Friday, March 22, 2013

Resting On and In His Commandments


The law of the LORD is perfect,
converting the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is sure,
making wise the simple;
the statutes of the LORD are right,
Rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the LORD is clean,
enduring forever;
the judgments of the LORD are true
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
yes, than much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
moreover by them Your servant is warned,
and in keeping them there is great reward.
Psalm 19:7–11

            The misunderstanding of the doctrine of original sin has been the cause for many false theologies. Looking back on the blogs that I enumerated the various heresies and false teaching in regard to God and how man is to have a relationship with God we can find that they try to obliterate in the most and to lessen the impact in the least as to the doctrine of sin; especially original sin. It is not so different in the present age for man attempts to replace original sin from them because they cannot fathom sin, a sin from the original pair as to have any emphasis on their lives and then fill this lack of understanding and desire to desire what this world has to offer. Man, especially in this modern era, has fallen prey to an ideology that teaches that man is independent and has within himself all that he needs to be successful in this life. There is a replacement of Godly knowledge and desire to follow Him with such thins as; “finding oneself,” or to find things that would raise their spirits in such in such things as entertainment, playtime, drugs, illicit sex, pornography, or just to not even think of God: it is to humbling to think of oneself as a sinner with sin that he cannot remove. Men today are prideful, they have assimilated into their thinking of their goodness, or supposed goodness, and that they are somehow the center of their universe; but is this so, or is it just pride and is this harmful? The writer of Proverbs gives this warning: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). This was the problems with Adam and Eve, pride, a desire to have what they were commanded not to have, a desire to be like God, and many today act as if they are little gods. Remember the trial for Adam and Eve was a simple one considering they had no need to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge; it was a trial of obedience and a willing submission to the command of God. Many today pick and choose which commandments they wish to keep and those which they avoid. One such commandment that is so blatantly abused is the commandment found in the Ten Commandments; OH! Most will keep the commandment to not covet, to not murder, do not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, to not commit adultery (although it seems as if this commandments is also being abused by Christians), to not steal, to not bear false witness against your neighbor, and even though there is a strong movement to teach our children not to honor their father and mother, that they too are just an evolved creature who is not to have any moral teachings other than to pursue their way and to be prideful in all they do; but, there is this commandment that is not kept by most Christians: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8–11). Some Churches even abuse the commandment not to make for yourself any carved image and have icons of some saint or some supposed carving of an Apostle, others have pictures of Jesus as though they are the real Jesus and even give some form of homage to them; but then claim that they are just to aid in worship to God, as though they needed them. This is a problem that began with Adam and Eve, they in their pride and disobedience to the command of God thought that they could have what Satan offered them and forgot that God loved them and gave them simple commands, walked with them in the cool of the evening and by keeping His commands they would continue to be blessed by God and have immortality. How could they have immortality? They would keep eating the tree of life. Do we have a tree of life that would give to us immortality? Yes! Jesus Christ! It was God who came to earth, the Wisdom of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, to pay the debt that man could not pay and then to take the act upon the cross, His death, resurrection, and ascension bodily into heaven that He is the tree of life from which His children dine upon and this is everlasting life: “Jesus said to her, ‘ I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this” (John 11:25–26)? Do you believe this? Will you keep His simple commandments? Or, will you like Adam toss away your relationship with Him for that which Satan presents as something better? I hope that the faith that God has given to you, the enabling of you, and the drawing to Him will make cause for true worship of God and to be an Authentic Biblical Christian.

Jesus answered them, “I told you,
            And you do not believe.
The works that I do in My Father’s
            Name, they bear witness of Me.
But you do not believe, because you are
            Not of My sheep, as I said to you.
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them,
            And they follow Me.
And I give them eternal life, and
they shall never perish; neither shall
anyone snatch them out of My hand.
                                    John 11:25–28

Prepare Now for the Sabbath and Then Rest On His Day

Richard L. Crumb
           

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