If we are not living by God’s word, then you are living based on the world’s words, satan’s words, the words of church gurus, the words of friends, the words of family, the words of strangers. Scripture tells us, James 4:4 “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” 1 Timothy 4:1 “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” Isaiah 56:10 “Israel’s watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they lie around and dream, they love to sleep. 11 They are dogs with mighty appetites; they never have enough. They are shepherds who lack understanding; they all turn to their own way, they seek their own gain.” Jeremiah 5:30 “A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: 31 The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?” Jeremiah 5:5 “So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God.” But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds.” Micah 5:5 “Do not trust a neighbor; put no confidence in a friend. Even with the woman who lies in your embrace guard the words of your lips. 6 For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— a man’s enemies are the members of his own household.” Jeremiah 12:6 “Your relatives, members of your own family— even they have betrayed you; they have raised a loud cry against you. Do not trust them, though they speak well of you.” Mark 6:4 “Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” 5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith.” Jeremiah 9:4 “Beware of your friends; do not trust anyone in your clan. For every one of them is a deceiver, and every friend a slanderer. 5 Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning. 6 You live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me, declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 5:1 “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city. 2 Although they say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’ still they are swearing falsely.” 3 Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent. 4 I thought, “These are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God.” (see above Jeremiah 5:5 for the leaders) Jeremiah 8:4 “Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: “‘When people fall down, do they not get up? When someone turns away, do they not return? 5 Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return. 6 I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right. None of them repent of their wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Each pursues their own course like a horse charging into battle. 7 Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But my people do not know the requirements of the Lord.”
If your faith, knowledge and understanding come from the list above and not from scripture, you will prove yourself to be a fool. Jeremiah 4:22 “My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.” Deuteronomy 32:20 “I will hide my face from them,” he said, and see what their end will be; for they are a perverse generation, children who are unfaithful. 21 They made me jealous by what is no god and angered me with their worthless idols. 28 They are a nation without sense, there is no discernment in them. 29 If only they were wise and would understand this and discern what their end will be!” Our faith, knowledge and understanding must come from scripture. They do not come from false teachers, family, friends, stranger who have no understanding. When God allowed satan to decimate everything Job had acquired, from his wealth, possessions and family, Job remained faithful and did not listen to those around him, but trusted God. satan first used Job’s wife who said, Job 2:9 “to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” Job responded Job 2:10 “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” Throughout the book of Job, we see what this onslaught brought on by satan cost him. Job 19:17 “My breath is offensive to my wife; I am loathsome to my own family. 18 Even the little boys scorn me; when I appear, they ridicule me. 19 All my intimate friends detest me; those I love have turned against me. 20 I am nothing but skin and bones; I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.” Most of the book of Job is about his friends, thinking they knew better, trying to get Job to believe he was wrong, but Job remained faithful and said, Job 19:25 “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. 26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; 27 I myself will see him with my own eyes— I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” Job 23:10 “He knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. 11 My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. 12 I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.”
If Job had listened to his wife and cursed God, or listened to his so-called friends and turned away from God or listened to those who mocked him and gave up, he would not have been blessed by God. Even though Job was faithful, he still repented because he now had even a greater understanding of who God was than he had at the beginning. At the end he said, Job 42:5 “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. 5 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. 6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes,” even though he remained faithful. God said to Job, Job 42:7 “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.” The other guy Elihu, who was arrogant, did not get prayed for. The book of Job is a guide for the faithful. Job remained faithful and persevered, in spite of the insurmountable circumstances. God then blessed Job. Job 42:10 “After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.” James 5:11 “As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” Remain faithful and persevere!
God saved Job because he was faithful and did not turn away. Job 1:1 “This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. 8 Then the Lord said to satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” Job proved himself to be a faithful servant of God. Today we have all this to live by and to be warned by, but we must live by God’s word. Years ago, someone was surprised that I read the Old Testament. At that time I did not realize there were people, whether or not he was one of them, who believe that God acts differently in different ages. This false teaching stems from dispensationalism. Back then I really had no idea about this demonic teaching. I did experience it when I saw “A Thief in the Night” when I was a teen which talked about the demonic teaching of the rapture. And people don’t believe satan is present in the church? The dispensationalist believe in different dispensations. One of them is known as the dispensation of grace / church age which is ridiculous because grace started in Genesis. These are false teachings / doctrines of demons. Malachi 3:6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.” If you ignore the Old Testament, you are ignoring the New. Jesus said Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” The New Testament is filled with the Old. Yes, the New Testament is a new Covenant but without the Old Testament you will have no idea what is going on in the new. Sadly, the Old is filled with more examples of disobedience than examples of obedience. Having said that the Old Testament is guide to faith and shows us what not to do. The Old Testament describes the desolation we now see in the church and why it happened. Paul said 1 Corinthians 10:6 “Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!”
When we read the Old Testament, we not only learn what not to do, but learn how to live faithfully. We learn to obey God’s word and we learn what happens when we do and what happens when we do not, so be warned. 2 Kings 17:15 “They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep.” Nehemiah 9:29 “You warned them in order to turn them back to your law, but they became arrogant and disobeyed your commands. They sinned against your ordinances, of which you said, ‘The person who obeys them will live by them.’ Stubbornly they turned their backs on you, became stiff-necked and refused to listen.” Jeremiah 22:21 “I warned you when you felt secure, but you said, ‘I will not listen!’ This has been your way from your youth; you have not obeyed me.” 2 Peter 3:17 “Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position.” Jesus said John 16:1 “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 5 but now I am going to him who sent me.” Mark 13:5 “Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 23 So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.” Acts 20:29 “I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. Acts 2:40 “With many other words he (Peter) warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
If the bible is not your source of truth and life and if you do not listen to the way scripture tells us to go, you cannot say you follow Jesus nor can you call yourself a Christian. Plus you will starve to death. Jesus said I am the bread of life. John 6:35 “Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.” Today many who call themselves Christians, yet have no idea what the bible actually says and do not believe the words of Jesus just like the Jews. They do not know God’s requirements, nor do they have understanding and knowledge. They have listened to the wrong voices and have no idea what the voice of Jesus sounds like. 1 Timothy 1:6 “Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. 7 They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.” Take someone like Joel Osteen with millions of followers. His listeners recite “This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I can do what it says I can do. Today, I will be taught the Word of God. I boldly confess: My mind is alert; my heart is receptive; I will never be the same. I am about to receive the incorruptible, indestructible, ever-living Seed of the Word of God. I'll never be the same - never, never, never! I'll never be the same, in Jesus' Name.” If they read their bibles they would know they are not being taught the word of God and their minds are not alert because they are being deceived. They should hold up their bible and say you are a false prophet and run out the back door and never return. Jesus gives a list of woes to the Pharisees and teachers of the law. He said Matthew 23:15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.” When you listen to the wrong people and your source of information has been distorted, the end of your journey will not be eternal life, so it is crucial to heed the warnings of scripture and learn to live according to God’s word.
Jesus said, John 14:6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 6:63 “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” If you want to live a life of blessing as described in scripture and want to know the right path to follow and be able to discern truth from what is false, and want to spend eternity in heaven, stand firm of God’s word. God said, Proverbs 8:17 “I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.” Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 10:14 “The wise store up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool invites ruin.” Proverbs 18:15 “The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out.” Proverbs 12:1 “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid.” Don’t be stupid, heed this warning. Hosea 4:6 “my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.” Proverbs 1:28 “Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me, 29 since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord. 30 Since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, 31 they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. 32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; 33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.”
