INTERESTING FACTS : "THE WORD OF GOD WELL UNDERSTOOD AND RELIGIOUSLY OBEYED IS THE SHORTEST ROUTE TO SPIRITUAL PERFECTION. AND WE MUST NOT SELECT A FEW FAVORITE PASSAGES TO THE EXCLUSION OF OTHERS. NOTHING LESS THAN A WHOLE BIBLE CAN MAKE A WHOLE CHRISTIAN." --AW. TOZER

 

DAILY READING : DEUTERONOMY 30 - 31

 

TEXT : Deu 30:9  And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers: Deu 30:10  If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. Deu 31:16  And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. Deu 31:17  Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us? Deu 31:18  And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods. Deu 31:19  Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. Deu 31:20  For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant. Deu 31:21  And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware.

 

THEME : PROPHECY

 

About twenty five to thirty percent of the Bible is predictive in nature. This is what makes the Bible unique. That is, from one quarter to one third of the Bible tells men what will happen before it occurs. Only God can predict the future accurately. Therefore, Bible prophecy becomes one of the greatest pieces of evidence proving God wrote the Bible using men as His secretaries. God knows the end from the beginning, and has recorded all we need to know is this life in the Book of Books - the Bible. Why then do men and women ignore it? Worse, why do professing Christians ignore God's Word? Without a complete and constant study of the Bible our view of God, history, the past, present, and future is inaccurate or incomplete. We need to study the Holy Scriptures for they are able to make us wise to salvation that is in Christ Jesus.

 

It is astonishing to read the Law of the Lord, all the promises attached to it, as well as the principles of His commands and see how Israel abandons it in the course of time. As Moses is given by God hundreds of commands that would bless the people of Israel, he is also told that as soon as he is gone Israel will depart from them. What is amazing is that God patiently takes the time to explain the details of every conceivable type of situation Israel may encounter, tell them how to perform their duties, then shares with Moses how they will defect from His ways! On this point Matthew Henry remarks.

 

"He tells Moses that, after his death, the covenant which he had taken so much pains to make between Israel and their God would certainly be broken. 1. That Israel would forsake God, v. 16. And we may be sure that if the covenant between God and man be broken the blame must lie on man, it is he that breaks it; we have often observed it, That God never leaves any till they first leave him. Worshipping the gods of the Canaanites (who had been the natives, but henceforward were to be looked upon as the strangers of that land) would undoubtedly be counted a deserting of God, and, like adultery, a violation of the covenant."

 

Speaking of the future, God tells Moses how His people will forsake Him. Such is the nature and tragedy of sin. Even when men are warned, they do not believe. This is why the Bible speaks of the "deceitfulness of sin," and warns all of us not depart from Christ.

 

Heb 3:7  Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Heb 3:8  Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: Heb 3:9  When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Heb 3:10  Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. Heb 3:11  So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) Heb 3:12  Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. Heb 3:13  But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Heb 3:14  For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; Heb 3:15  While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. Heb 3:16  For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. Heb 3:17  But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? Heb 3:18  And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? Heb 3:19  So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

 

Again, Matthew Henry states -

 

"Thus still those are revolters from Christ, and will be so adjudged, who either make a god of their money by reigning covetousness or a god of their belly by reigning sensuality. Those that turn to other gods (v. 18) forsake their own mercies."

 

We can be sure, if we were to depart from Christ as the Bible states, our fate would be the same as Israel's. Therefore, we must examine ourselves daily so we are not lead astray from Christ by our own heart and evil imaginations. Despite the warnings of Christ and the Apostles, some professing Christians invent a fictional Christ. He is not the Christ of the Bible, but one of their making. They create Him in their own image, rather than they being created in His. They invent all manner of "permissible sins," and "acceptable conduct," then claim they are still saved and on their way to Heaven. Yet, the great Puritan preacher and theologian Dr. John Owen stated it well, when he said - "You have an imaginary Christ and if you are satisfied with an imaginary Christ you must be satisfied with an imaginary salvation"

 

TRUTH FOR TODAY : ONLY GOD CAN PREDICT THE FUTURE!

 

As already mentioned, only God can predict the future accurately. Further, like the prophecy concerning the children of Israel and their departure from the living God, we too have been warned in the Holy Scriptures that professing Christians will abandon Christ and the Holy Scriptures prior to the return of Christ.

 

"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron." [1 Tm 4:1 - 2]

 

Adam Clarke writes concerning these verses from 1 Timothy - 

 

"They will apostatize from the faith, i.e. from Christianity; renouncing the whole system in effect, by bringing in doctrines which render its essential truths null and void, or denying and renouncing such doctrines as are essential to Christianity as a system of salvation. A man may hold all the truths of Christianity, and yet render them of none effect by holding other doctrines which counteract their influence; or he may apostatize by denying some essential doctrine, though he bring in nothing heterodox."

 

In 2nd Timothy, we have a solemn prophecy that near the Second Coming of Christ, people inside the Church will not be interested in the words of the Bible, but in their own theology - whatever that may be.

 

2Ti 4:1  I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 2Ti 4:2  Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 2Ti 4:3  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 2Ti 4:4  And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. For the time will come - There is a time coming to the Church when men will not hear the practical truths of the Gospel, when they will prefer speculative opinions, which either do no good to the soul, or corrupt and destroy it, to that wholesome doctrine of "deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow me," which Jesus Christ has left in his Church.

 

Adam Clarke states -

 

"But after their own lusts - For these they will follow, and hate those preachers and that doctrine by which they are opposed. Shall they heap to themselves teachers - They will add one teacher to another, run and gad about after all, to find out those who insist not on the necessity of bearing the cross, of being crucified to the world, and of having the mind that was in Jesus. In this disposition interested men often find their account; they set up for teachers, "and widen and strew with flowers the way, down to eternal ruin," taking care to soothe the passions and flatter the vices of a trifling, superficial people. Having itching ears - Endless curiosity, an insatiable desire of variety; and they get their ears tickled with the language and accent of the person, abandoning the good and faithful preacher for the fine speaker."

 

Therefore, knowing God predicts the future, let us hold fast the profession of our faith, regardless of who does not!