"Your word, O LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens." Psalm 119:89. "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Matthew 24:35. In these two verses we are told that what God speaks will stand the test of time. His words are true words as if they had been tried in a fire, "The words of the LORD [are] pure words: [as] silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times." Psalm 12:6. God has passed on a record of truth and Jesus Christ Himself assures us that His words will stand the test of time. Through the years there have been great men and women who have lived by this principle that Gods word is true and they have provided tremendous examples of faithfulness for us to follow simply because they recognized Gods word was is fact absolute truth and in the face of that truth mankind needs to submit and obey. We have the faithful example of the apostles from the Bible and the early church fathers who even though it was very likely to cost them their lives would not compromise the truth of Gods word and many were martyred for their faith and obedience, then we have the great reformers of the middle ages, men like Martin Luther, John Knox, John Hus, and William Tyndale. Again in the face of tremendous opposition and at peril of their own lives these saints took their stand on Gods word that He had declared to be lasting and perfect truth and they would not compromise or yield, even in the face of death. Now we have a new generation of Christian here in America in the year 2011. In our culture today we have determined that there is no real absolute truth and that all truth is relative. We have discarded the truth of scripture and substituted it for our own wisdom, "Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen." Romans 1:22-25. The truly sad thing about what is happening is that it is also happening in the church among those who claim to be Gods people. At a time when once again true saints are being called upon to stand for the truth of God and proclaim unashamedly that His word is truth and that mankind needs to be silent before Him, we are compromising and cowering! We are hiding behind the desire to be relevant and culturally acceptable. Instead we need to, (as our great examples from past years have done) stand firm and boldly declare that Gods word is true and His statutes are right. We as Christians are called to be light in a dark world, but it seems instead that some are ashamed of the light that they carry and are working hard to extinguish it or hide it! We have a great cloud of witnesses that have gone before us and have left us a legacy of enduring faithfulness in spite of incredible opposition. Now it is our turn. Will we stand for the truth of God or substitute it for the lies and pseudo wisdom of man? This world desperately needs the light that only Gods truth can bring and Jesus is watching to see if we will be faithful. The stakes are high, we dare not, we must not fail!
"Your word, O LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens." Psalm 119:89. "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Matthew 24:35. In these two verses we are told that what God speaks will stand the test of time. His words are true words as if they had been tried in a fire, "The words of the LORD [are] pure words: [as] silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times." Psalm 12:6. God has passed on a record of truth and Jesus Christ Himself assures us that His words will stand the test of time. Through the years there have been great men and women who have lived by this principle that Gods word is true and they have provided tremendous examples of faithfulness for us to follow simply because they recognized Gods word was is fact absolute truth and in the face of that truth mankind needs to submit and obey. We have the faithful example of the apostles from the Bible and the early church fathers who even though it was very likely to cost them their lives would not compromise the truth of Gods word and many were martyred for their faith and obedience, then we have the great reformers of the middle ages, men like Martin Luther, John Knox, John Hus, and William Tyndale. Again in the face of tremendous opposition and at peril of their own lives these saints took their stand on Gods word that He had declared to be lasting and perfect truth and they would not compromise or yield, even in the face of death. Now we have a new generation of Christian here in America in the year 2011. In our culture today we have determined that there is no real absolute truth and that all truth is relative. We have discarded the truth of scripture and substituted it for our own wisdom, "Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen." Romans 1:22-25. The truly sad thing about what is happening is that it is also happening in the church among those who claim to be Gods people. At a time when once again true saints are being called upon to stand for the truth of God and proclaim unashamedly that His word is truth and that mankind needs to be silent before Him, we are compromising and cowering! We are hiding behind the desire to be relevant and culturally acceptable. Instead we need to, (as our great examples from past years have done) stand firm and boldly declare that Gods word is true and His statutes are right. We as Christians are called to be light in a dark world, but it seems instead that some are ashamed of the light that they carry and are working hard to extinguish it or hide it! We have a great cloud of witnesses that have gone before us and have left us a legacy of enduring faithfulness in spite of incredible opposition. Now it is our turn. Will we stand for the truth of God or substitute it for the lies and pseudo wisdom of man? This world desperately needs the light that only Gods truth can bring and Jesus is watching to see if we will be faithful. The stakes are high, we dare not, we must not fail!
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