Brethren, I am a firm believer that serving and loving God's people are important. However, obeying God's commands and doctrines are very important as well. In fact, not only are we going to be judged on our service to others, but we will also be judged on how faithful we are in following the Word of God.
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“As for the person who hears my .words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day" (Jn. 12:47, 48)....
We will be judged on how faithful we are in following the Words of the Lord...,,. As you can tell, I am very concerned with the laid back attitude that some people have concerning the doctrines and commandments of God. Furthermore, I am also very concerned how some people are distorting the Scriptures to justify their own desired beliefs. Some people, instead of excepting and obeying God's specific teaching on a subject, manipulate or distort God's Word to support their own human views. The Bible on many occasions warns us not to distort truth.
My friends, we need to see that it is a very serious thing to distort God's Word.
(1) According to ( Gal. 1:9 ), people who distort the Word of God will be eternally condemned.
(2) According to ( 2 Pet. 2:1-3; 3:16 ), people who distort the Word of God will bring upon themselves destruction.
(3) We must never intentionally distort the Word of God to satisfy our human and worldly beliefs. If we do, we are jeopardizing our souls.
(4) If we distort or disobey a commandment of God, we commit sin ( 1 Jn. 3:4 ). And you know, as well as I know that sin is a very serious offense.
(5) When God gives us a command, we need to do our very best to follow it. We need to start taking God's commands more seriously. In the Bible, when people disobeyed God's instructions, they were punished.
a.Just because Adam & Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God told them not to, death came to all people ( Gen. 3 ).
b. Just because Moses struck the rock instead of speaking to it like God told him too, he was not allowed to enter the Promised Land ( Num. 20:8-12 ).
c. Just because Nadab & Abihu offered an unauthorized fire while worshipping God, fire came down from the presence of the Lord and consumed them ( Lev. 10:1, 2 ).
d. Just because Ananias & Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit and held back some money from a land deal, they both fell down and died ( Acts 5 ).
My dear brothers and sisters, we must start taking the commandments of God more seriously. Although we are living in new covenant of grace, we still must obey the Lord. We must revere the word's of our creator. We must obey the commands that even seem insignificant to us. I realize that none of us are perfect, and on occasions, we will make mistakes. But we must do every thing we can to faithfully obey the commands of God and not distort His Word.
