This Lenten Journey is about returning to the Almighty God, Creator of the heavens and the earth. God made it clear when He said Zechariah 1:3 “Therefore tell the people: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Return to me,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty.” What is not clear to most who call themselves Christians is that they need to return to God’s word. As Jesus said Mark 1:15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” That time is always today. Hebrews 3:7 “So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. 10 That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ 11 So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ” 12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. 15 As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” Original convictions are not denominational.
Repentance is turning away from wicked ways. Most churches want the people who attend their particular distinction of belief to repent of their sins and accept their way as the way, truth and life. What is not being done is to teach people to turn away from those distinct doctrines and theology that they have committed their lives to. In doing so that never goes well for church growth but is always the right thing to do. Most churches should literally close their doors so as to no longer lead anyone else astray. As Jesus said to the Pharisees, 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.” Peter said, 2 Peter 2:17 “These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.” Not only do the organizations need to close their doors, every person who calls themselves a Christians needs to evaluate their beliefs and return to God’s word.
We must acknowledge our sin / rebellion and turn from wicked ways. The wicked ways are the doctrines and theology as taught by man. Included in that are the doctrines of demons which are intertwined with man’s teaching. Obviously teaching that doesn’t line up with scripture does not come from God. Repenting but continuing to follow a different jesus and other gospels is not repentance. This is about asking God to open eyes and ears so that the church can see the desolation and destruction. God will turn His face and once again shine upon us. Isaiah 59:20 “The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,” declares the Lord.” Lamentations 5:1 “Remember, Lord, what has happened to us; look, and see our disgrace. 7 Our ancestors sinned and are no more, and we bear their punishment. 15 Joy is gone from our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning. 16 The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned! 17 Because of this our hearts are faint, because of these things our eyes grow dim 18 for Mount Zion, which lies desolate, with jackals prowling over it.” Today the church also lies desolate.
Sadly, most people have no idea who God is and what He expects other than what they have been told by those at the front. They fail to test the spirits and make sure they are hearing truth. Instead, they just accept everything as the gospel truth. There is no such thing as another gospel truth. People today do not fear God because what they have been told about God does not cause them to fear Him. They think God is love and even though they venture off on their own, they have nothing to fear. It is very similar to after Samaria was taken by the king of Assyria. 2 Kings 17:5 “The king of Assyria invaded the entire land, marched against Samaria and laid siege to it for three years. 6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. 7 All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods 8 and followed the practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced.” As was the custom, Samaria was resettled. 2 Kings 17:24 “The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in its towns.” These people did not worship God. “The people you deported and resettled in the towns of Samaria do not know what the god of that country requires. He has sent lions among them, which are killing them off, because the people do not know what he requires.” The king of Assyria came up with this solution. 27 “Have one of the priests you took captive from Samaria go back to live there and teach the people what the god of the land requires.” 28 So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria came to live in Bethel and taught them how to worship the Lord.” Isaiah said, Isaiah 30:20 “Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them.” This week we will be talking about a few of the true teachers.
Today’s church is doing it wrong and does not know what God expects although people celebrate before God and do as they think He expects them to do. This is also similar to when the Ark was retrieved by David and from all appearances, everything appeared right. 2 Samuel 6:1 “David again brought together all the able young men of Israel—thirty thousand. 2 He and all his men went to Baalah in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim on the ark. 3 They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart 4 with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. 5 David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with castanets, harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals.” But then something completely unexpected happened. 6 “When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 7 The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God. 9 David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, “How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?” 10 He was not willing to take the ark of the Lord to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 11 The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed him and his entire household.” But then David figured it out. 1 Chronicles 15:1 “After David had constructed buildings for himself in the City of David, he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it. 2 Then David said, “No one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, because the Lord chose them to carry the ark of the Lord and to minister before him forever. 13 It was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the Lord our God broke out in anger against us. We did not inquire of him about how to do it in the prescribed way.”
It appears from what we see in the church today, God doesn’t seem to mind if you follow other gods or even a different jesus, because God is love. Sadly, for many, that is not what scripture says because God will respond to rebellion as we see all the way through scripture. Deuteronomy 28:58 “If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name—the Lord your God— 59 the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. 60 He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. 61 The Lord will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed. 62 You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the Lord your God. 63 Just as it pleased the Lord to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.” Deuteronomy 29:9 “Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do. 19 When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing on themselves, thinking, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,” they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. 20 The Lord will never be willing to forgive them; his wrath and zeal will burn against them. All the curses written in this book will fall on them, and the Lord will blot out their names from under heaven. 21 The Lord will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law. 24 All the nations will ask: “Why has the Lord done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?” 25 And the answer will be: “It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt. 26 They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them. 27 Therefore the Lord’s anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book. 28 In furious anger and in great wrath the Lord uprooted them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now.” I believe that is pretty clear and we serve the same God who will not tolerate rebellion.
Many consider themselves secure and are just waiting for eternal life. They think this because the god they understand is very compassionate towards rebellion and rejection of His word but that is not God. By their own understanding, they have judged themselves and proclaimed themselves to be secure. But it is by their own understanding that disaster will come. Isaiah 5:13 “Therefore my people will go into exile for lack of understanding.” Most Christians serve God as they understand Him to be, but God for most has been put in a very small box and they are content to keep Him there. Alcoholics Anonymous is a 12-step program that tries to include spirituality, but spirituality is not the same as Christianity. These self-help groups pray to the god of their understanding. A higher power as we understand or as we have decided the higher power to be. Step 2. states “Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” Notice they say greater than ourselves but then they say in step 11. “Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.” The god they understand is not greater because it is by their own understanding that they say how great the higher power is while at the same time rejecting the Almighty God who is beyond understanding. They conclude with step 12. “Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.” True understanding of the Almighty God who created the heavens and the earth would not lead you to say “once an alcoholic always and alcoholic.
It is understandable that the world cannot comprehend God, but those who call themselves children of God really should know who their Father is. 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.” For most they think God does not see and they can live out their lives as they please but Proverbs 15:3 “The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.” Job 24:13 “There are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways or stay in its paths. 14 When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up, kills the poor and needy, and in the night steals forth like a thief. 15 The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk; he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’ and he keeps his face concealed. 16 In the dark, thieves break into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they want nothing to do with the light. 17 For all of them, midnight is their morning; they make friends with the terrors of darkness.” John 3:19 “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” Ezekiel 8:12 “He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, ‘The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land.’” 13 Again, he said, “You will see them doing things that are even more detestable.” Ezekiel 9:9 “He answered me, “The sin of the people of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great; the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of injustice. They say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land; the Lord does not see.’ 10 So I will not look on them with pity or spare them, but I will bring down on their own heads what they have done.”
Just because a person has come to have a false understanding of God and thinks no matter what their souls are secure does not mean their souls are secure. Jeremiah 5:12 “They have lied about the Lord; they said, “He will do nothing! No harm will come to us; we will never see sword or famine. 13 The prophets are but wind and the word is not in them; so let what they say be done to them.” Psalm 94:1 “The Lord is a God who avenges. O God who avenges, shine forth. 7 They say, “The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob takes no notice. Take notice, you senseless ones among the people; you fools, when will you become wise? 9 Does he who fashioned the ear not hear? Does he who formed the eye not see? 10 Does he who disciplines nations not punish? Does he who teaches mankind lack knowledge? 11 The Lord knows all human plans; he knows that they are futile.”
There is only one way to go. Psalm 32:8 “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. 9 Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. 10 Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him.” You can’t say you trust God if you do not follow His word. To gain understanding the church must return to God’s word by coming to their senses. Deuteronomy 32:28 “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!” We do not want to be those people so once again we must fear God and humble ourselves before Him. When king Nebuchadnezzar came to His senses, he said Daniel 4:34 “At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation.” Or the son who finally came to his senses and returned home. Luke 15:17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!” Proverbs 4:7 “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.” Psalm 111:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.” Proverbs 2:6 “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.”
We acknowledge that the God we serve is the same God we read about throughout scripture. We must come to understand as king Nebuchadnezzar did that Daniel 4:35 “All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?” 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble. God sees all things but is looking for those who are totally committed to Him. 2 Chronicles 16:9 “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” 1 John 5: 20 “We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”
We all should be praying this prayer. Not only is God all-powerful, but He also wants to give the church great power to spread the good news, heal the sick and cast out demons just as it was in the beginning. Ephesians 1:17 “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” Isaiah 2:5 “Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
