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Deuteronomy Chapter 4
God says to obey the statutes and judgments He gives and they will "live" and go in to possess the land. To obey is even better than sacrifice, to hearken than the blood of lambs. It is simple, but the flesh fights against obedience. The flesh desires its own way but in the end it results in death. God has the better way but most of us choose to do our own thing and end up lost. Israel could have ruled the world had they been obedient to God and never strayed.
This was important then and it still is important even in today's church. If we add to God's commandments, we make the way too difficult and sometimes our additions are substituted for God's original word. Tradition many times replace the word and we end up with a religion rather than a one on one relationship with God. If we take away from the commandments, it opens the door to sin. People will think they can sin and still be right with God. They become lukewarm and in more danger than the out and out unbeliever because the lukewarm believer thinks he or she is okay when in reality, they are just as lost as the sinner who has never believed in Christ. So to add to or take away from the word of God is dangerous. Both extremes can cost many to miss the beautiful message of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. During the middle ages when there was only one church and even during the Protestant Reformation we had creeds and doctrines that either added to or replaced the word of God. Christianity became just a religion with no Holy Spirit baptism or power to change the inner man. That is why they could persecute and put to death dissenters. Now we have the opposite problem. We have taken away from the word and watered it down so much that sin is rampant in the church and among believers. When Christians claim Christ but sin just as much as the unbeliever, something is wrong. We can preach Christ all we want but if they see that we live no different than the sinner, what are we to tell them that Jesus saved us from? If Jesus came to save us from sin but we are still sinning, what does that say to the unbeliever who may be living a better life than we who claim Christ are living?
False doctrine is dangerous. Balaam's doctrine was that Israel could commit fornication and still be blessed of God. In reality he wanted God to curse Israel so that he could receive a reward from the king of Moab. God did not want Israel to intermarry with Moabites because they worshipped Baal and other gods. God is not a racist. It is not the race or color of another clan that bothered Him but the fact that all the nations surrounding Israel were into idolatry, even those that were also descendants of Abraham like Esau and Moab. Balaam was a prophet who wanted a reward and planned a way to get Israel to sin against God so that God would curse them since he had no power to bring a curse upon them himself like he originally was hired to do. The king of Moab wanted to defeat Israel in battle but could not do so as long as God was with them. Balaam plotted against Israel by sending in beautiful Moabite women to them to entice them to sin against God thereby making God forsake Israel. The fornication would cause God to withdraw His protection and also cause the souls involved to be lost because they would be enticed to serve the gods of the Moabites. Many times God does not have to send judgment and destroy a nation. If He withdraws His protection, they have no power to defeat stronger nations. Israel was always small and weak without God. It is only by the power of God that they succeed in overcoming their enemies. Israel needs to recognize this. This started with Abraham. He was called out and chosen but when things got tough, he went down to Egypt for help. This started a pattern of trusting in Egypt. His son did the same thing. Later the brothers of Joseph sold him and he ended up in Egypt. It worked out for good during the famine but it also brought all Israel to Egypt where they were influenced and later made slaves by a nation that worshipped false gods and were deep into idolatry. When they were brought out of Egypt, all the plagues put upon the Egyptians were actually judgments against their false gods. Later when Israel began to lust after and desire the ways of Babylon, they were made slaves to the things they lusted after. They went into bondage to Babylon. One nation after another ruled Israel until the time of Christ. Their rejection of Christ caused them to lose their nation completely until 1948. They would have no power at all if it was not for God.
Those that believed and clave to the Lord were allowed to enter the promised land. Those that went into unbelief and fear, died along the way.
To obey God will bring forth fruits of righteousness which will influence other nations. Sin causes us to lose our influence and we become like dead branches that have to be broken off and replaced by grafting in other branches in its place.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.
This is why good bible teaching is necessary along with preaching. We must teach the younger generations the word of God. If we don't they will go into unbelief or follow false religions that will not save the soul.
Idolatry has been the downfall of many nations even Israel and in more modern times, even the church. They did not see the image of God even when He was close to them upon the mountain. They were not to make any graven images to what they thought was the likeness of God or anything in creation. Idolatry will open the door to Satan faster than any other sin. In fact it will lead to all other sins that steal, kill and destroy. During the early middle ages, Idolatry was brought into the church because people didn't want to live by faith but wanted to pray to something they could see. Little did they realize that instead of praying to God they were praying to devils. Evil spirits surround any idolatry or substitute for the real God. We will still feel religious and even have good feelings at times but it will not be the real God. We don't need something visible. We are to find God by faith. By faith are we saved, not by sight to seeing something. The churches that trust in images, need to throw them out and begin to seek the real God. Those statues are not the real Mary, mother of Jesus. She would not accept our worship anyway. We are never to worship Mary or any image representing her. People that do so are badly deceived. We are never to worship any saint, relic, statue of Jesus or anything. It is idolatry. I will not even put those things in my yard.
Idolatry even angers God today. It is an insult to God to make an image representing Him. I personally do not believe we should make an image of Jesus for Jesus is God who came into the flesh to become one of us so that He could die for our sins and usher in God's plan of salvation. This in turn made a way for both Jews and Gentiles to be saved and inherit eternal life. To truly believe in Christ is to be born again by God's spirit and be saved from sin. Remember sin is what is separating mankind from God.
See how dangerous idolatry was to Israel. Is it not also dangerous to the church?
This literally came to pass many times when Israel went into idolatry and disobedence.
During the last great tribulation that is to come upon Israel and perhaps the whole world, they will at last turn to the Lord their God and He will have mercy and save Israel one last time. All Israel's trouble has been because of idolatry and disobedience in the past centuries and for rejecting the way out of the mess; which is salvation through Jesus Christ.
God chose Israel to bring forth the savior that would bring salvation to all who would believe. Only Israel saw the miracles and experienced the presence of God in their midst like no other nation before or after.
Like I said before, Israel could have ruled the world if they had not have sinned against God and went into idolatry.
As we continue the study of Israel through the kings, prophets, bondage and deliverance, we can see clearly how idolatry caused the downfall of this nation over and over again. The disciple John even tells the church:
Idolatry leads to many other sins: Only a relationship with the pure, holy, righteous living God can free us from those influences. This is why God came in the flesh through, Jesus Christ to show us the holy and living way. To receive Christ and then add idols is surely the worst of any abominations and defiles the pure holy worship that God gives us through Through trust and faith in Jesus Christ, we now can worship Him in spirit and in truth instead of relying on a place. Idolatry ruins all that and returns us to relying on a place (wherever the idol is). This is why I even avoid this new thing going around where we set up prayer stations, not to say that is totally wrong. We have places where we eat, sleep and such, however, to totally rely on one place could be the first step back to idolatry. Don't rely on a certain place. Pray always and everywhere. Pray in the spirit. Pray without ceasing. It is good to pray alone and should be done. Pray with the family, pray with the church. Do all these things but avoid using images and relying on just one particular place. We need to be reverent of course and not take God lightly but we must not use idols and images but seek Him by faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Words written in bold are the actual words from the bible. Other words are my thoughts on what the bible says and is never to be taken as equal to the bible itself. DC
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