EVERYTHING OF VALUE DEPENDS UPON OUR RESPONSE TO THE WORD OF GOD

The Word of God is a foundation upon which everything of value is built. Therefore, Jesus warned:

• "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matthew 7:24-27 ESV)

We can enjoy the good things of this world like food, friends, family, and homes. However, if they are not built upon the foundation of our faithfulness to the Lord through His Word, they can all be suddenly swept away, leaving us destitute, without any hope of an eternal home.

Therefore, the consistent message of Scripture has been that wisdom, blessing, and a relationship with the Lord all depend on one thing - our response to the Word of God. Moses concluded his Five Books with the warning that obedience meant blessing and disobedience meant punishment (Deuteronomy 28-29).

Every trial or hardship that we endure is a matter of one thing - will we remain faithful to God’s Word or won’t we. (Of course, trials are also God tools to refine us.)

The extent of our love of God is also measured by our willingness to abide in His Word:

• “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.” (John 15:7-10)

The love that our Lord desires is not an ecstatic feeling but an earnest commitment to His Word. Some demean our devotion to the Scriptures as a form of idolatry, a worship of the Scriptures, which they pejoratively call “bibliolatry.” However, by whatever name they want to ascribe to it, this is exactly what our Lord expects of us:

• “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates...You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you.” (Deuteronomy 6:6-9, 17)

Everything depended upon Israel’s response to God’s commandments. In order to maximum the likelihood that Israel would keep His Word, God terrified them and put them through painful and humbling trials:

• "The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 8:1-3)

Nor could Israel pick-and-choose among God’s commands. They were to be servants of the Word and not it’s masters. Consequently, they were required to obey God’s every word. Nor could they contend that the Spirit was leading them in a different direction. The Spirit would never lead in opposition to His Word, of which He is its Author:

• knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:20-21)

Even Israel’s king had to subordinate himself to the Word:

• “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.” (Deuteronomy 17:18-20)

No one could exalt himself above the requirement of obedience to the Word in all matters.

God’s Words were immediately written down and became Scripture. Consequently, any disagreement regarding its teachings could be immediately resolved. If instead God had left Israel’s unity up to the leading of the Spirit, eventually unity and agreement would break down. Since the human heart is so deceptive, everyone would be claiming to have his own message from the Spirit without any way to resolve the conflict and restore unity:

• Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. And Moses commanded them, "At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess." (Deuteronomy 31:9-13)

There is not one indication in the Scriptures of anyone who has ever taken a single liberty with the Word of God with God’s approval. I say this to the shame of the apostate church, which promotes all forms of sin contrary to the Word. If we are claiming to trust in God while we reject parts of the Word of God, we are self-deluded. To reject His Word is to reject God, as the Prophet Nation had charged King David:

• “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah...Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die." (2 Samuel 12:7-9, 14)

To despise the Word of God was to scorn the Lord. In contrast to this, God had warned Joshua that to trust in the Lord was to abide in His Word:

• “Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” (Joshua 1:7-8)

Joshua’s response to the Word of God would determine the fate of Israel. Likewise, our response to the Word has determined the fate of the Church today and its increasing marginalization. It also determines our growth in wisdom:

• The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. (Psalms 19:7-8)

The Psalmist King David had a lot to say about this:

• Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts. I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word. I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalms 119:97-105)

The fruit of the Gospel, the Word of God, is flowing river (Psalm 1:1-3). It is salvation to those who listen:

• How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" (Romans 10:14-15)

Salvation also depends upon our response to the Word of God, the Gospel. The same principle also pertains to sanctification, spiritual growth:

• Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation. (1 Peter 2:2)

Since the entire Christian life hinges upon our response to the Word of God, it is surprising that many have exalted themselves above this Word to compromise it to their own destruction. However, they have been warned in many ways:

• “And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you...Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'” (Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6; 12:32; Revelation 22:18-19)

Everything of value is a matter of our response to God’s Words.