Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

You therefore shall keep my statutes and my ordinances, and shall not do any of these abominations; neither the native-born, nor the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you (for the men of the land that were before you had done all these abominations, and the land became defiled), that the land not vomit you out also, when you defile it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you.
Leviticus 18:26-28 (emphasis added)

The Lord plays no favourites. Today’s verses show it clearly. Peter taught about the freedom to come and believe in Acts 10:34-35 “Peter opened his mouth and said, “Truly I perceive that God doesn’t show favoritism; but in every nation he who fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.” He welcomes EVERYONE to come to him. He doesn’t want ANY human to fall or fail (2 Peter 3:9). Not one. He decided on that before He created us (1 Peter 1:20). He loved us before we existed in order to love Him back (Ephesians 1:4). He wants us with Him. We can’t BE with Him unless we have faith (Hebrews 11:6). Faith is not belief. Faith is an eager expectation of that which we know is true. Faith is also manifested obedience. If we love Him, we will obey Him (John 14:15-31). We will obey Him because we love Him and want to make Him happy (1 John 2:3-6). We want to please Him. We can’t please Him without faith (Hebrews 11:6 again). It is a SIMPLE circle of truth.

To put it in today’s language, God told us what worked for Him. He told us what was right in His eyes (Proverbs 5:21; 15:3). Anything that is not in line with what God says is right is sin. Period. There is NO grey area. “To him therefore who knows to do good and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:17). It doesn’t matter if you were raised in the church, if you’re a visitor, if you were raised to worship something else. WHEN YOU KNOW TO DO RIGHT AND NO NOT DO IT — sin. This was true when the Israelites were heading to the Promised Land and it is true today. God doesn’t change His values (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8). That is SO COMFORTING when you think about it. There is no shifting sand with the Lord. No changing values depending on what we feel or what we think a word means. No switching things up because now we have decided that we ARE made this way or that we WERE made wrong. No. Not with the Lord. No mistakes. No changing values. Everything to be relied on. This means this. This doesn’t mean that. This is faith. That is sin. In fact, this is faith. EVERYTHING ELSE is sin (Romans 14:23).

Sin is not pretty. It is worthy of death (Romans 6:23). It is so bad that only ceasing to breathe is the only penalty that will pay for it. Who sinned first? The devil and his angels. What was prepared for them the MOMENT that they rebelled? Hell. Hell was made for them (Matthew 25:41). It was a place they are doomed to go because that one, single place is where the betrayers go. Where those who rebelled against God go. The devil threw a hissy fit. He didn’t want to go. So he convinced Adam to rebel and stole Adam’s authority so that he could delay the inevitable. Adam failed his test and fell. Every human being that came out of his seed is as fallen as he was. And we live on this earth. But did you know that this earth is an entity? A scriptural entity?

“Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that Yahweh has sent me to do all these works; for they are not from my own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they experience what all men experience, then Yahweh hasn’t sent me. But if Yahweh makes a new thing, and the ground opens its mouth, and swallows them up with all that belong to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall understand that these men have despised Yahweh.” As he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split apart. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, all of Korah’s men, and all their goods. So they, and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol. The earth closed on them, and they perished from among the assembly” (Numbers 16:28-33). The earth has a mouth and swallowed those men up. This wasn’t an earthquake. This wasn’t a pit. This was a mouth. It opened. It swallowed. It wasn’t the first time that the earth got involved in things.

In Exodus 15:12 it says of Pharaoh’s forces: “You stretched out your right hand. The earth swallowed them.” But that wasn’t a maw that opened, but waters that closed over them (Exodus 14:28). Back in Genesis, the earth produced living creatures at the command of the Lord (Genesis 1:24). In Genesis 1:28 Adam is commanded to subdue the earth. That means Adam was to conquer the earth and bring it into subjection. To exert his will and bring it under control. The earth seems to participate in the Lord’s creation – at the will of the Lord. The earth became cursed when creation fell (Genesis 3:17-19). It is waiting for redemption like we are (Isaiah 11:1-9). Jesus took back the authority over the earth that the devil stole from Adam (Matthew 28:18-20). We are enabled to use Jesus’ authority when we wield it according to the Word of God – the Will of the Father (2 Peter 1:2-4). It MUST be done according to the will of the Father because it is the Father from whom all power originates and Jesus is the one doing the work, not us (Philippians 2:13), and He only does what the Father shows Him to do (John 5:19). In this way – authority – we have a relationship with the earth. Not just us believers, but all humanity.

Today’s verses were said to the people of Israel as they headed toward the Promised Land. And what was that warning? Walk in faith or you’re going to be planet vomit. That’s pretty harsh. But it is a truth that we need to be aware of. If you think about it, the actions of people that are going to be rejected by the very ground they walk on must be pretty bad. Just look at the things that are going on around the globe at any given time. Worse, look at the things that have been done. It has to be pretty bad to have an entire people rejected by this planet that seems to have a pretty high level of tolerance for the sheer abuse we throw its way. This means that there must be a spiritual component. The actions of a given people have to be so hard against the principles of God that even the soil beneath us cannot stand to have them there. And if you think about some of the very toxic cultures that no longer seem to exist, maybe that is EXACTLY what happens. At some point, when you are not following the Lord in obedience, bad things happen. Why? When we refuse the correction and the love of the Lord toward us, when we reject Him and refuse to listen, eventually the cup of His wrath against sin fills and judgment is due (Genesis 15:16, Jeremiah 25:15-16).

The nations living in the Promised Land had been brought there by the Lord previously. All humans are descended from those who knew the Lord. These nations lost their way. They rejected the Lord. It doesn’t matter what their technological level was. How their cities were made, what art and music they created. They were anti-Yahweh. They were hostile to Him and to His people. They practised sexual immorality – including incest, homosexuality, and incest. They were occult practitioners. They were hostile to the elderly and sacrificed their children. The Lord had been working on their hearts and in the region for at least four hundred years to change their minds and actions – that’s twenty generations. They could have come to the conclusion that these things they felt and liked were not to be done. But they did not. Some of the people so loathed the people of Yahweh that they attacked unprovoked or tried to curse them. They were so immoral and unrighteous, the land itself could not stand to have them anymore.

The warning of today’s verses is: do not do what they did. They walked based in fear. They did not walk in faith – manifested obedience to the God that they eagerly anticipated would fulfil His promises because He is a promise keeping covenant maker. They had been brought there by the Lord from other places, but rejected His ways. Turned away from what He said was Righteous. They decided their ways were what they wanted to do. Their feelings were more important than what He said was so. Their practices and those objects and entities they chose to lift on high were worthy of doing and worthy of worship – not His. They turned their backs on Him and on everything that He said for four hundred years. Just looking at the history of the people of Israel and Judah as recorded in the books of Kings and Chronicles you can see that the Lord does A LOT to try and get people to agree with Him.

Obedience is a precious thing. Love is a treasured thing. The Lord desires us to find them and walk in them of our own free will, choosing to respond to His love with our love. To have a real relationship with us. He prepares a place for us in this world and desires us to live in it. Recipients of His favour and Blessing and love. But when we reject that, we start on a path of rebellion. Of darkness. And of spurning even the place He chose for us. We start to say things like WE did this and WE did that and because of OUR efforts this is so. We start buying into the idea that God is something we created and we exalted. Or that we’re just biological entities on the same level of animals slowly evolving over great periods of time into new things – despite the scientific criticism of the theory and the intense problems in proving it as a viable beginning for humanity (it takes great faith and hope to believe in it in the face of the facts). When we go too far, we’ve fallen off the cliff. We’ve left the safety net. Nothing good happens after that.

How do we know when that is? We don’t. But we have examples. The Israelites had examples. Then they became one themselves. We have an advantage that they didn’t though. We are in-dwelt by Holy Spirit where they only had the Holy Spirit resting on them during times and seasons. We have a direct connection with the Most High God. We have a counsellor and a comforter in the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). But we also have in Him an instructor and corrector (John 14:16, 2 Timothy 3:16). We have the Word to sustain us and guide us (Proverbs 30:5-6). We have the voice of the Lord that speaks to us all the time (John 8:47). We have Jesus who abides in us and us in Him (1 John 4:15-16). All of those resources are available to the people of Faith who are the Children of God (Galatians 3:26).

We are called to put fear behind us (Psalm 34:4-5). We are called to walk in faith (2 Corinthians 5:7). There is no reason that we cannot accomplish this. We need to look to the examples we have in the Word. The Canaanites rejected the Lord completely, totally, and utterly. They were vomited out of the Land. The Israelites disobeyed the Lord and did not walk in His ways and were taken out of the Land until their iniquities were paid for (Isaiah 1:21-31). These are two great examples. Total conscious disobedience is VERY BAD. Lukewarm, lacklustre obedience whenever we can be bothered is also VERY BAD – when repentance is necessary it needs to be from the heart and not just for show (the Lord is NEVER fooled). This is not just a problem in the Old Covenant. Under the New it is also an issue.

“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing,’ and don’t know that you are the wretched one, miserable, poor, blind, and naked; I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich; and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see. As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with me. He who overcomes, I will give to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies” (Revelation 3:15-22).

Do not be lukewarm. Do not be disobedient. Do not follow after those who do not reverence the Lord God Almighty. Be obedient. Love the Lord and let that love guide you into obedience. Let the Word be your foundation, Jesus your example, and the Holy Spirit your guide. Abide in the Lord Jesus and let Him abide in you. Build your faith on a daily basis. Never stop. Never give up. Bless the Lord with all of your soul (Psalm 103:1-5)and seek Him before EVERYTHING (Matthew 6:33). Walk in FAITH and not in fear. Put Him first and obey what He says because HE says it. It is His rightful place.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: 1 Peter 1:13-16

We are called to do more than wear the belt of truth around our waist (Ephesians 6:14). Or to wear the belt of righteousness and the waist sash of faithfulness (Isaiah 11:5). We are to gird our MINDS with them as well. Setting our faith on the Word of God and His Righteousness, walking in manifested obedience in faithfulness – that means steadfast allegiance to those principles, firm adherence to His promises, and constant in our observance of His commands and statutes. We are not told to flounder about in ignorance. We’re instructed to embrace TRUTH and knowledge of the Lord. In the revelation of the Lord Jesus that comes via the Holy Spirit in the pages of the Word who IS Jesus. Not looking back at any of our former behaviours. Not relying on our former ideas and opinions. But to follow the Lord so that our behaviour aligns with what the Lord says is right and holy and good. This is us calling something wrong and a sin because God calls it wrong and a sin. No grey areas. We obey because we are obedient. We are obedient because we love Him. We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). Don’t be wishy-washy. Be constant. Be faithful. Be His.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.