they refused to stop living in sin (idolatry, immorality, you know-going along with the culture, being relevant).  Remember that in Judges 2:13-15 it was God who was delivering the Israelites into the hands of the spoilers (their enemies), because His chosen people had forsaken Him and turned to worship everyone else’s gods.  Even after God used Deborah to deliver the people, the people once again tempted God, and started being affected by their culture to the point that they rejected God’s laws AGAIN, and served the Baals.  During those 40 years of rest (following Deborah’s leadership as Judge) they forgot God, “And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.” (Judges 6:1 emphasis mine) 

Can we see how we all do this?  God is patient, giving us a long leash.  We show just how unfaithful we can be, pushing the envelope by serving everything but Him and refusing to love and to diligently follow His decrees.  We incorrectly perceive His longsuffering mercy toward us to mean that we aren’t doing anything too terrible.  And seemingly the next thing we know, we wake up to find ourselves delivered into the enemy’s hands by God.  How dare God not protect us, right??  Wrong, just another case of us tempting our merciful, loving, patient Father.  Pretty silly, and sad.  And to think, we fell for such a ridiculous ploy from the tempter all because we forgot that “IT IS WRITTEN.” 

We all are sheep (that means, as wise as we think we are, we’re still pretty dense), because we go astray, even after we know what it means to be in His presence, to have His protection, to bask in His mercy and grace and love.  Thank God that He is faithful, even when we aren’t. 

The point to be taken is that we are all vulnerable to this insidious attack by the devil.  We never stop being capable of falling into the pit.  Paul says, “Wherefore let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” (I Corinthians 10:12)  In Deuteronomy 4:9 we are admonished,  “Only take heed to yourself, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life: but teach them (to) your sons, and your sons' sons.”

When Jesus was tempted, He firmly quoted a phrase from Deuteronomy 6.  The passage says:

Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.  Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.”  (Emphasis mine)

So what do we do to stave off and to overcome this enticement to “temp God?”  Answer: we do as Paul instructed Timothy in II Timothy 2:15.  We “Study to show (ourselves) approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”  It really is that elementary.  Just keep feasting on and heeding His Words of Truth and Life.  When we do this, His Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth (John 16:13), and then He will keep us from falling (Jude 1:24).

Back to the Temptation.  Matthew 4:8 states:

Again, the devil takes him up into an exceeding high mountain, and shows him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9  And says unto him, “All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” 10  Then says Jesus unto him, “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, ‘Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve’.” 11  Then the devil leaves him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Key point to keep in mind: Jesus uses Scripture (the law, to be specific) to refute Satan.  You may remember that James also advises us to “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)  Resisting the devil is as simple as choosing to obey God.  The devil will flee once you’ve chosen to revere and obey God’s commands.  Speaking forth God’s Words in affirmation and in confirmation is a vitally important step in solidifying in our own hearts and minds the absolute truth of what God says in any matter.  When Satan comes in attempting to water down God’s Words in order to get us to rationalize some disobedient behavior, we must firmly resist.  We do this by restating God’s precise Words, aloud if possible, so as to reaffirm our belief in and obeisance to our Heavenly Father.

In this third and final part of the temptation, Satan is trying to get Jesus to worship him.  Again, I must say, this seems utterly absurd.  But remember, this also happened for our benefit.  Jesus was showing us the kinds of attacks that we, as His children, His followers, His Bride, would face from our clever foe, that old Serpent. 

Okay, I’m going to digress here.  I’m looking at the word serpent, and I see the word “pent” in his name.  I know that to re-pent involves speaking or saying.  I think that “pent” has in its meaning the act of uttering a sound.  So, I look up the word “serpent” used in Genesis and it’s the Hebrew word “nachash” which means “a snake (from its hiss): pronounced: naw-khash'.  Its primitive root means: “properly, to hiss, i.e. whisper a (magic) spell; generally, to prognosticate.”  This helps me understand that the very nature of our foe is that “he lies.”  He hisses and whispers his twisted view of scripture; he prognosticates; he claims to know the truth.  If more people understood how crafty this liar was, it wouldn’t be so hard to notice the myriad ways in which he infects the church with his keen sounding (indeed often biblical-sounding) prognostications.

Now this gets better.  I decide to look up “repent,” to see if I’m on to anything.  The first instance I find in my Theophilos computer program of the word “repent” is in Exodus 13:17: “And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:” 

The Hebrew word used here is “nacham” -- pronounced: naw-kham': definition, “a primitive root; properly, to sigh, i.e. breathe strongly; by implication, to be sorry, i.e. (in a favorable sense) to pity, console or (reflexively) rue : KJV -- comfort (self), ease (one's self), repent(-er,-ing, self).  I see that serpent is “nachash” and repent is “nacham.”  They both share the act of an utterance of sound.  This may indeed seem a departure from any point I am trying to expound on, but I love words and their meanings (and thought you might, too).  When the serpent “pents,” hisses his magical sounding lies, twisting God’s Words, we would do well to confess (speak out loud) the truth as spoken by God.  If we fall for the temptation of the “hisser,” we would do well to re-“pent” (utter a sigh of sorrow to God) as soon as possible. 

Then the wise man would go search the Scriptures and hide the Truth of God in his heart and upload it onto the hard drive of his memory; (you should probably have cookies enabled too, and save a copy on your cache so you can access the Word as quickly as possible when you get tempted.)  That last analogy might have been a stretch if you’re not thinking in computer mumbo jumbo-but go ask your kids and they can probably explain it to you!

While I’m on this subject of pent and repent, I’ll also point out the third Scriptural reference to repenting is found in Numbers 23:19.  It says, “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”  God can’t repent because that would mean changing His mind; He can’t, because He’s constant, immutable, unchangeable, the “I AM.”  We know this, and hopefully we understand this about God.  We should bear in mind that Jesus, (who is God) is the Word, and He shares this attribute: He can’t repent (change his mind about something). 

Thus, His Word is not up for revision by us who are mere mortals.  We do well to make sure that we are doing our best to understand Scripture as it was written.  We should take it in context and apply it to the context of our life.  When or if we try to mold or shape God’s Words into meanings that fit our purposes, or in order to support beliefs that are inconsistent with the body of the written Word, we tread the dangerous ground of toying with God’s immutability.  He hasn’t changed His mind or His decrees.  We had best not do that either, lest we find ourselves being chastened by Him and being delivered into the enemy’s hands.  The tempter will tempt you to twist or mold Scripture to suit your methods.  Don’t test God.  Believe me, it’s not worth the chastising you’ll receive from Him if you do it. 

I would assume that none of us wants to be guilty of leading another person astray by delivering a false teaching in the name of Jesus.  I am ashamed to say that I’ve done this.  In the past, I’ve tried to rationalize some things about God’s Word in counseling members of my own family.  I ended up leading my own sisters and mother astray on some things because I apparently revered modern psychology (which is a mere creation of man) more than I revered God and His Words.  If you’re interested in more on that, I’ll gladly explain it to you in person. 

The fact is, much of what we’ve bought into (literally) from the self-help industry is in direct opposition to God’s decrees.  Those who are wise in this world need to become fools (1 Corinthians 3:18) and become as little children (Luke 18:16), trusting in God, believing what He says about everything if they truly want joy, contentment, and peace to fill their souls.  The group Casting Crowns wrote a really clever line about this in their song entitled “What if His People Prayed.”  They sing, “What if the family turned to Jesus and stopped askin’ Oprah what to do!”  I remember hearing that for the first time, and thinking, “Wow, is that on the money, or what!”

In all seriousness, God declared through the prophet Hosea in Chapter 4 starting in verse 1:

Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. 2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. 3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away. 4 Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest. 5 Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother.

6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.  7 As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.  (Emphases mine)

These are precious strong Words.  And they are God’s Words.  We do well not to try to soften them or make God change them (i.e., repent from what He’s stated).  He said His people are “destroyed.”  The Hebrew here for destroyed is “damah” -- pronounced: daw-mam'.  The primitive root of the word is: “to be dumb or silent.”  It thus follows that the implication is: “hence, to fail or perish; translation: to destroy: KJV -- cease, be cut down (off), destroy, be brought to silence, be undone, X utterly.”  Do you see how forgetting God’s law makes you dumb (silent) in the face of temptation because you have no answer to give to the Hisser!  From this flows destruction.  Sadly, so very sadly, many within the church are perishing, not able to give an answer to the devil in response to temptation, not able to answer the world when it criticizes the veracity of God’s Words, not able to give a testimony of God’s existence, His truth, His grace, His mercy, His judgment.  All of this failing because there is a severe lack of knowledge of God’s Word (there is no lack of secular i.e., “this worldly” education though).

Please bear with me; there is more to see.  Remember the verse in Hosea says, “Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee.”  Here we go with the Hebrew again; let’s examine “rejected.”  The word is “ma'ac”- pronounced: maw-as', and the primitive root of the word means “to spurn; also (intransitively) to disappear.”  The KJV renders it as “abhor, cast away (off), contemn, despise, disdain, (become) loathe(some), melt away, refuse, reject, reprobate, X utterly, vile person.”  Those are strong words.  God’s people are shown here as abhorring, hating, and refusing knowledge of God.  The word reject is used twice in the verse.  When God says, “I will also reject thee,” it is the same Hebrew word.  Let that sink in.

I wanted to expound on “knowledge” (because that’s interesting too), but hopefully we “know” what knowledge means.  So let’s move on.

Why exactly are God’s children being destroyed?  Quite simply, it is because they lack a knowledge of God (Hosea 4:1).  In verse 6 of Hosea Chapter 4 it is further clarified that the knowledge of God they had forgotten was “His law.”  Could it be that they remembered that God was loving and patient, but chose to forget His rules for obedient living?  It is painfully easy, especially today, to prefer to think of God solely as our Loving Father and our Merciful Savior.  But do we remember that He is also Judge, and King, and Lord?  Is it not the issue today in America-the fact that most Christian churches clearly declare God’s infinite love, at the expense of proclaiming His justice and absolute truth? 

We are commanded by God, “but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with (our) God.” (Micah 6:8)  In a human and earthly sense, we all desire a government that is capable of mercy while also enforcing the rules (justice).  Why is it then, that in our spiritual lives, we so easily fall for the temptation to remake God into an image of one who never requires justice nor obedience? 

The Israelites of old were guilty of choosing to forget God’s laws, of choosing to forget His written Word, if you will.  They paid the ultimate price for rejecting God.  They lost their homes and their freedoms.  They wondered the earth for centuries before finally being reunited as a nation in 1947.  Is it any wonder then, that in our present age, a persistent rejection of God’s laws by many churches has led to the destruction of the family, the Church, the nation and even the world?  Once a society has intentionally rejected God’s Words, they have by implication, chosen the path that will lead to their complete and utter destruction.

I plead this case, and go into such detail in order that you will be convinced in your mind, in your heart, and in your spirit to remember the importance of knowing and keeping God’s Word.  The wise man will read the Word, commit it to memory, strive diligently to understand it, and will necessarily heed it. Who among us doesn’t want to be wise in the things of God! 

Returning to the text in Hosea 4:6, I will point out that God is not talking about rejecting mere knowledge in the sense of education as we understand it in our day.  The Israelites had a knowledge of their culture, a knowledge of how to make money and war and political alliances.  This verse is not trying to convey the axiom we so often hear today-“Knowledge is Power.”   It grieves me so, that some today are fond of using this verse in Hosea, to “prove” that God just loves for you to be educated, no matter what you are learning.  No!  God desires that you may know Him and His unchanging truth in order that the truth may set you free.  A vast supply of knowledge doesn’t help anyone, spiritually speaking, unless it is a knowledge of the truth.  I only beat this dead horse because it pains me in my spirit when I hear Christians extolling the wonders of being educated (whatever that means) more than they declare the excellence of knowing Biblical, Scriptural Truth.  An education which is fraught with lies will inevitably lead to destruction.  But a knowledge of the truth can lead to repentance, and to eternal life.

When we read II Timothy Chapter 3, and especially verse 7, we find that evil men who have crept into the church in the last days will teach people to be “Ever learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the Truth.” (Emp. Mine)  Those who exchange the truth of God for a lie will end up with minds which are reprobate (that means their minds don’t work, they are incapable of perception of truth, incapable of discernment).  I don’t know about you, but I do not want to reject God so often, and throw off His yoke and His chastising so repeatedly, that I end up with a mind that is no longer capable of discernment.  That is far too scary a proposition!  It is a reality that we all do well to consider, though.  It is possible to, even after having come to a knowledge of God and of the truth, to turn away, to fall away, and be lost eternally. 

I know it is tempting to rationalize and soften up Scripture to such a degree that it loses its saltiness, (i.e., its ability to convict us of sin).  Too many people in America have chosen to listen to man’s half-truths as preached from various pulpits, and out of a sense of admiration for the preacher, they often come to a place where they hold more dearly to the preacher’s words than they do to Almighty God’s Words.  This should not be, and it is nothing more than an exultation of man over and above God. 

As Christians, we ought to defend God rather than man.  In doing so we show how seriously we revere and esteem Him.  All praise and glory and honor belongs to God and to His Son Jesus; we should not be running around defending the watered down writings of various men who call themselves modern day prophets or preachers, yet who deny the veracity of God’s Word.

It is clear that God wants us to hold high His Word rather than the words of men which too often run contrary to God’s original intent as found in the Scriptures.  Read Elihu’s words to Job in Job chapter 32, and you will see what I am trying to say.  Job 32:1-2 records, “So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2  Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he (Job) justified himself rather than God.” (emphasis mine)  (Please read Elihu’s entire response, then read God’s response.  It is interesting to note that God does not rebuke Elihu for his words, while God does rebuke the other three fellows along with Job.) 

I daresay we need more young men like Elihu, fellows who are not afraid to contend for the truth of God’s infallible and uncontestable Word.  We need to stop fearing man (Ezekiel 2:6-7), and instead fear God (Matthew 10:28).  Jeremiah 2:19 says, “Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.”  Yes, indeed, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10).   In Ecclesiastes 3:14, Solomon says, “I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.”  I could go on, seemingly without end, with Biblical references to the imperative necessity of fearing the Lord, but in the interest of brevity (if that’s even an option), I will just give two more examples.

Revelation 14:6-7 records that, in the future, shortly before Christ’s second coming, an angel from heaven will plead with the inhabitants of the earth.  John says, “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, ‘Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.’” And in Revelation 15:4, at a time yet future, we get a glimpse of the redeemed standing on a sea of glass singing before the LORD of Hosts  “Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.”  Yes, the fear of the Lord is a precious and beautiful thing.

Lest you think I am being too forceful or taking this matter too seriously, I beg you to consider the LORD’s words through the prophet Jeremiah:

Who is the wise man, that may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through?

13  And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein;

14  But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:

15  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

16  I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them. (Jeremiah 9:12-16, emphasis mine)

Jeremiah 17:5 likewise says, “Thus saith the LORD; ‘Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD’.”

As I was saying, we need to stop extolling man’s ways, and begin to fervently lift up the Lord by proclaiming the excellences of His every Word.

I suppose it would behoove me to return to our original text back in Matthew, lest you think I was never going to get to the point.  We were discussing the means by which we overcome temptation, namely, by remembering that “IT IS WRITTEN.”

Remember that Satan, the great “hissing” serpent was trying to get Jesus to worship him rather than God.  Matthew 4:8 says, “Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9  And saith unto him, ‘All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me’.”  God allowed Jesus to be taken (lead) up to the mountain top, where the devil showed Him (appealed to Him visually) the Kingdoms of this earth in their glory. 

As a sidebar, I understand this to mean that sometimes God is going to allow the Devil to lead me into a place of being presented with the option of obtaining human kingdoms (if even in the most microcosmic sense) along with the glory of ruling those kingdoms (i.e., wielding authority over others and procuring human respect and reverence).  Remember, Jesus tells us that we as servants are not greater than our master (Him) (John 13:16, 15:20) what He endured we can expect to endure as well. 

In order to get those kingdoms from the devil, I’ll be required to worship the mystical, magical “hisser” rather than God.  Knowing this, I remember to be on guard.  I’m going to have to rely on the Holy Spirit inside me, and a firm grasp on the Word (my sword of truth) in order to discern whether Satan is making this offer of power and authority to me, or if it’s a genuine call from God.  Knowing God, I can judge (discern, differentiate) between God’s call to “serve” one another (John 13:14) and Satan’s temptation to “rule.” 

God will require that I worship Him utterly and operate directly under His authority when I speak authoritatively for Him by spreading His gospel of truth.  Satan will need me to compromise by worshipping him, or his systems, or another human being (maybe even myself), or the hosts of heaven (angels), or a lying spirit, or another version of God (a false god, idol, or false Christ (such as exist in different forms within the supposed bounds of “Christendom”), or wealth and consumerism, or power, or even “world peace.”  Satan will require this worship to him at the expense of worshipping the One True God –  the Great “I AM.” 

Jesus speaks rather clearly in Matthew 6:24 saying, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”  This is restated in Luke’s Gospel when Jesus says:

“No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”  14  And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.  15  And he said unto them, “Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:13-15, emphasis mine)

The Pharisees aren’t the only ones who tend to justify themselves, rather than defending and esteeming God.  It is a recurrent theme that an unbelieving, pride-filled heart will seek to justify itself and its motives (or any errant preacher whose sermons tickle the ears) rather than walk in humility and esteem God and His ways as being higher than man’s ways.  This should not be.  We should always test everything (I John 4:1) we are presented with in the name of the Lord.  We need to get into a habit of checking the source, looking into the Word of Truth to see if what the preacher is saying is entirely Biblical.  We live in a time where virtually everyone in America can obtain a Bible, and where almost everyone can read.  We do not really have an excuse, especially those of us who name the name of Jesus, for being Biblically illiterate.  If we desire to stay on the strait path (Matthew 7:13) as Jesus commands us, then we need to be aware of the fact that we have an enemy who is always working to lead us astray.  The chief way Satan is able to sow seeds of doubt in us is through our own ignorance or lack of knowledge of the Word of God.  The sole hope we have of overcoming the temptation to doubt God’s Word is found in KNOWING the Word.

I hope you are seeing from reading God’s Word, that in God’s view things are very “black and white” and absolute; it’s His Way or the highway (not to be confused with the “High Way!”)  I come into contact with so many who have a hard time believing that our Merciful, Loving, Heavenly Father is also the God of Eternal, Unchanging, Uncompromising Truth and Justice.  God is also wholly Holy.  This cannot be denied, for “it is written” in the Scriptures.  In this postmodern, “New Age” of shifting definitions, and moral and spiritual relativism, many want to re-create God in their own image: They want a God of peace and love, good works, mercy and grace, but they want all this at the expense of His truth, His justice, His holiness and His ultimate sovereignty. 

Sermons and studies are often crafted to highlight the aspects of God’s character that the unbeliever likes (so as to be “seeker-sensitive”) while diminishing or altogether denying the perceived “negative” character traits of God.  PLEASE, don’t misunderstand.  God has no negative aspects.  I put “negative” in quotes, because some people see certain of God’s character traits as negative or harsh.  This re-formulation of God and His Words and His sovereign plan for mankind is idolatry.  It is sin.  The one who truly loves Christ does not have a problem with His sovereignty or His system.  We do well to remember that we are the clay, and He is the potter (Isaiah 29:16, 64:8; Romans 9:21, Revelation 2:27); who are we to tell Him what to do or say or think (Job 40:1-2).  His followers, those who are His beloved (called and faithful-Revelation 17:14), reverence Him greatly and do not try to trifle with His truthful sayings, commands, decrees and Biblical prophecies.

It is because Jesus is the “Truth” that He knows the truth so well.  For this reason, He is able to reply ever so forcefully to the Devil at the conclusion of the temptation.  Matthew 4:10 says, “Then saith Jesus unto him, ‘Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.’  11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.”

Do you want to know how to properly respond when presented with the temptation to sin?  Then follow your Lord’s example: know the truth, love the truth, and speak the truth.  Jesus is the Truth (John 14:6). Jesus is the Word (John 1:1). Jesus is the Bread of Life (John 6:35).  If you want to know Him, you have to consume the Word, the Bible, to find out who He really is.  If you want to follow Him, YOU have to search the scriptures to find out what His true followers do.  If you want to be His obedient child, you will need to know His Words, so that you can refute the lies of the hissing serpent who will come to you twisting God’s eternal truth in order to entice you to sin. 

We need to, once and for all, determine in our hearts, our minds, our souls, and indeed in our bodies, to follow Christ Jesus.  In I Kings 18:21, the Prophet Elijah, fed up with the people’s half-heartedness toward the LORD and their incessant Baal worship, says, “ ‘How long will you hesitate between two opinions?  If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal (is your god), follow him.’ But the people did not answer him a word.” (NASB, parenthetical added)  

Joshua gives a similar call to the people after they entered the promise land in his famous “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” speech (Joshua 24:14-15).  Are we wise enough, courageous enough, humble enough, to answer the call to serve the LORD with all our heart, mind, soul and strength?  Will we, forsaking all others, take Him to be our Husband, yoking ourselves with Him and Him alone?  In Luke 9:62 Jesus says, “…No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”  I take this to mean that Jesus wants us to follow Him with “no turning back,” just as the song says.  He doesn’t want us to look back like Lot’s wife did just before she perished during her escape from Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:26).

We must believe that everything we as believers in Jesus need for life and godliness is contained in His precious Word (II Peter 1:3).  I entreat you to put the clicker down.  Stop trying to find God’s moral truths in secular media and entertainment.  If you’re spending more time chiseling your physique than reading God’s word (I Timothy 4:8), then you might want to rethink where your treasure lies (Luke 12:34).  If you’d rather shop, eat, watch movies, go to theme parks, further your “education,” play video games or sports, talk on the phone, or you name it, rather than spend time with your Precious Redeemer, then you might ask yourself whether or not Jesus is as precious to you as you think.  I know struggling against the many lusts of the flesh is incredibly difficult at times (Romans 7:14-24).  But the question for today is: Are we even struggling anymore, or are we just settling in, giving in to the flesh and settling for something less than our LORD has in store for us?

Does this sound harsh to you? I don’t say it to condemn.  I say it to wake people from their secular slumber.  I walked around for too many years in that cloud of delusion.  It was really a delusion of my own making.  I was a hearer only (Read James 1:22-25 and Matthew 7:24) and not a doer of the Word.  James was right to tell me that I was “deceiving” myself; James was quoting Jesus.  When I would hear the Word, and even receive it with gladness (Luke 8:13), but fail to DO the Word, I was trying to serve two masters: myself and God.  You do know that it is impossible to serve two masters, right?  (Remember Jesus’s words in Matthew 6:24, “No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (money and this world).”  While I was living with one foot in the Promised Land and one foot in Egypt, I was not really serving my Lord: I was serving (or rather destroying) myself.  I was still a slave to my own desire to sin in so many ways.  I felt defeated, frustrated, angry, and helpless to change my habits.  All this was because I was not wholly committed to being obedient.  Do you know that no other kind of commitment will do?  It’s His Way, or the wide gate that leads to destruction (See Matthew 7:13). 

When the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness, his goal was Jesus’s destruction.  If Jesus had not proven Himself without sin, He wouldn’t have been able to be the Perfect Sacrifice, the Lamb without spot or blemish, able to take on the sins of the world during His crucifixion. 

In a similar vein, when Satan tempts us, he does so with our destruction in mind.  The Apostle Peter admonishes us to “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour.” (I Peter 5:8)  I propose that one reason we fail, (beside the fact that we just don’t know God’s Words well enough), is that we aren’t really on our guard as we should be.  If you knew you were going to be robbed, you would stand watch, arm yourself, and do what you could to thwart the thief.  Since we know the devil ultimately wants to rob us of eternal life, of joy in this life, of peace, and of the effectiveness of our testimony, we must keep our armor on (Ephesians 6:11) and be ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within us (I Peter 3:15).

I’m going to leave you with a selection from James 1, verses 13-27.  As Jesus’s half-brother and a companion of Jesus, James is quite obviously a more convincing writer than I, and since his words are Scripture, they carry much more weight than mine!

James 1:13-27

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.  15  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.  16  Do not err, my beloved brethren.  17  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 18  Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.  19  Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20  For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.  21  Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.  22  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.  23  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24  For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.  25  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.  26  If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.  27  Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

…And Jesus says in Matthew’s gospel:

Matthew 7:13  Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

15  Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.  16  Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17  Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18  A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19  Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.  20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?  23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.  24  Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:  25  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26  And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. 28  And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: 29  For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Friends, are you also astonished at our Lord’s doctrine?  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God (Paul’s words in Hebrews 10:31).  We do well to seek Him while He may be found (Isaiah 55:6 ; 2 Chronicles 15:2), to bind His laws on our hearts (Proverbs 6:21), to follow Him (Matthew 6:24), forsaking all others (Proverbs 9:6; Isaiah 55:7; Ezekiel 20:8), to preach this Gospel of repentance to all we come into contact with (Mark 16:15) in season and out of season (II Timothy 4:2). 

In John 21:15-17, prior to Jesus’s ascension into heaven after His resurrection, Jesus commanded Peter to “feed (His) sheep” as a means of showing Jesus how much Peter loved Him.  Who are Jesus’s sheep?  They are His children.  We should likewise feed one another the Word whenever we assemble, whether at home or at church or in cyberspace (Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16).  Remember, this Word of Life is all we need, and boy do we ever need it in these days of deception. 

Isaiah 55:6 says, “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.”

Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

There is so much more that I would share with you, but if you simply dive into the springs of Living Water found in God’s Word and feast on the Bread of Life which is Jesus, the Word of God, I am confident you will have all that you need to endure and finish this race and win the prize (I Corinthians 9:24).  We are only sojourners here (1 Chronicles 29:15), this world is not our home (Hebrews 11:13; 1 Peter 2:11), our treasure is in Heaven (Luke 18:22, 12:34) if we love and seek and serve Jesus Christ who sits at the right hand of God the Father (Hebrews 8:1 , 10:12, 12:2; I Peter 3:22).

1 Peter 1:13-25 says, “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14  As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: 15  But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16  Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. 17  And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: 18  Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19  But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20  Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, 21  Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. 22  Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: 23  Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 24  For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 25  But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.”

And Jude, the half-brother of Jesus said in Jude 1:14-25, “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 15  To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. 16  These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage. 17  But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 18  How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. 19  These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. 20  But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, 21  Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 22  And of some have compassion, making a difference: 23  And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. 24  Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25  To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”

If, like me, you desire to run this race to win, then I would stir you up, I would admonish you to return to your Heavenly Father with a whole heart.  The beautiful parable which Jesus told of the “Prodigal Son” is given that we might know what a tender and forgiving and loving Father we have.  He loves us, ever so much more deeply than we could fathom.  We do not deserve His incomprehensible mercy and grace, but He offers it anyway.  He is the Good Shepherd who desires that not even one of His sheep remain lost.  He will go to any lengths necessary to work the soil of our hearts until it is indeed “good soil” able to produce good fruit.  He is, thankfully, utterly patient, not wishing any of us to perish.  But we do have a choice to make.  We do not know whether tonight our lives may be required of us.  He knocks, He beckons, and He waits.  Run to Him today, fall on your knees, and He will receive with joy the one who comes to Him with a broken and a contrite spirit.

In Christ Jesus,

Your sister Lyndee

The Fear of the Lord is…

Proverbs 1:7: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 1:29: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:

Proverbs 2:5: Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

Proverbs 3:7:  Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

Proverbs 8:13: The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

Proverbs 9:10: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

Proverbs 10:27: The fear of the LORD prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.

Proverbs 14:26: In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.

Proverbs 14:27: The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.

Proverbs 15:16: Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith.

Proverbs 15:33: The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.

Proverbs 16:6: By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.

Proverbs 19:23: The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.

Proverbs 22:4: By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life.

Proverbs 23:17: Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.

Proverbs 24:21: My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change:

Proverbs 29:25: The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.

Ecclesiastes 3:14: I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.