Your words were found and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I have been called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts.
Jeremiah 15:16
I am deep into the chapters of the book of Jeremiah. This is such a timeless book. The words given to Jeremiah by the Word of the Lord are just as relevant and accurate today as they were between the years of 627 BC and 574 BC. That is the beauty of the Scriptures. They never stop teaching and revealing. They never end in the fulfillment of their intended purpose. Whatever has been written, whatever has been declared, whatever has been recorded will be carried out to completion.
This is the first precept class that I have led for adults in several years. I have within my class a gentlemen that asks questions that I have never even considered. I love it! His questions cause me to think. His questions cause me to go back and grab hold to what I have learned in the Word and to earnestly call on that promise that Jesus made in John 14:26 and seek the help of the Spirit in my recall.
As we studied in Jeremiah 30 – 31 this past week, this gentlemen introduced to me the dual covenant theory. I had never heard of the dual covenant theory. Then, as we discussed more the details of the time frame of the words of the prophecy in the book of Jeremiah, he posed the question of the belief of some professing Christians who claim the millennial reign began at Pentecost and we, the church, simply have failed in our attempt to set up God’s Kingdom on earth as some believe we were commanded. He also questioned me on the belief that some professing Christians have that we, as the church, are the New Israel. Then the question came of how can we know who is speaking truth to us. When the false prophets stand there and they speak words out of their mouths in the house of God that they claim to be from God. How can we know who speaks truth?
Great questions. Real questions. Questions that I as a believer should be able to answer or at the very least not run from in fear. The discussion in this class is stretching… and it feels good to stretch.
Having this type of reasoning of the Scriptures as we discuss the importance of learning how to discern the voice of the Spirit from the voice of the evil one is like sitting down at a table of delicacies and savoring every bite brought to your mouth as you try to taste the details of each ingredient. If we do not sit down and eat the Word of God in this matter we will find ourselves trusting in the lies that are served up to us as plates of truth by false teachers and false prophets.
They are among us beloved. They are indeed.
So how can we know who is speaking truth?
Here are some of my own personal red flags:
* when they pull their validating Scripture references out of their Biblical context
* when they speak words that attempt to puff me up and want me to focus on my own self success and happiness
* when they claim that any part of Scripture is no longer valid due to its place in history
* when they deny God’s eternal love and specific plan of redemption for Israel
* when they make Jesus less than God and treat Him irreverently
* when they despise any people group simply because of the color of their skin or the place of their birth or the ignorance of their minds
* when they encourage me to rely on experiences and feelings rather than the Word of God
* when they teach and speak as though I have command and authority over the Holy Spirit of God
Beloved, our God has taken great care to preserve and protect His Word through thousands of years. Although many have tried to destroy it, distort it, and deny it… the Word of God remains.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.
Isaiah 40:8
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But the word of the Lord endures forever.” and this is the word which was preached to you.
1 Peter 1:25
The Word of the Lord is forever. What He spoke in the beginning is just as true in the end. His Word does not change. His promises do not end.
As to how we can know who is speaking truth and who is speaking lies… precious one, if we are not rooted and grounded in His Word we will always be victims of the wind (Ephesians 4:14).
Our Creator God never intended us to to be dust in the wind blowed away by every wind of doctrine and every imagination of man and every lie of Satan himself. In the beginning God took the dust and out of it He formed us into His image and then He breathed His life into us (Genesis 2:7) and He planted us in Him (Genesis 2:8).
The fall of man, because we chose to listen to the lie of the serpent instead of the truth of our God, has caused us to be uprooted from His garden. Yet our God would not forsake His creation. He instead redeems us.
He sent His Son and He made a way for us, because He knows that we are but dust (Psalm 103:14), to be re-gathered and re-formed and firmly planted in Him. He made a way. One way (Jeremiah 32:39, John 14:6). Though He cast us out of His garden because of our sin, though He kept us out because of our transgression, though we deserved to never be allowed the opportunity to return because of our iniquity… He redeemed us any way.
He planted a garden on Calvary and He set within that garden an accursed tree. A tree that had been transformed into a cross that would bear the weight of the sin of the world and the Son of God who would receive it into Himself and in death would be carried and planted in a garden (John 19:41-42) and would rise up out of the ground bursting forth in new resurrection life so that all who would believe in Him (John 11:25) would also receive this eternal life, our sin buried in the ground of a earth that will one day be destroyed (2 Peter 3:10-13, Revelation 21:1) and our living souls replanted, firmly rooted, our nostrils once again being filled with the very breath of God as we live now in the body of Christ Jesus our Lord.
Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.
Colossians 2:6-8
Precious one, are you stretching? Are you working out in the Word of God? Are you increasing in your ability to reach out while remaining firmly rooted in Christ? Or are you becoming more and more rigid and stiff because you have decided that stretching yourself causes just a tad bit more discomfort than you are willing to endure?