A Sure Foundation

God used Moses and Joshua to guide the children of Israel into the Land of Promise.  God fought for His people and established them in the land.  But after Joshua died, the people faltered with the lack of spiritual leadership.  Judges 2:10 says, "When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel."  It is a great tragedy that the generation who followed Joshua did not know the LORD or the works He had done for them.  The land was no longer seen as a blessing from God but was seen as their rightful entitlement.  The end result of not knowing God, His works, or His Word, is that everyone does what he thinks is right.  Judges 21:25 plainly states the facts:  "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes."  There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end of it is death (Prov. 14:12).  When a man follows his heart which has been corrupted by sin, vain wisdom and philosophy of men, the attractions of the world under the sway of Satan, it will oppose God's Word and ways.

This is the day in which we live.  Isaiah 5:20-21 contains a warning all do well to heed:  "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! ²¹ Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!"  I am not surprised when I hear of the crimes and wickedness on display in the world.  Man has decided that even as "beauty is in the eye of the beholder," so there is no such thing as absolute truth.  As a king in a castle, every man has the humanistic right to create right and wrong according to the dictates of his heart and seared conscience.  And tremble if you suggest God's Word opposes his view!  It would be better to cut out your own heart than to suggest there is absolute truth - and even worse - that this truth is found only in the scriptures, the Word of God.  The scourge of relativism has been so widely embraced that most men believe those who found their life upon obedience to God's Word are the greatest of fools, contrary to the words of Jesus.  People who hold to the scriptures are seen as the off-scouring of the world.  Jesus came and brought a sword with Him (Matt. 10:34), and it is a sword we ought never to put into the sheath.  We must be taught by God to rightly handle it.  And what is this sword?  The Word of God (Eph. 6:17).

I can make no boasts of perfection.  Yet I can boast in the Almighty God, and every word of His is pure.  Because I have been bought with a price, the blood of Jesus Christ through faith, I am no longer my own.  I therefore do not have the right to formulate judgments by my own understanding.  Proverbs 3:5-6 reads, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; ⁶ in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."  God's Word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path (Ps. 119.105).  The Bible has not been written for my convenience so I might use it to justify my own personal beliefs.  God has written and preserved His Word so men might know Him in truth.  God created the world and ordered the laws of nature, biology, genetics, and physics that man has only recently begun to explore.  God also created the Law to govern the outward actions of man - not to arbitrarily restrict people because He is spiteful and cruel - but because He is wise, loving, gracious, merciful and good.  No man other than Jesus Christ has ever perfectly kept the Law, which confirms what the conscience of every man knows:  all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  Failure or disagreement with God does not permit us to lower His standard of absolute perfection.  I thank God that Jesus Christ has come into the world to die for my sins and rise from the dead, proving His power over sin, Satan, and death, so I might live through Him by faith.

Because the Christian, biblical worldview stands in a stark contrast to the world, only by divine means can these truths be conveyed to the unbelieving.  Many of the questions Christians face are loaded with prejudice.  For instance, on cnn.com there was a survey question:  "Do you support gay marriage? Yes or no?"  The word "support" has a wide range of meaning.  It could mean anything from "agree in theory" to someone who signs petitions, or has moved to a state or country which permits "gay marriage," or sues governments in court.  From a biblical standpoint, the phrase "gay marriage" simply cannot exist.  God ordained and defined marriage in the most narrow terms:  marriage is between one man and one woman, a husband and a wife.  Not everyone in the Bible held to God's definition and many people oppose it today.  Since government did not institute marriage nor define it, no governing body or special interest on the planet can rightly change the biblical definition.  Marriage is a physical expression compared to the intimate spiritual union between God and the church.  The church is the body of Christ of which He is the head.  Even as the head separated from the body produces death, so marriage that is outside the confines of God's definition is not marriage - nor could it ever be.  "Yes" is the answer that the world is calling for today.  A "no" answer instantly shoves Christians like myself into the dirty, cramped pigeon hole with perceived other prejudiced, arrogant bigots and haters.  Like Jesus, I am called to love all people and it is my delight to do so.  It is a love not dependent on whether we believe in the same things or agree morally or politically, but love based upon the love revealed in Jesus:  it is a sacrificial love built upon grace springing from God's goodness.

God has given every person on the earth the right to choose who they will serve, what they will believe, and how they will live.  Every day is the day of decision.  Joshua said, "Choose this day whom you will serve...as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Josh. 24:15)  The Bible teaches that the choices you make in this life will have eternal consequences which should not be taken lightly.  What the Bible calls sin is sin, and the soul that sins shall surely die.  Because I was a sinner, I was heading to certain destruction in hell.  I praise God that He sent Jesus to my rescue!  Proverbs 28:13 says, "He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy."  No man can avoid sin before God by redefining it according to his opinions.  For those who confess their sin and forsake it, God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Hear the word of the LORD in Revelation 22:10-13:  "And he said to me, "Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. ¹¹ He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still." ¹² "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last."