Is it possible to lose God’s word? Once you have faith, can it be lost? The answer is “Yes,” and the Bible gives many
warnings about it. In addition to warnings
about losing one’s faith, the Bible also offers many encouragements to continue
in it. To continue in the faith, we are
to continue to listen to God’s word. A
God-lived life means devotion to God’s word and faithful study of all of
it. The Lord Jesus had commissioned his
apostles to teach “them to
observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20).
That’s all things, not just a few things or dismissing things because
they are hard or unpopular.
If we do not listen to all of God’s word, that
is like an airline mechanic who only pays attention to part of the plane. He would say, “I only pay attention to the wings. That’s all that really matters on a plane.” You ask, “What about the engine?” He says, “The wings are all that matter.” You: “Is there enough fuel?” He says, “The wings are all that matter.” You: “What about the instruments or the
wiring?” He says, “The wings are all
that matter.” Would you dare get on that
airplane? If we recognize that the inspection
of the entire plane matters because we don’t want to crash on a flight, how much
more does all of God’s word matter because we don’t want to perish eternally!
Is it possible to lose God’s word? Once you have faith, can it be lost? Not only is the answer, “Yes,” the scarier
part is that it can happen and not even be noticed. That’s what happened to the entire Israelite
nation in the days of King Josiah. The
worship had gone on at the temple as it had for decades, but it was empty
ritual. It continued as a matter of
tradition and inertia, but it no longer had any real connection to the lives of
the people. It was like that mechanic
with the plane’s wings—since the one part looked good, it was assumed that all
was good. No one recognized or cared
that their lives were in conflict with God’s word.
King Josiah had given orders to make repairs
on the temple. It was a source of
national pride, after all. There was nothing
else like Solomon’s temple in the world.
After decades of sacrifices of blood, fire, and billows of smoke, it had
lost some luster. Daily services meant
wear and tear. The temple needed maintenance
and repair. As they were working,
someone found a scroll. It was the Law
of Moses. No one had seen it in years,
apparently. It was an important enough discovery
that they reported it to King Josiah.
“When the king heard
the words of the Law, he tore his clothes” (2 Chronicles 34:19). Why? Josiah acknowledged, “Great is the wrath
of the Lord that is poured out
on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do according to all that is written in this book” (2 Chronicles
34:21).
On the one hand,
Josiah could have pleaded ignorance. Josiah’s father was a
wicked king, offering sacrifices to any and every god. His grandfather was worse, even sacrificing
babies to his gods. Those kings were influenced
by the world around them. They adopted
their customs because they wanted to be like them. The spiritual state of Judah was deplorable. The people lived for themselves. God’s word was neither craved nor missed. That is the nation Josiah was born and raised
in.
Josiah could have pleaded ignorance, but ignorance is not
innocence. Besides, ignorance almost never
ends well. The people of Pompei lived in
blissful ignorance until Mt. Vesuvius erupted.
Was it to their benefit that they did not know death was imminent? In the same way, will it be to anyone’s
benefit to stand in judgment under God’s wrath because he did not know God’s
word? Ignorance of God’s judgment will
not deliver you from it.
A God-lived life means devotion to God’s word. God’s word delivered Josiah from his ignorance,
and Josiah was alarmed. The Law of Moses
described what God’s people were to do.
Josiah recognized, “Wow, we’re not doing that.” The Law of Moses declared what God’s people
were prohibited from doing. Josiah observed,
“Wow. That’s what we do!” They had been influenced by the world around
them. Neglect of God’s word resulted in
abandonment of God’s word. It was not
until the scroll was read to Josiah that he realized how far Israel had strayed. Josiah rent his garments. He yearned for hope and for relief.
In his letter to
the Romans, St. Paul wrote, “Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction”
(Romans 15:4). This lesson serves as a warning. God’s word can be lost if we do not pay heed
to it. Our place in the kingdom can be
forsaken if we forsake a godly life. Again,
it can happen without being recognized.
Those who abandon the path of righteousness for worldly ways don’t see
the problem. They do not listen to God’s
word, so the warnings are not heard. But
they will hear many friends telling them how wonderful it is that they are
doing what makes them happy. They can
even find churches which will tell them that God did not mean what he says in
his word. This is the world we live in,
not unlike Josiah’s world. But
beware. If we adopt a worldly mindset,
then we have abandoned God’s word. We
cannot have both. It rarely happens that
a Christian suddenly decides to quit the faith.
It happens because people stop listening to God’s word and listen to
worldly wisdom instead.
Now, I suppose I
am beating on this drum a little longer than normal, but you must understand
that the world never stops preaching its message to us. We get it on TV, in movies, in music, and in
daily conversation with friends. We are
pressured to accept worldly wisdom as the right side of history or just to make
people happy. We might be vilified if we
stand firm in a God-lived life. If the world
is so persistent and pushy in what it preaches, don’t we need to be devoted to
God’s word all the more? Like Josiah, we
may discover that we have blindly bought into worldly ways and not even known
it. We just accept that that’s the way
life is. But then we hear God’s word
tell us, “This is how my people live,” and we may discover, “Wow. I am not doing that.” Or we hear God’s word tell us what God forbids
and admit, “Whoa. I never thought that
was such a big deal.” What else is there
to do but rend our hearts in penitence? A God-lived life means devotion to God’s word.
Josiah heard the
word of the Lord and he took it seriously.
He convened all the people left in the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. They recommitted themselves to the covenant
of the Lord. They vowed to order their
lives according to God’s word. It was
not just fancy words. “Josiah took
away all the abominations from all the territory that belonged to the
people of Israel” (2 Chronicles 34:33). In true repentance, they
put away their sins and everything that the Lord finds abominable. In doing so, they cast off things that had
become familiar, comfortable, and even enjoyable. But once they recognized God’s anger against those
things, they had to go. It was far
better to lose those things than to remain under God’s wrath. Then, they intentionally committed themselves
to faithful service to the Lord according to his word. A God-lived life means devotion to God’s
word.
While Josiah and the people demonstrated true
repentance, repentance does not save you.
God is the Savior. He must do the
work that saves. The covenant which
Josiah renewed was given by the God who saves.
God’s covenant extended hope for sinners. The Lord had provided sacrifices as the way
to atone for their sins. An animal was
presented as a substitute. It died on
behalf of the sinner. Its blood was poured
out for their pardon. This was no empty
ritual, but the means by which God bestowed his forgiveness and favor upon his
people.
You and I also have a blood sacrifice
which atones for all our sins. “Behold,
the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29)! All our sins have been put upon Jesus. The wrath and fury of God, which we deserve
because of our sins, have been put upon Jesus.
He was slain on our behalf for all our sins, whether done with intention
or ignorance, whether done out of weakness or awareness. Psalm 19 teaches us to pray, “Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults”
(Psalm 19:12).
This is frightening to have hidden sins. How can we repent of sins we do not even recognize? But the Lord answers our prayers. He delivers us from all our sins. His holy, precious blood was poured
out for our pardon. His innocent
sufferings and death have paid for our sins.
Jesus gave himself as a sin offering on
behalf of us. That produces great
comfort, but it does not produce any reasons continue in our sins. As it was for Josiah, so it is for us. God removes our ignorance so that we remove
from our lives everything that the Lord finds abominable. It is useless to thank God for taking away our
sins but then to say, “Well, these sins I want to hang on to.” A God-lived life means devotion to God’s word
which leads to a godly life that honors the Lord and benefits our neighbor.
Your devotion to God’s word is about
living a godly life, but it is much more about having a life that is filled
with comfort, peace, joy, and confidence.
It is about knowing the God who loves you enough to suffer damnation for
you and open the gates of heaven to you.
It is about knowing the God who does not leave you ignorant of your eternal
fate, but already renders your verdict as innocent, blameless, and holy. It is about knowing the God whose mercy moved
him to cancel your debt to him because Jesus covered the cost. It is about knowing that God does not grow
weary of your weaknesses or lose patience with your fears and doubts. Rather, he tends to your needs, feeds your
faith, protects you from the Evil One, and guides you in the right paths. God does not want you to be ignorant of that. A God-lived life means being devoted to the
words of that merciful God—a God who thinks it is worth his time to speak to
you for your comfort, for your encouragement, and for your salvation.
And when you realize how loving this God
is, won’t you also recognize that every word he says to you is good? Since he grants you eternal life, doesn’t he
also grant wisdom for living this life right now? This is why we are devoted to God’s
word. This is why we take time for meditating
on God’s word—in home devotions, in Bible Classes, and in conversation with our
families. Only Jesus has the words of
eternal life. A God-lived life means
devotion to God’s word, to the God who is devoted to you.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Due to recurring spam, all comments will now be moderated. Please be patient.