Samuel then said in I Samuel 15:22&23 - "Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness as iniquity and idolatry..."
What does this story have to do with apostasy and lawlessness? I believe that disobedience in one thing makes it much easier to be disobedient in others. In fact, Paul said that if we break just one commandment - we're guilty of breaking all of them. Suppose you have a chain bracelet with 10 links - all hooked together around your wrist. If you break one of those links - the whole bracelet falls apart!
So, when God specifically says in Exodus 20:10 that "the 7th day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work...", then why do we as Christians think that keeping the first day of the week as the "Lord's Day" is going to be acceptable to Him? Aren't we sounding a little like Saul by justifying our disobedience to Him? What is it that makes it so hard for us to be obedient to the voice of the Lord our God? Is it because we "fear the people" as Saul said he did in I Sam. 15:24 or is it because we are "saved by grace" and have no fear of God before our eyes? At this point, it becomes easy "to do what is right in our own eyes" as the book of Judges reveals.
Before there will be a revival in the U.S., God's people must come to the realization that we are either slaves of righteousness (law-keepers, obedience) or we are slaves of unrighteousness (law-breakers, disobedient). There is no room for discussion when it comes to obeying the voice of the Lord our God. As the words of the old hymn say, "Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."
4 comments:
So true!
I was just reading Exodus and God speaks a lot about this too...made me feel really convicted.
Glad I'm not the only one being convicted these days. :) Thanks for you comment.
Can someone explain to me how one is to keep the Sabbath? Also, where is the biblical distinction between all the law of Moses and the ten commandments specifically?
These are a couple of really good questions! When God opened our eyes to the importance of obeying the 4th Commandment - we had the very same questions. First of all, we need to look God's Word for the answers. Get a good Concordance and look up references to the Sabbath Day. Exodus 20:8-11 Ex. 31:14-18; Neh. 10:31; 13:15-22
Jer. 17:21-27. Also, study the examples of Jesus, His disciples, and Paul in the New Testament. We found no "merchandising" was to be done. So we don't go shopping both for ourselves or where we end up making other people break the fourth commandment by having to work to serve us. Also, look forward to it as a day God has set apart to have a "date" with you. Worship, pray, sing, take naps, get out in nature, go visit the sick or "orphans and widows in their distress", attend a Sabbath church. God, in a miraculous way, led us to the "7th Day Baptist" denomination. We have also worshipped with Messianic churches. Be careful of 7th Day Adventists and their doctrine. Their doctrine says there is no Hell, even though their Bibles do. A very good book to get is "Ten Commandments Twice Removed" by Danny Shelton and Shelley Quinn. It will answer both of your questions in detail. I think my new post will be about the distinction between the law of Moses and the Ten commandments - so take a peek at it when I get it posted. Hope this has been helpful.
Post a Comment