Post by John on Aug 6, 2019 17:33:43 GMT -5
I was reading the words of a false teacher recently, and he was saying that how we view God determines how close we can get to him. I don't doubt for one second that there is truth to that, but the problem was, we were supposed to all come to the conclusion that God is a loving Father figure, and nothing we do will ever cause God to be anything but this kind Daddy to us. By believing this myth, we are all supposed to love God more and be closer to him than someone who actually reads the entire Bible and sees that God can be pushed too far. You can anger him to the point where he brings judgement, even upon his own children. The false teacher I spoke of carefully chose only an isolated verse or two in order to act as though he had backed up what he said. Does God care about our performance, meaning does he do anything more than make us feel uncomfortable when we sin? Here is just one passage of scripture to consider from Amos 2:4-16. This is God speaking about his own people, not unbelievers.
Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked: But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.
How can this be? A loving Father is judging his precious children based on performance? He is actually going to punish them because they have despised his laws and failed to keep his commandments? Knowing this, how does it effect your relationship with the Heavenly Father? Does it make you so fearful, you can't talk to him, but you hide from his presence? Does it cause you to walk at a distance? I don't know about you, but it doesn't effect me that way.
Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes; That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name: And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.
Why is Daddy going to punish his children? They sinned. Their performance wasn't up to par. They took advantage of the poor, they were guilty of fornication and worshipping false gods. Does this effect how close you walk with the Lord? Does knowing that God will judge his own children for their poor performance make you walk at a distance? Again, it doesn't effect me that way.
Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.
Before we continue, why did it take them 40 years to possess the land of the Amorite? Does anyone remember? Performance! They sinned by refusing to obey God's orders to go in and possess the land. Unbelief. They didn't believe God could help them defeat enemies stronger than them, so they refused to go into Canaan. How did Daddy deal with this rebellion? He made them wander in the wilderness 40 years till everyone 20 years old and above died, except for the only 2 spies that believed, Joshua and Caleb. Daddy wouldn't even allow Moses to enter Canaan. Why? Because of performance. He struck the rock to get water rather than speaking to the rock as God told him to. Does knowing this cause you to walk at a distance? Again, not me.
And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD. But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not. Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.
What did they do wrong here? Nazarites were not allowed to have any kind of strong drink, and they were given wine. God sent prophets to the people, and rather than listening to them, they commanded them not to Prophesy. Daddy is upset with his children for these offenses. What will he do? Make them miserable and sad? It is a bit worse than that.
Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself: Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself: neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself. And he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith the LORD.
Here is what some will say. They will claim that all that happened is that God took his hedge of protection away from his children to show them their need for him. That is why they are in trouble, but that is not the picture we are given. He is speaking of people who are strong and mighty, but they still are defeated. That means God is fighting against them, sort of like when God fought for them against their enemies in the land of Canaan when they were weak. But if you are not convinced, the next passage we shall look at in Amos 3:1-8 proves it.
HEAR this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. Can two walk together, except they be agreed? Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing? Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all?
Before we look at the last three verses I want to examine, notice a couple of things. Daddy God tells his precious, spoiled and rebellious children he is going to punish them. The things that are coming upon them are from him, and they are the result of poor performance, iniquities, sins. You can't walk with God unless you are walking in agreement with God. Does knowing this about our loving Father make you walk further away from him? Not me.
Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? SHALL THERE BE EVIL IN A CITY, AND THE LORD HATH NOT DONE IT?
Look at that closely. He has given us example after example of various things that we know are so, and then comes back with this question. Just as the other things were true, so is this. The evil that has come to their cities was done by the Lord. He brought it to pass to punish them.
Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?
So before God brings evil upon the city to punish the people, he gives the information to his prophets to warn them. The problem is, people will come to the place where they don't want to hear warnings. They want to hear nothing but soothing messages about their loving Father who will love them and only do them good no matter what they do. As a result, we see they "commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not." Try to warn them, and they stop up their ears. They do everything they can to keep them quiet. Does anything I said make you more likely to walk at a distance from God? Personally, it has no effect on how close I walk with God. It does cause me to fear God. It does cause me to realize that there are serious consequences for sin, so I need to walk upright, but it doesn't make me more likely to walk afar off from God.
Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked: But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.
How can this be? A loving Father is judging his precious children based on performance? He is actually going to punish them because they have despised his laws and failed to keep his commandments? Knowing this, how does it effect your relationship with the Heavenly Father? Does it make you so fearful, you can't talk to him, but you hide from his presence? Does it cause you to walk at a distance? I don't know about you, but it doesn't effect me that way.
Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes; That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name: And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.
Why is Daddy going to punish his children? They sinned. Their performance wasn't up to par. They took advantage of the poor, they were guilty of fornication and worshipping false gods. Does this effect how close you walk with the Lord? Does knowing that God will judge his own children for their poor performance make you walk at a distance? Again, it doesn't effect me that way.
Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.
Before we continue, why did it take them 40 years to possess the land of the Amorite? Does anyone remember? Performance! They sinned by refusing to obey God's orders to go in and possess the land. Unbelief. They didn't believe God could help them defeat enemies stronger than them, so they refused to go into Canaan. How did Daddy deal with this rebellion? He made them wander in the wilderness 40 years till everyone 20 years old and above died, except for the only 2 spies that believed, Joshua and Caleb. Daddy wouldn't even allow Moses to enter Canaan. Why? Because of performance. He struck the rock to get water rather than speaking to the rock as God told him to. Does knowing this cause you to walk at a distance? Again, not me.
And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD. But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not. Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.
What did they do wrong here? Nazarites were not allowed to have any kind of strong drink, and they were given wine. God sent prophets to the people, and rather than listening to them, they commanded them not to Prophesy. Daddy is upset with his children for these offenses. What will he do? Make them miserable and sad? It is a bit worse than that.
Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself: Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself: neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself. And he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith the LORD.
Here is what some will say. They will claim that all that happened is that God took his hedge of protection away from his children to show them their need for him. That is why they are in trouble, but that is not the picture we are given. He is speaking of people who are strong and mighty, but they still are defeated. That means God is fighting against them, sort of like when God fought for them against their enemies in the land of Canaan when they were weak. But if you are not convinced, the next passage we shall look at in Amos 3:1-8 proves it.
HEAR this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. Can two walk together, except they be agreed? Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing? Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all?
Before we look at the last three verses I want to examine, notice a couple of things. Daddy God tells his precious, spoiled and rebellious children he is going to punish them. The things that are coming upon them are from him, and they are the result of poor performance, iniquities, sins. You can't walk with God unless you are walking in agreement with God. Does knowing this about our loving Father make you walk further away from him? Not me.
Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? SHALL THERE BE EVIL IN A CITY, AND THE LORD HATH NOT DONE IT?
Look at that closely. He has given us example after example of various things that we know are so, and then comes back with this question. Just as the other things were true, so is this. The evil that has come to their cities was done by the Lord. He brought it to pass to punish them.
Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?
So before God brings evil upon the city to punish the people, he gives the information to his prophets to warn them. The problem is, people will come to the place where they don't want to hear warnings. They want to hear nothing but soothing messages about their loving Father who will love them and only do them good no matter what they do. As a result, we see they "commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not." Try to warn them, and they stop up their ears. They do everything they can to keep them quiet. Does anything I said make you more likely to walk at a distance from God? Personally, it has no effect on how close I walk with God. It does cause me to fear God. It does cause me to realize that there are serious consequences for sin, so I need to walk upright, but it doesn't make me more likely to walk afar off from God.