The Heaton File

The word of the Lord also came to me, saying, “You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.” For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place and concerning their mothers who bore them and their fathers who begot them in this land: “They shall die gruesome deaths; they shall not be lamented nor shall they be buried, but they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their corpses shall be meat for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.”

For thus says the Lord: “Do not enter the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people,” says the Lord, “lovingkindness and mercies. Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried; neither shall men lament for them, cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them. Nor shall men break bread in mourning for them, to comfort them for the dead; nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or their mother. Also you shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink.”

For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will cause to cease from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. And it shall be, when you show this people all these words, and they say to you, ‘Why has the Lord pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ Then you shall say to them, ‘Because your fathers have forsaken Me,’ says the Lord; ‘they have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them and have forsaken Me and not kept My law. And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me. Therefore I will cast you out of this land into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night, where I will not show you favor.’” (Jeremiah 16:1-13)

Jeremiah Forbidden To Marry

Being a prophet during the tumultuous times of divided Israel could be a challenging experience. God told Hosea to marry a prostitute and when Ezekiel’s wife died, he was told not to mourn her, weep for her or let tears run down his face. Jeremiah was a prophet during the days of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, until the carrying away of Jerusalem to captivity in Babylon. The Lord tells Jeremiah not to take a wife and to bear sons and daughters. In the lives of each prophet, a living example was given for the people to see the will of the Lord. Forbidding Jeremiah to marry became a sign of the severity of God’s wrath upon Judah. Knowing the fierceness of what was coming through the hand of the Babylonians, God spared Jeremiah the grief of watching his family die gruesome deaths.

The severity of God’s anger is described by the people dying from disease. No one will mourn for them or bury them, and they will lie scattered on the ground like manure. They will die from war and famine, and their bodies will be food for the vultures and wild animals. What father could bear to see his family destroyed with such ferocity as the judgment of the Lord God upon His own people? There would be no mourning or lamenting what happened to Judah. God had taken His peace away from the people. The Babylonians came by the hand of the Lord and their cruel and barbaric warfare would devastate the people and the land. There would be no lovingkindness or mercy from the Lord. Young and old would die. There will be so many dead bodies, and no one will take time to bury the corpses. All joy and hope would be taken away. Babylon would come as the scourge of the Lord God Almighty in great wrath.

Because of the sins of the people, the Lord took away His presence from the land. Babylon would be allowed, through the will of God, to destroy Judah. The Babylonians marched into the Temple and entered the Most Holy of Holies with impunity. They took the holy items of the Temple with no resistance. In 586 B.C., the House of the Lord, built by Solomon more than three hundred years earlier, burned. The city of Jerusalem was left in ruin, smoldering as a heap of stone and broken gates. All the glory of Israel was taken away. It would be seventy years before a remnant would return to a city destroyed. Jeremiah would preach the message of doom to a forsaken people and his life would show the veracity of the will of God. The prophet was forbidden to marry in part to spare his family from the incredible hardships. It was also to prove to rebellious Judah that God’s word was true.

The people could not understand why God had deserted them. All the disasters that came against them puzzled the people. They did not understand why the Lord would allow such a thing to take place. Jeremiah would tell them it was because their fathers had forsaken the Lord and the people of Jeremiah’s day had done worse than their fathers. The previous generations were unfaithful to God and worshiped other gods and served them. They abandoned the Lord and did not obey the word of God. Jeremiah tells the people they were worse than their ancestors! They stubbornly followed their own evil desires and refused to listen to the pleas of a loving Father. God’s wrath was all that was left. Jeremiah became a symbol of the severity of that wrath.

God does not forbid anyone from marrying but the prophet Jeremiah remains a powerful illustration of the judgment of the Lord upon unrighteous nations and ungodly people. Those who deny the reality of perdition do not understand the parable of Jeremiah. Judgment is real against those who forsake the Lord. As the Lord cast out His own people from the land, the righteousness of God will cast out those who serve the gods of this world. Sin damns a soul and the promise of God is real. Jeremiah was forbidden to marry to tell a lesson still relevant to modern man.

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:26-27)

Gender Identity

President Abraham Lincoln loved to employ a brain-teaser to make a point to his citizens. He would ask, “How many legs would a sheep have if you called his tail a leg?” Naturally, they would answer, “Five.” Lincoln would correct them by telling them, “You are mistaken. The sheep would still have just four legs. Calling something a leg doesn’t make it so.” In a recent news report, students at a university were upset the administration allowed “cis men” to come into their dorms to install heaters. The dorms were the residence of women and transgenders. The residents felt threatened by the “cis men” coming into their rooms. This was not an episode of Star Trek where the Klingons were attacking with “cis men” but rather a gender identification model that now identifies a person with perverted gender identification.

Cisgender describes a person whose gender identity is the same as their sex assigned at birth. The word cisgender is the antonym of transgender. Remarkably, society has finally turned full circle in the corruption of the moral compass to require the identification of those who are declared cisgender as opposed to transgender. If a man is a heterosexual (another gender identification) remaining in his identification as a male, he is labeled a “cis man.” Others are then identified by their decision to be whatever they identify themselves to be.

The irony of the conversation of cis men is that all men are cis men and all women are cis women. A man who calls himself a woman is still a man and when a woman wants to identify as a male, she remains a female. Changing the outward appearance, taking chemicals to alter various aspects of the human body or undergoing surgery does not change a man to a woman or a woman to a man. In other words, Bruce Jenner is still Bruce Jenner – regardless of what he looks like or identifies himself as being something different. What the immoral pundits of gender identity fail to understand and believe is that when God created humanity, He made them male and female in His image. There are two parts of a person: the physical and the spiritual. Man can change the physical but he cannot change the spiritual.

All men are eternal beings created by God – in His image. Throughout the Bible, the scriptures identify humanity as male and female. The animals were created as male and female. There is no transgendering among the animals because they know they are what God created them to be. Men can dress like a woman but what God sees is a man in a woman’s clothing. A man can identify himself as a woman and God will continue to view him as a man. What the world does not understand is the breath of life and eternal spirit of man cannot be changed by the will of men. Jesus said God created in the beginning male and female and that remains unchanged.

When every soul stands before God, they will be what they are at birth – male and female. God will judge men and women according to the spirit they were created at conception. Salvation will be determined by how a man and woman live as men and women in this world. Sexual perversion is an abomination in the eyes of God. The Lord desires for no one to be lost but those who follow the path of sexual perversion will be identified as male and female in the eyes of God and then condemned for perverting the creation of God. Homosexuality is against the will of God. Attempts at transgender is an exercise in futility. Morphing into whatever gender identification desired by the lust of the flesh will face the wrath of God. There are only males and females and that is how it will always be. Everyone is “cisgender” because what a man or woman is at birth is what they will be in death. Sin will never change that truth.

And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7)

God Abounds In Goodness

It did not take long for the children of Israel to turn away from God and seek after the golden calves of Egypt. While Moses was on the mountain receiving the law from the Lord, the people urged Aaron to make them gods to worship. Aaron created a golden calf, and the people rose early in the morning offering burnt offerings, peace offerings, and playing the whoredom of idolatry. Moses returned from the mountain in anger and threw the commandments of stone down, pulverized the calf to powder and made the people drink the water filled with its residue. Three thousand men died that day and the Lord plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made. The Lord relented from the destruction he sought against the Hebrews and Moses was instructed to make new tablets to write the commandments upon. God renews the covenant with Israel and the journey to the promised land begins.

The Lord showed His great power to the Hebrews through the plagues, death of the firstborn, miracle at the Red Sea and the defeat of the Amalekites. There should be no reason for them to doubt His power and might to accomplish whatever He determined for His nation. Sadly, the heart of the people lacked the commitment and devotion to follow the Lord fully. After the incident of the golden calf, God shows Moses the measure of mercy and grace toward a rebellious people. The character of Jehovah God is merciful, gracious, longsuffering and abounding in goodness and truth. All of these attributes are essential to understanding who God is and why He does what He does. It would be easy for the Lord to destroy the whole nation and begin anew. He does not.

God is good to Israel because God is good. His goodness is abundant, plentiful, rich, and full of divine grace beyond measure. God is not good because He does good things; He is good because that is what He is – fully. He will not forget His people, and He will not abandon them, treat them with indifference, or neglect them. Everything about the character of God is the goodness He showers upon the rebellious hearts of men. Adam and Eve rejected His will and the goodness of God saved them. The world turned completely away from the Lord, but the goodness of the Lord spared eight souls in the ark. Humanity rejects the will of God, and the Father sends His only begotten Son to die for everyone. Sin troubles the lives of the righteous and yet the goodness of the Lord forgives.

God is good but He will not allow the guilty to go unpunished. The goodness of God should not convince the ungodly they will be spared from judgment. Forgiveness comes only to those who seek the mercy of the Lord as they change their hearts through godly sorrow. Mercy is only offered to the righteous. God is good as found in Jesus Christ. The goodness of God is found in His word that tells men how to be saved. On the final day of judgment, the goodness of God will be the measuring stick for those who are saved and those who are lost. For those who are saved, God’s goodness abounds every day looking forward to the abundance of glory found in Heaven. God is good. Thank God.

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. For the Earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned. (Hebrews 6:4-8)

The Point Of No Return

It is difficult to imagine the possibility of the impossibility of salvation. There is rooted in the creation of man a need for self-preservation. The instinct of survival is foremost in the spirit of every person. Doing harm to self is against the norm of who and what a man must be. This is recognized in the physical world as those in life-threatening situations make herculean efforts to fight for survival. Great stories of personal triumph are told when against all odds, a man survives a catastrophic event from a natural disaster, accident, or facing certain death. Courage marks the course for those who defy death. Sadly, that is not found in the spiritual world where sin is the doom of man.

The tragedy of the book of Hebrews is found in the stories of those who had enjoyed the blessings of God’s grace, mercy, and love and had turned their back on the Divine gift of salvation over time. Many saints were challenged in their faith and remained resilient to the cause of Christ. These bold warriors of Christ refused to draw back to perdition, believing to the saving of their souls. But some had turned so completely away from God, there was no hope. This was not a casual departure from truth. There were men and women who had been enlightened with the gospel of Christ through the preaching of the word. They had tasted the heavenly gift of divine grace and imbibed deeply in its mercy. When they obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ in baptism, they had received the gift of the Holy Spirit, becoming a partaker of the Holy Spirit. The word of God had filled their hearts with the manna from above. Leaving unchecked the power of sin, these same men and women succumbed to the temptations of Satan and turned their back on God, rejected Jesus Christ, and denied the Holy Spirit.

There can come a time in the life of a child of God they so totally rebel against God that nothing can be done to renew them to grace. It is impossible to renew them again to repentance. Their hearts are hardened as deeply as the heart of Pharoah, who defied Moses and the wrath of God. The Old Testament is filled with stories of God’s people, the promised nation of righteousness, who turned their backs entirely on God. Ahab was one of the most wicked kings of Israel and he was a Jew, a child of Abraham. Nothing could redeem him. In the body of Christ, Satan fills the hearts of the unsuspecting and through deceit and lies, corrupts the heart to the point of no return. It is impossible to renew them again.

The reality of total apostasy is a difficult concept to accept but it is real. It must have been difficult for the Hebrew author to pen those words with the probable knowledge of whom he spoke. The early Christians suffered greatly and while many remained loyal to the cause of Christ, many turned their backs and walked with Jesus no more. All the pleas and warnings of others could not and would not bring them back. The reality of total apostasy is alarming. This knowledge should arm the souls of the courageous to fight more valiantly for the cause of Christ, seeking the assurance of divine blessing to remain faithful and true. There must be diligent efforts to seek out those who are going the path of no return. All energy must be given before that place in the road is reached where there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin and it is impossible to renew them again. More importantly, I must guard against the wiles of the devil who would desire me to give up my hope and deny my faith. God give me courage.

When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” (Matthew 8:1-4)

Tell No One You Were Healed

Leprosy was the most dreaded disease of Bible times. There was no cure and death was a slow and agonizing process. Lepers were required by the Law of Moses to separate from all people shouting out “unclean” if they walked among a crowd. Following his sermon on the mountain, Jesus was approached by a leper who came and worshiped him. What makes the story incredible is to turn the clock back a short time when the leper heard Jesus was in the area. He knew his disease was a certain death sentence. How long he had been a leper is not known. For all reasons, there was nothing that could be done for him. Hearing Jesus was in the area, the man resolved withing himself to seek out Jesus and beg for healing.

As the multitude followed Jesus, the leper approached Jesus. This immediately created an awkward situation as those in the crowd fell backward from the leprose man. No one would have come near him for fear of contracting the disease. It took great courage and faith for the man to come to Jesus and worship him. Also, the man’s faith was so great; he told Jesus that if he were willing, he would heal him of his impossible disease. This was an incredible measure of faith to come to Jesus earnestly seeking what he believed Jesus could do. He did not ask Jesus if he could heal him but that he believed Jesus could heal him. Faith on this level was rare for those who followed Jesus.

The Lord immediately granted the request with a heart of compassion as he put his hand on the man and healed. The first miracle was the touch of Jesus. Leprosy created a world where only other lepers would touch their fellow lepers. Family members would have to abandon their loved ones. Leprosy took away the joy of touching. Jesus did not hesitate. He put out his hand and touched the leper, and cleansed him of the disease. Immediately the leprosy was cleansed. The feeling of the man at that instant was remarkable beyond description.

After Jesus heals the leper of the most terrible disease imagined, the Lord gives him strict instructions. He tells the healed man not to tell anyone. The former leper must go and show himself to the priest according to the Law of Moses and make the appropriate sacrifice. To be proclaimed clean of leprosy, the man would take two living and clean birds, cedarwood, scarlet, and hyssop. Following the examination by the priest, the man could return home. Faithfulness to the law was required even for miracles.

When the man returned home, it would be clear he was no longer a leper. The Holy Spirit does not tell us how he explained to his family his healing. Jesus knew it would be evident to everyone the leper was no longer a leper. There could be many reasons for the man to be cured of leprosy. Jesus forbade the man from making a public proclamation of his healing.

There is wisdom in the request, as difficult as it might have been. At first glance, it would be hard not to tell everyone what great things Jesus had done. To be cured of leprosy was one of the great miracles of the Lord. Yet, Jesus told the man not to tell anyone. There was a subtle lesson in the request of Jesus for the man to remain silent. Being healed of leprosy was a powerful manifestation of the power of Jesus but the greater mission of Jesus was to cure the heart. The former leper would rejoice in being healed of such a dreaded disease but he still faced the reality of death. Instead of spending his life telling how he was cured of leprosy, he needed to share the news of the man who was God that healed him and gave him eternal hope. His spiritual healing was more important. Be humble. Live without the accolades and curiosity of men. Be a servant.

It would be hard not to tell everyone from the housetops to the mountains of the healing but the man learned a lesson about what is more important than physical healing. Seeing the power of Jesus should have changed the man’s life. There is much to the story that longs to be told. Did the former leper become one of the early servants in the Lord’s church a few years later? There is hope he brought his family into the kingdom of Christ. On more than one occasion, Jesus told those he healed to tell no man. The greater lesson points beyond the physical healing to the one who brought the power of the Divine to show the sonship of Jesus Christ. It was a blessing for Jesus to heal the leper. What made the miracle greater was the obedient heart of the man seeking the blessings of God. Tell no man you were healed but tell everyone you are saved.

And he stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with stringed instruments, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, of Gad the king’s seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for thus was the commandment of the Lord by his prophets. (2 Chronicles 29:25)

God Commands Musical Instruments In Worship

Music has been in the world from the beginning of time. Seven generations from Adam was a man called Jubal, the father of all those who play the harp and the flute. The appeal of music is part of creation as God formed man to be inventive to write music and invent many different kinds of instruments. When Moses gave the law to the people, there was music on stringed instruments, harps with eight strings and ten strings, lyres, cymbals, loud cymbals, timbrels, flutes, tambourines, lutes, trumpets, horns, instruments of fir wood, and sistrums.

David was a skilled harp player and invented many musical instruments. When David brought the ark to Jerusalem, there were singers and Chenaniah the music master with the singers accompanying the occasion. At the dedication of the Temple, Solomon had thousands of musicians singing and playing instruments. The book of Psalms is filled with musical instruments as praise to the Lord glorified Him with the sound of the lute, harp, timbrel, stringed instruments, flutes, cymbals, and clashing cymbals. Praise to the Lord filled the earth with musical instruments and singing. God was richly praised by the music of men worshiping Him with great fervor.

During the reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah, a period of restoration swept across the nation. One of the most important acts of Hezekiah was to restore temple worship. The king repaired the temple and commanded the priests to make offerings to the Lord. He stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with stringed instruments, and with harps. When the sacrifices were made, the Levites with the instruments of David and the priests with the trumpets began playing along with the singers as the sacrifices were made. They sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshiped. Hezekiah sought to restore temple worship to honor God. He gathered the musicians to play on the instruments of David according to the command of David, of Gad the king’s seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for it was the commandment of the Lord by His prophets.

Musical instruments were used in temple worship by the direct command of God. Prophets like Gad and Nathan were divinely instructed to included musical instruments in the worship, and Hezekiah was obedient to that command. God commanded the use of musical instruments in the Law of Moses, and those who faithfully followed the law included musical instruments in their worship. Nearly three hundred years after David, the king understood the law of God. He gathered the singers and musicians to restore temple worship in accordance with the command of God.

When the New Testament church began on the day of Pentecost, there were devout Jews who became the first converts to the gospel of Jesus Christ. These men were well versed in the commands of the Law of Moses. The apostles’ preaching pricked their hearts, and they gladly received the word of truth. The first members of the church of Christ were Jews who were familiar with the use of instruments of music. They had long followed the commands and traditions of their forefathers in worship, which included musical instruments. For a short time, the gospel was taken to the Jews, but then the family of Cornelius became Gentile converts. Greeks used instruments of worship in their religion. The early church was filled with Jews and Greeks, and all of them were familiar with musical instruments.

Hezekiah restored temple worship and included instruments of music because it was a command of God. The New Testament church began with devout Jews and then Gentile converts who never once mentioned using instruments of music in worship. There is not a single passage of authority in the New Testament where the early church used an instrument in worship. The absence of musical instruments in the New Testament church is evident by the authority of God. At no time did the early church engage in worship with a musical instrument because God never commanded it. History shows the instruments were not introduced until much later and under heavy criticism. It was not until the 8^th Century the organ was introduced.

God commanded musical instruments in the Law of Moses. He never suggested the use of instruments in the New Testament. What the early saints did to worship God was to sing. That is the kind of music commanded by God. This was the only music mentioned by the early church. Authority matters in the mind of God, and when men do what He has not commanded, they sin. Musical instruments are never authorized or permitted in the New Testament church. As Charles Spurgeon said, “We might as well pray by machinery as praise by it.” 

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the Earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. (2 Peter 3:10)

Two Realities Few Believe

It is said that death and taxes are the two certainties of life but the two realities of life are found in Peter’s warning of the impending return of the Lord and the total destruction of the known world. Everyone agrees death is certain and every Spring taxes come due. Nobody likes paying taxes and everybody loathes what death brings. The certainties of life come with an accepted norm that all will die and the government will require its pound of flesh. Sadly, the greater reality beyond death and taxes is the eternal question of life being governed by a higher being that has reserved the known universe for destruction and the accountability of humanity. The day of the Lord is the most real thing a person can know. What the day of the Lord brings is the second most real thing that every soul should understand. Life for all humanity will end, and then comes a judgment.

Many pundits warn of the impending destruction of the world by global warming. Some have suggested a depletion of the ozone and pollution from fossil fuels or a host of other man-made calamities could bring the human race to an end. There is nothing further from the truth. Without reservation and any possible truth to the claim, nothing within the arsenal of man’s power could destroy planet earth. Nuclear holocaust, supposed global warming, and whatever level of air pollution is used to scare the population into believing the great lie of human power it pales in comparing who rules the world and the universe. Humanity can and never will destroy the world because that is left in the hands of the One who created the world and the universe.

God is coming back one day. He made that promise two thousand years ago and He has not forgotten. Death will take the lives of hundreds of thousands of people every day and this will continue unabated until the Lord God decides to send His Son. Oil spills will fill the oceans and skies will fill with pollution, but the power of nature will continue to cleanse and purify the environment as it has done from the beginning. Yes, man can harm the environment, but he can never destroy the planet. That judgment is left in the hands of the mighty God who formed the world from the abyss of nothing. When the Lord returns, planet earth will explode in a fiery ball. The moon will become a mass of dust, and the sun will burst into nothing. Every planet and all the stars will erupt in the fiery wrath of God, and in an instant – the universe will cease to exist.

When the Lord returns and the world is burned up and the universe destroyed, all life on Earth will also be burned up. The first reality is that when the Lord returns, every soul on Earth will lose their carnal bodies, but they will retain their spiritual image of the Almighty. When a man dies, his body returns to the dust from whence it came, but his eternal spirit returns to God who gave it. At the coming of Christ and the destruction of the world, the body will dissolve into nothingness amidst the burning heat of God’s wrath, but the eternal nature of man will be transported to the presence of the Creator – Lord, God Almighty. The Earth ends, but humanity does not.

There are two certainties that all men must consider. The certainty of the universe being destroyed is incredible and universal, but that is not the most important part of the story. The second certainty of the world’s destruction will be an instant in time and become the abyss of blackness again. The first certainty is the coming of Christ to gather all men together for a judgment of righteousness, truth, and justice. That is what all men should know and fear. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, and most will be unprepared. Disbelieving in the return of Christ and the destruction of the world does not change reality and its certainty. There is a great day coming. It will be a loud and powerful scene when the world explodes. The greater noise will be the sound of those unprepared to meet their God – and it will be too late. Two realities. Whether you believe the second one is not as important as whether you are prepared for the first one.

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” Therefore let no one boast in men. (1 Corinthians 3:18-21)

One of the effective tools of Satan in destroying the work of God is to infiltrate the church with the wisdom of men and neglecting the word of God. Human wisdom is an appealing philosophy that can corrupt the authority of scripture to resemble truth but not be the truth. In the church at Corinth, the carnal mind divided saints into camps of allegiance based upon a man instead of Jesus Christ. The church was filled with contentions as some appealed to their allegiance to Paul, while others claimed to follow Apollos, and others put Peter up as their favorite. Human wisdom corrupted the unity of the church over the factions of the word of men. The result was the church became fractured over doctrinal, moral, and issues of authority. Through the wisdom of the world, the Corinthian church had become filled with envy, strife, and divisions.

After showing the futility of their divisions, Paul declares to the saints the wisdom of the world is foolishness and must be rejected. The self-deception of human wisdom led the disciples to vain deceit in their wisdom rather than the word of God. Every time God’s will is supplanted with the word of men, chaos, and confusion follow. By the world’s standards, the Corinthians looked wise. Looking at the church through the divine eyes of the Lord, the Corinthians were foolish. The philosophies of men have never helped man achieve his potential. Party affiliations bring division. Seeking the glory of self-worth creates disharmony. Unity comes when speak the same thing by the word of God that is unchangeable. God does not desire for divisions to be in the church. Unity is found when all the saints are perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Jesus built His church on one foundation – the word of God. The church can only grow when men reject the “good ideas” of human wisdom for the one truth. God is not impressed with the world’s wisdom, and the Father calls it what it is: foolishness. Paul quoted one of Job’s critical friends who said, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness.” This is a telling quote as Paul used the criticism of human wisdom seeking to understand divine law. Eliphaz was wrong (as were his two friends) about what was happening with Job. From a human standpoint, the three friends of Job found cause to condemn him. When they sought to comfort Job with human wisdom, they failed. Then Paul quotes the psalmist who declares that God is a refuge to those who are righteous and seek the knowledge of God.

The word of men is where men find their boast. There is nothing to brag about in the wisdom of men unless it mirrors the word of God. Human wisdom has done many wonderful things to alleviate the suffering of humanity. What it cannot do is to relieve the burden of sin. Only the word of God can accomplish the destruction of the flesh. When human wisdom is used to solve the human equation and burden of sin, it fails miserably. The wisdom of the world is foolishness when it comes to eternal life. There is only one Author, one Truth, one Way, and one Life. Let no one deceive themselves. If someone thinks they are wise by the world’s standards, they need to become a fool to be truly wise.

Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations. They have no knowledge, who carry the wood of their carved image, and pray to a god that cannot save. Tell and bring forth your case; yes, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this from ancient time? Who has told it from that time? Have not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me. Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself; the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath. (Isaiah 45:20-23)

The contrast between the one true living God and a wooden carved image is stark. An idol is formed by a man who cuts down a tree, uses some of the wood to build and fire and cook his food, and the other part is formed into an image of a created being. He then falls down and asks his wooden carved image to save him. Isaiah declares those who worship idols are stupid or without knowledge. An idol cannot move itself. It requires its maker to carry it and protect it. There is no salvation in a wooden idol. The injustice of idolatry is there is no power, knowledge, love, grace, mercy, and justice. Idolatry is created by the imagination of man to fill his own desires. There is no God like Jehovah because He is a just God and a God that saves.

God is a just God, not because He does right things, but because His nature is Just. Everything about Him is right, and everything that is right derives its meaning from Him. There is nothing that God has done that is not just. When the world was formed, God declared that it was good. Through the just nature of a perfect Creator, the Lord created a universe that declares His glory through every generation. The sun, moon, and stars that fill the sky are the same sun, moon, and stars that filled the heavens gazed upon by Adam and Eve. Creation is a testimony of the character of God as being just. The world and its wonders are right because God is a just God.

The fall of man created the vacuum of morality that must find its meaning either by the will of God or the will of man. Sadly, since the beginning of time, the majority of humanity has accepted the will of man as the moral compass of what is right and wrong. The Bible is the testimony of how just God is. When the world was destroyed in the days of Noah, it was accomplished by the hand of a just and righteous God. It was right to destroy the world as well as save the eight souls in the ark. The destruction of Egypt when the Lord delivered Israel followed the divine pattern of a just God. Everything He did was an act of justice or rightness. God punished His own people allowing the Assyrians to destroy the ten tribes and the Babylonians to take the remnant captive. The rising and falling of nations like Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome were fulfilled with the divine will of a just God.

Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners giving His life a ransom for all men. God is a just God through the grace of a loving Father, allowing His Son to be killed by men on a cross. It was the right thing to do. An idol could not have saved man. No man could save another man. Only the blood of Jesus unfolded the abundant love of God to save worthless men from their sin. There is no other God like the Father who shows His will as just and His purpose to save man. There is none besides the one true living God. Jesus said He was the only way, truth, and life to the Father. Only a just God would open an avenue of grace through His only begotten Son. Nothing created by man can match the love of God.

The word of God is how men know the character of a just God. His word reveals all that God has done to man and for man. The word has gone out by the mouth of God in righteousness and will never return to Him void or meaningless. Most men reject God’s word, but this same word will be the book opened in judgment where every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, and the Father rules. His justice will be determined on the final day. All that stand before the Father at judgment will know He is a just God. When they hear the sentence of death to be cast into a lake of fire and brimstone, they will agree it is the right thing to be done. God is a just God, and His word is righteousness. Those who are saved will understand the depth of God’s love and how just a God He is. The forgiveness of sins is the hallmark of God’s love for a man to show that He is right when He takes away sin through the blood of Jesus. God forgives sins, not because it is the right thing to do; it is who God is.

God is a just God. There is nothing in man’s character that finds truth, justice, and love as it does in the nature of the Divine. Comparing God to anything created by man is useless. The word of God is true and righteous. Salvation is perfected in Christ. Grace embraces the worthless nature of sinful man before a just God who is willing to forgive. Everything God does, says, and promises is just. Everything.

And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. (Acts 11:26)

Be A Christian First

Jeff Himmel relates the story of when he was in business school, Japan was the dominant economic challenger in the world. During the course of study in world business affairs, the focus was given to learn the customs of the Japanese. One such custom had to do with how they introduced themselves to others. Whenever someone would ask the name of someone in Japan, they would first tell them the company they worked for and then tell them their individual name. For example, a man working for Yamaha would first answer where he worked before telling his name. His value of what he did in life was greater than who he was. Jeff made a great point in the spiritual world that this is how Christians should live their life.

Everything about the life of a Christian begins with being a Christian. When the disciples at Antioch were first called Christians, there was a reason. Something in the pagan world stood out in the minds of those who recognized the disciples as followers of Jesus Christ. The attitudes of the disciples of Antioch impressed the world with who they were following. A Christian is a person who is a follower of Christ. Apparently, this was evident by those who saw the Antioch disciples interact with the community, one another, and the Roman government. Christians paid their taxes because Jesus said to render to Caesar what belongs to him. As a disciple of Jesus, forgiveness was a common trait among those of the church at Antioch. In the face of persecution, the disciples of Christ did not revile in return but accepted their plight with joy to suffer like Christ.

Too many Christians follow the example of Nicodemus, who came to Jesus at night. John does not disclose the reason for the visit under the cloak of darkness, but many of the leading Jews hid their faith in the man from Nazareth. In a dark world of compromise, many of God’s people move easily among the shadows of the world without anyone knowing they are disciples of Jesus Christ. Everyone should be identified as a Christian first before any other information is given about a person’s life. If an employer does not know his employee is a Christian, they should be ashamed. The community must be able to identify every member of the Lord’s body by the life they live, and the message shared in their lives. Neighbors should not have to wonder where the Christian is going every Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday. As members of a local community, the home where the Christian lives are easily identifiable. Jesus warned those who were ashamed of Him in this life would be put to shame at the judgment.

Make a practice to let others know of the importance of Christ in your life. The disciples at Antioch were called Christians because their life reflected the glory of the risen Christ. Whether the name was given in derision or not, it was a name labeled after a manner of life that identified a person as a follower of Jesus. Let Jesus shine in your life. Show the world what is first!