PRÉCIS ON THE CALL TO OBEDIENCE II: WHY IT’S STILL IMPORTANT TO DO THE RIGHT THING

SCRIPTURE. “You shall not do at all what we are doing here [in the camp] today, every man doing whatever is right in his [own] eyes. For you have not yet come to the resting place and to the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you.” – DEUTERONOMY 12:8-9, AMP

KEY TERM: “WHATEVER IS RIGHT.” ‘Yashar’ [יָשָׁר]: “‘Straight’ [as with God’s measuring rod [or plummet line]; upright, just, ethical, moral; that which is right in God’s eyes; equitable; ‘the level way that is pleasing [to God];’ conformity to the will of God, or to His Law, the perfect Standard of Truth and Justice; in the literal sense, ‘right’ is a straight line of conduct, and ‘wrong’ a crooked one.”

QUOTATION. “‘A life of integrity’ usually begins with saying no to compromise, facing the truth and doing what is right, even when it is difficult. It’s been said that if you have integrity, nothing else matters. But it’s also true that if you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.” – STEVE GOODIER, Author, A Life that Makes a Difference,’ 2002; edited

COMMENTARY. “Moses points out that heretofore they had not observed the prescribed order in their worship, because during their migratory life in the wilderness it had been impossible to do so. During their wanderings there were doubtless times when the Tabernacle was not set up for days together, and when the daily sacrifice (Numbers 28:3), together with many other ordinances, were necessarily omitted (compare Joshua 5:5). This consideration must be carefully borne in mind throughout Deuteronomy. It illustrates the necessity for a repetition of very much of the Sinaitic Legislation and suggests the reason why some parts are so urgently reiterated and impressed, while others are left unnoticed.

Moses now warns the people that as they were about to quit their unsettled mode of life, God’s purpose of choosing for Himself a place to set His Name there would be executed, and the whole of the sacred ritual would consequently become obligatory. The rest and safety of Canaan is significantly laid down (Deuteronomy 12:10-11) as the indispensable condition [of careful obedience] and basis for an entire fulfillment of the Law:’ The perfection of righteousness coinciding thus with the cessation of wanderings, dangers, and toils.” – ALBERT BARNES, Notes on the Old and New Testament, 1884; edited

DK: CONTEMPORARY BLINDNESS. One of the members of our online community recently sent me a sermon clip from TIM BYLER, lead pastor of “Connection Church,” a typical independent Charismatic body. You know, fancy, contemporary worship, glib and confident pastor with lots of sports analogies (Lord how I tire of them!), who rightly started to lambaste the sons of Samuel and Eli and got to Saul, and I found myself encouraged.

Till this happened.

While he properly castigated Legalism in standard form, he dared to extend the false doctrine that it was ‘No longer important for Christians to be moral.’ That distinguishing the differences between right and wrong was all covered at the Cross, and we need not bother.

Similarly (and this will not earn me friends), just listened to BIG DADDY WEAVE sing one of my favorite tunes of his, “Redeemed” (2012) but for the first time heard the following lyrical refrains:

“Son, stop fighting a fight, it’s already been won.”

So, what’s the big deal that sent me nearly into apoplexy on Powers Boulevard on the way to work today? “Stop fighting a fight? It’s already been won?” Beloved, every single day a true Christian must dress out in armor and make sometimes bloody spiritual war against This Present Darkness as FRANK PERETTI’S wonderful 1986 book put it.

‘To Be God’s Light, beloved!’

But The Big Daddy is merely repeating ‘the soft gospel’ we have been hearing in Church for decades now. I could name other pop Christian artists (LAUREN DAIGLE, another previous favorite of mine who could not hold God’s doctrinal ground in a recent interview about her gay friends).

If you wonder why I so often travail, this is why, beloved. Dearest Lord! And we wonder why America and the Church is in utter Doctrinal Chaos, and why the Nation is about to reelect its first Fascist Dictator? I don’t wonder, but remain aghast, and grieved, and yes, outraged at what “We” (Christians) have done to our God and His priceless Words.

THE PENALTY. Unmistakably, inarguably, the Spiritual Penalty for such rancid, arrogant Rebellion is this: “You shall NOT entire the Land of Promise!” That is to say, you will not join the Messiah in the clouds at the Rapture. You WILL be consigned to the Seven Year horrors of the Great Tribulation. And depending on your theology, you may or may not have any more opportunity for salvation.

Read it for yourselves and decide before God, with great fear and trembling, the precise meaning of this passage.

“For [it is impossible to restore to repentance] those who have once been enlightened [spiritually] and who have tasted and consciously experienced the heavenly gift and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted and consciously experienced the good word of God and the powers of the age (world) to come, and then have fallen away—it is impossible to bring them back again to repentance, since they again nail the Son of God on the cross [for as far as they are concerned, they are treating the death of Christ as if they were not saved by it], and are holding Him up again to public disgrace.” – HEBREWS 6:4-6, AMP

Make no mistake here: Jesus the Christ shall suffer no “Sunshine Patriots” to the City of God. There shall be ‘Obedience alongside Grace,’ beloved, since “faith without works is dead” (James 2:17). Pray for those Pastors, therefore, who defy such Orthodoxy.

Perhaps we might still be able to snatch some from ‘The Fire’ before the Lion of Judah Returns, beloved, to set all things “Straight and Right” once and for all.