Things that Cannot be Moved
We live in a
society that demands constant change. If you don’t change the way you think and
embrace the new way than many times you will get left behind. For instance
there is always a new software program to learn at work and if you are not
willing to change then most likely you will not have a job for very long. In
the business world things are always changing. For example stores used to rely
upon people physically coming to their shop. However, in the last 5 years
Business had to embrace the internet and start making their product available
online or else they would lose a great deal of money. Another example is the
text books that our children use to learn from in school. Many of these books
have to be revised every year or so to keep up with the new discoveries that
are made. The science field is another great example of the constant change
that we go through because they are constantly learning new things that changes
what we thought was right before. These are just a few modern day examples that
show how much we are used to changing and adapting.
We can also see
instability throughout history as we have seen new countries form and old ones
fall. Not only do we have examples of this in our history books we can see
these type of events happening in the Bible as well. For instance, when Daniel
interpreted King Nebuchadnezzar dream he told him how his kingdom would be
replaced by another and that kingdom would be replaced by another and so on.
So, it very obvious that nothing in this world in regards to humans or the
kingdom’s they may setup are sure things because all of them will at some point
be shaken or moved.
Since we are
always facing constant changes in our society and changing the way we think
this has led many today in
the religious world to start desiring to revamp the way that we worship God and
so they come armed with their new ideas of how to make it better and they try
to influence as many as they can to join in with them and embrace their new
ways just like they embrace every thing else. Many are willing to do this,
because they are tired of feeling limited on what they can do under traditional
worship.
Why this may seem
like a wonderful idea on the surface to enhance the worship service by using
whatever means are necessary to appeal to the masses we must come to back to
reality and realize that God is unchanging and when we come to worship him we
don’t come to please our entertain ourselves. We come to worship our God and be
pleasing him by obey his commands. Jesus makes this clear in,
John 4:24"God is Spirit, and those who worship Him
must worship in spirit and truth."
Worshiping God in
spirit means worshiping him from our heart and worshiping him truth means
worshiping according to His word.
John 17:17 "Sanctify them by Your truth.
Your word is truth.
Both of these are
necessary to make your worship pleasing to him. We also need to note what the
writer of Hebrews says,
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and
forever.
You see God has
not changed the way he wants things done. His pattern and his kingdom cannot be
shaken or moved. In fact the writer of Hebrews tells us this very thing.
Hebrews
12:28 Therefore let us be
grateful for receiving a kingdom that
cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with
reverence and awe,
This whole phrase
"cannot be shaken” comes from the Greek word asaleutos which means - not subject to alteration of
essential nature or being, unshakable,
enduring, unmovable.
This plainly
shows us that God’s kingdom or we could say his church cannot be shaken or
moved because it will continue forever. Even when Jesus comes back again and
destroys the earth, the kingdom will then be handed over to father where it
will remain in heaven for eternity. The kingdom/church will last forever and
the way that God has set it up will endure forever as well. So the
Another thing
that cannot be moved is truth itself. While it is true that the false way will
have its hour, but it will never endure. Things that are build upon lies can
never survive and those who live for falsehood will certainly pay the price.
Proverbs
19:5 A false witness will not
go unpunished, And he who speaks lies will not escape.
Revelation
21:8 "But the cowardly,
unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and
all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and
brimstone, which is the second death."
So a person
should never desire the false way because failure will always await them.
Instead, every person that is follower of God should have the same attitude as
expressed in,
Psalm 25:4 Show me Your ways, O LORD; Teach me
Your paths. 5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.
God’ truth is
what we should seek because his truth will never die and it will not change.
This is why we see Jesus tells us that,
Matthew 24:35 "Heaven and earth will pass away,
but My words will by no means pass away.
No matter how
many times someone tries to destroy the truth it will not change because just
as Jesus has said, even if heaven and earth are gone his words will still
remain. The Bible makes is very clear that neither you nor I have the ability
or the authority to change God’s Word and so that makes God’s truth unmovable
and we should not try and comprise his truth for the sake of trying to please
others. In fact this message can clearly be seen from many passages. First of
notice,
1 Corinthians
4: 6 Now these things, brethren, I have
figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may
learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed
up on behalf of one against the other.
Paul is letting
us know as Christians we are not go beyond what is written in the Scriptures
because they are our authority and pattern to follow and they have everything
in them that we need to know about living our life for God.
2
Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete,
thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Over and over
again we can see the N.T. writers expressing the importance of holding to the
truth and nothing but the truth. For example Paul tells Timothy,
2
Timothy 1:13 Hold fast
the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love
which are in Christ Jesus.
The reason why
this was so important to the N.T. writers was because they knew that there
would be false teachers that would rise up and try to deceive people by keeping
them away from absolute truth. That exactly what Paul tells Timothy in,
2 Timothy
3:1 But know this, that in
the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves,
lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,
unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without
self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers
of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5having
a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn
away! 6 For of this sort are those who creep
into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led
away by various lusts, 7 always learning and never able to come
to the knowledge of the truth.
We have to
realize that these kind of
people exist today and they will do whatever it takes to distort God’s truth.
But we have been warned beforehand and if we properly arm ourselves with God’s
unmovable truth then their deceitfulness will not have an effect on us. But, we
cannot just sit by and allow these false concepts to come to bloom; instead we
must speak out and allow God’s truth to overcome these falsehoods no matter how
popular they may be. In fact that’s exactly what Paul tells Timothy to do in,
2 Timothy
4:1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord
Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His
kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke,
exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will
not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will
heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be
turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things,
endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
Friends, there is
nothing more powerful than God’s truth but you must be willing to use it as
your authority and guide by making it a part of your lives every day that you
can. If you never pick up your Bible and learn from it, then you will never
become the faithful Christian you should be and you will never be able to
defend God’s truth.
Some people say
that truth is relative and that I can have one truth from the Bible and someone
else can have another. If this concept is true then there really isn’t anyway
that we can find absolute truth from the Bible because this view makes every
one right no matter what conclusion they come to. However, Jesus makes it very clear that
there is absolute truth and that we can all know that truth.
John 8:31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who
believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 "And you shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free."
If truth is
relative then a person cannot know the truth but Jesus says that we can because
there is only 1 truth. So, don’t allow yourself to ever get caught up in this
game that truth is relative.
Another thing
that shows that truth is not relative is the fact that there consequences for
not obeying God’s Word. For example, notice what happens in the OT example in,
Leviticus
10:1 Then Nadab and Abihu,
the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it,
and offered profane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded
them. 2 So fire went out
from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.
This a great OT
example of what happened to these 2 priests who decided to make their own fire
which was not the same fire as God had commanded. Now if truth was relative
they would not have lost their lives but since truth is absolute they did lose
their lives because they could know God truth on what fire was acceptable and
what fire was not. While
God doesn’t kill people today as he did with them we are still warned about
disobeying his commands under the NT. In fact the punishment for living an
disobedient life is far worse than physical death.
2
Thessalonians 1:7 when the
Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on
those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His
power, 10 when He comes, in that Day, to be
glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because
our testimony among you was believed.
When a person
decides to live the false away outside of God’s commands by doing things their
own way, then they will face everlasting destruction. But, the bright side of
this is that those that are faithful to the Lord and are walking in his
commandments will spend eternity in heaven. So without a doubt God’s truth is
unmovable.
Another thing
that is unmovable is God’s plan of salvation for all humans and how he wants
everyone to know the truth about being saved.
1 Timothy
2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight
of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to
come to the knowledge of the truth.
James 1:21 Therefore lay aside all
filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted
word, which is able to save your souls.
These two verses
teach us that we must go to God’s Word to find out how to be saved. Now I have already established that
God’s word is absolute truth so everyone should come to the same conclusion on
what it takes become saved. In fact, if you were here last week we took a very
close look at the great commission and we found out exactly what the Word of
God said about becoming a disciple of Christ and remaining a disciple of
Christ.
The truth that I
taught in that lesson has not changed and therefore the message is the same
today. The word of God says the following things are necessary for salvation.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting
life.
Luke 13:3 "I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.
Romans 10:9 f you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your
heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
1 Peter
3:21 There is also an
antitype which now saves us --
baptism (not the removal of
the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God),
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
Now most in
religious world would agree that a person needs to believe, repent and confess
but when it comes to baptism they say, "no it not necessary.” Now I will say
this baptism isn’t any more important than these other things that we must do
to be saved but it is just as important as those other things. All of these
work together to bring about salvation.
One thing that
the Bible does stress is that baptism
is the point where one is united with Christ in his death Rom 6 and it is the
point that our sins are removed according to Acts 2:38,
and Col 2:12 ff.
When we are raised up out of the water we are considered a new creature that is
now living its life for Jesus Rom 6. At the point of baptism we are added to
the church by God 1 Cor.
12:13; Acts 2: 47.
Finally according to Gal. 3:27 and Rom 6:3 baptism is how we get into Christ
where all the spiritual blessing are found Rom. 8;1.
The only reason I
am stressing baptism more than I am these other things is because this command
is being ignored by many in the religious world and it makes the difference of
being lost or being saved. If a person never obeys God’s simply of plan of
salvation which includes baptism, they will always be outside of Christ and no
matter how great that person may be or how many great works they do it doesn’t
change the fact that they are lost because they are outside of Christ. I know
that is a hard saying but that is what the word of God teaches us. So, God plan
of salvation cannot be moved.
We have examined
several things that cannot be moved or shaken in this lesson. We learned that
God cannot be moved, his kingdom cannot be moved, his truth cannot be moved and
finally his plan of salvation cannot be moved.