Remember God's Word

                                                                                                                                          Vol. VI, No. 9, December 1993

[Following is a slightly edited reprint of the pastor's column from the September newsletter of Mountain View Baptist Church, King George, Rev. Ed Engle.]

There is a passage in Jeremiah very relevant to the late 20th century church. Jeremiah 23:36 says, "For you wil l no longer remember the oracle of the Lord, because every man's own word will become the oracle, and you have perverted the words of the living God..." Though these words were spoken in the 8th century B.C., it is as if Jeremiah had just penned them today.

Consider some of the rhetoric proclaimed over the past few years, and you will see that many who have been charged with spiritual leadership have forgotten the words of the living God. Instead of proclaiming, "Thus saith the Lord," all too many have only spoken words which tickle the ears of their listeners. God's Word says that homosexuality is a sin; yet that Word has been denied, watered down, or culturally polluted. The Word of the living God commands that we tell a lost and dying world that there is salvation in Jesus alone; yet that is denied by those who say that that is too narrow minded and there are other viable avenues to heaven.

Other examples could be cited, but the point is that too many Christians today no longer remember the Word of the living God. We wonder why our churches are not growing, or why more are not being saved, or why people are so apathetic, and it is because in too many churches and lives the Word of God is not remembered.

We wonder why our churches are not growing, or why more are not being saved, or why people are so apathetic, and it is because in too many churches and lives the Word of God is not remembered.

But it goes even further. Many have substituted their own word for God's Word! Ultimately, if God's Word is not the source of one's authority, self becomes the sole authority. Too frequently a person's views or experience have become his source of authority. But we must be ever diligent to bring all our actions and views into conformity with what the Word of God declares, and never the other way around.

Our personal and corporate descent continues as God's Word is perverted. We have seen this perversion, for example, by those who maintain that the priesthood of the believer allows the individual to deny, denounce, or delete any portion of the Bible he happens not to agree with. Or we see perversion when someone declares, "This is what the Bible says, but this is what it means to us today" ... as if God changes His mind.

Too many Christians do not remember the Word of the living God and so substitute their own views for God's views. If ever there was a scriptural example of what occurs when a person denies the perfect Word of God, Jeremiah 23:36 is it.

As people of the Book, we must ever be diligent to remember, to submit to, and honor God's perfect Word. To do otherwise will result in discipline similar to that which Judah experienced in 596 B.C. However, God is ready to heal us: "If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."