DON’T YOU DARE EVEN TO OMIT A WORD, ANY WHO WOULD DENY THE TRUTH!
[1]. INTRODUCTION
Some events in the Christian world cause me distress when I learn of them for there are too many practices that are downright dishonouring to God. Those of you who listen to me or read what I write will know I stand very firmly against the misappropriation of God’s truth.
We are living in the last days of the Church age before the Lord comes back to take His Bride home. These days are not the time to fool around with God. We need to be committed, dedicated, and honest no matter what are the circumstances. This cuts two ways. The first is its application to every believer, and the second is its serious application to the preacher/teacher/instructor of the bible.
Far too many in the western world just float along in a superficial way, happy with their status quo and oblivious to the real issues in the world. Recently I am hearing of the great atrocities in Nigeria against Christians with a great slaughter at the hands of the worst satanic organisation in history; that of Islam. Just today I was listening to, and watching the awful plight of Christians in Iraq, hunted down by ISIS. In so many parts of the world there is great suffering borne by our fellow believers, and too many in the comfortable and lukewarm west; the complacent west, don’t seem to care. Christians in India also know great persecution.
Very difficult times will come and it will be at the hands of Islam and Socialism/Marxism. Those who are astute will know of the increasing trouble you have in your nations if you live in the United States, Australia and Europe. You see trouble boiling in your nations. Paul outlines just a few conditions of our age, the last days – {{2Timothy 3:1-4 “Realise this, that IN THE LAST DAYS DIFFICULT TIMES WILL COME, for men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”}}
I will just give a few distressing attitudes of ones I know.
1. There was an Anglican priest a person approached because he was having great personal problems and really needed counseling. The priest asked if he had an appointment, and when the answer was no he was told, “Go and make an appointment time to see me.”
2. I know too many who are watering down the milk of the word and adulterating it. They embrace liberalism and openly support homosexuality from the pulpits because they do not believe the word of God. Very severe will be their punishment in the lake of fire.
3. Enormous damage is being done to the free gospel and the true gospel and the gospel of grace by those known as “word of faith preachers”. They are ripping off gullible and desperate Christians promising them wealth and health in exchange for money, while they themselves have mansions worth millions of dollars and personal planes and all the comforts of deception. These belong to Satan. I will name a few of them and it is likely some will stop reading this message but let us be true to the bible, not to greed and Satan’s mutilation. I will give just 5 of the better known ones – Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen, Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar. There is actually a huge list of them, all saturated with the greed of Balaam.
{{Jude 1:10-13 “These men revile the things which they do not understand, and like unreasoning animals, they are destroyed by these things which they know by instinct. Woe to them for they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These men are those who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.”}}
Some men in church positions and in the pulpits are so concerned about finances being down, and their own salaries not being paid, that they water down the word preached so it will not give offence to anyone. They avoid the matters of personal behaviour and like one church I know, neglect preaching on relationships because some are in a extra-marital relationships and if the word was preached correctly, then they night leave the church. This is cowardice; a deliberate decision to deny the Lord in the matter of faithfulness. The truth of God’s word must be upheld.
[2]. THE STERN COMMAND OF GOD – DO NOT OMIT A WORD!
I want to concentrate today on one of my favourite prophets, Jeremiah. I really want to meet Jeremiah in heaven. Take note of this command from God – {{Jeremiah 26:2 Thus says the LORD, “Stand in the court of the LORD’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, who have come to worship in the LORD’s house, all the words that I have commanded you to speak to them. DO NOT OMIT A WORD!”}}
This was a precise message God had for Judah, all of Judah, and woe be to Jeremiah if he was unfaithful to the Lord’s commission to him. It required truth, faithfulness and honesty. If only all the servants of God were like this, but too many are bound by fear of man, or by popularity, or by other ulterior motives. There are two things God requires of us. Here is the first, {{Matthew 25:23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things so I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’”}} It is FAITHFULNESS.
The second one is COMMITMENT. We do not belong to ourselves if we are Christians. We are owned by Another, by the Lord who bought us with His own precious blood. What a selfish Christian it is who says, “I belong to Jesus,” but immediately walks out the door to live a selfish life unto himself or herself. There is no commitment there. How blessed were the Romans who were committed to the Lord – {{Romans 6:17 “Thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were COMMITTED.”}} It is the non-committed “Christian” who runs away when the wolf comes, or some adversity encounters them, or a stand has to be taken that may be costly.
Commitment means we do not play around with the bible. We do not omit words we may not like or are too challenging, or people might go mad at us. How many words are omitted each Sunday in churches? Dare we even guess! Sections of pet scripture are selected, while certain words and ideas are bypassed. God will not tolerate the deliberate omission of His word. It is no better than what is recorded in this incident – the scroll – {{Jeremiah 36:21-23 “Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it to the king as well as to all the officials who stood beside the king. Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning in the brazier before him. And it came about, when Jehudi had read three or four columns, the king cut it with a scribe’s knife and threw it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier.”}}
How many words are consumed by fire by those who do not preach the true gospel? God has a severe test of accountability for those who were entrusted with preaching and teaching. I believe they will be judged harder than your “average Christian”. Woe betide those who omit the words God has given, preaching a weak and powerless gospel to tickle the ears.
[3]. JEREMIAH WAS PREPARED BY THE LORD FOR THE CONSEQUENCES OF HIS PREACHING
Furthermore the Lord added this to the message Jeremiah was to give to the people – {{Jeremiah 26:3-6 ‘PERHAPS THEY WILL LISTEN AND EVERYONE WILL TURN FROM HIS EVIL WAY, that I may repent of the calamity which I am planning to do to them because of the evil of their deeds.’ “And you will say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD, “If you will not listen to Me, to walk in My law, which I have set before you, to LISTEN TO THE WORDS OF MY SERVANTS THE PROPHETS, whom I have been sending to you again and again, BUT YOU HAVE NOT LISTENED; then I will make this house like Shiloh, and this city I will make a curse to all the nations of the earth.”’”}}
Our times are not unlike the time Jeremiah lived in. Judgement was about to fall on Jerusalem and Judah, and God was calling the people to repentance. We, at the end of the Church age, know that the wrath of God comes on the world in the Tribulation after the departure of the Church. Yet, how many are preaching about the judgement to come and are calling for a personal and national repentance? Hardly any, FOR THE WORD HAS BEEN OMITTED, and those who preach the true word are often rejected.
{{Romans 10:14-17 How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed, and how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach UNLESS THEY ARE SENT? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things!” However, they did not all heed the glad tidings for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” Therefore faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”}}
The preacher’s role is vital and it is a solemn responsibility to be the instrument the Holy Spirit uses to preach the faithful word. That passage does mention being sent, which brings up another of my gripes. Some preachers were not sent by God but they are charlatans and false teachers, just fitting job descriptions. Churches are full of these; one denomination is particular. It is serious, for the people perish because of unfaithful men employed in denominations and churches.
[4]. THE MESSAGE REJECTED, THEY TURN ON THE PREACHER
That passage acknowledges that not all will listen and obey. That is not what the focus is here. The focus is on preaching the word faithfully. {{Jeremiah 26:10-11 And when the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of the LORD and sat in the entrance of the New Gate of the LORD’s house. Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the officials and to all the people, saying, “A DEATH SENTENCE FOR THIS MAN! For he has prophesied against this city as you have heard in your hearing.”}}
Those who are genuinely sent by God are to preach every word faithfully standing boldly like Jeremiah did, irrespective of consequences. That is where we cowards in the west, and timid preachers about consequences, need to take our example from the fearless preachers in nations where there is great persecution, even increasing in India sadly. These men in Islamic nations, African nations, and communist areas are sent to jail or executed. However the word is quickly gaining some ground in Iran and Egypt and Nigeria, just to mention three of them – and I believe in India as well.
The ruling elite that included the corrupt king opposed Jeremiah and that position of persecution and opposition is always what the true messenger of God will receive. The wicked self-serving priests and the false prophets sought the death penalty for Jeremiah’s faithfulness, and these blind leaders of darkness tried to do Satan’s work for he was a murderer from the beginning.
When God entrusted His word to Jeremiah He said, “PERHAPS THEY WILL LISTEN AND EVERYONE WILL TURN FROM HIS EVIL WAY,” (verse 3), but these false priests and prophets listened, but they hardened themselves even more against the Lord as they did the bidding of their father the devil. Evil will always persecute the good; those in bondage seek to exterminate those in freedom. Teachers of the bible, and you ministers and pastors, DO NOT OMIT ANY OF THE WORDS the Lord has given in His gospel because you don’t like the ramifications of that. God will honour all faithfulness but will oppose the proud teachers of darkness. No matter what the cost, do not compromise the word of the living God or omit that which Satan wants you to think is controversial.
{{Mark 8:38 “Whoever is ASHAMED OF ME AND MY WORDS in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”}} God’s word will not return to Him empty, but the empty words of false ministers belong not to the kingdom of God.
When Jesus was tempted by Satan, he was challenged by the devil to throw Himself off the temple’s pinnacle and these were the words – {{Luke 4:10-11 for it is written, ‘He will give His angels charge concerning You TO GUARD YOU,’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear You up, lest You strike Your foot against a stone.’”}} Cunning, twisted serpent! He is artful at omitting words and he did so here, for the quote from the Old Testament is this – {{Psalm 91:11 “He will give His angels charge concerning you to guard you IN ALL YOUR WAYS.”}}. You see what the devil did; he omitted “IN ALL YOUR WAYS” and that is a very important part of the verse. It is two words in Hebrew.
The faithful man will not be intimidated. Look at this – {{Jeremiah 26:8 And when Jeremiah finished speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You must die!”}}. Jeremiah was treated in the same way as Jesus was because the false priests and Pharisees roused up the people to demand Jesus be crucified so it is the same behaviour. Because the world does not like the gospel, we must not refuse to obey or retreat from the preaching of EVERY word. OMIT NOT A WORD!
I will say again, this world is on the brink of disaster, for the removal of the Church in the Rapture is imminent, and then follows such tragedy that you can read for yourselves in Revelation 6 onwards. The preacher must preach the true words of God and tell the people what lies ahead just as Jeremiah did. Do not betray your calling, and remember what was said earlier – COMMITMENT and FAITHFULNESS. Preacher, don’t you dare stand in God’s presence and meet His disapproval because you omitted words you were commissioned to speak.
[5]. NOW WE SEE AN APPARENT TURNAROUND
We have an interesting change of events. Jeremiah spoke to those who had captured him – {{Jeremiah 26:15 “Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, and on this city, and on its inhabitants; for truly the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.”}}
Some of those who heard had a change of mind – {{Jeremiah 26:16 Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, “No death sentence for this man! For he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.”}} However they did not hearken to the words of Jeremiah and they did not repent, so calamity came upon then by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. It is no good paying lip service to what God has said in His fully inspired word. A man’s true conversion is seen not in words he uses, but in actionable behaviour. You are condemned when you say, “I know God says this or that, but I will not heed it.”
May I say again, preacher, speak what God has said irrespective of consequences; do not omit the very word of God, every word. Be loyal to the heavenly calling or you will be in for a shock at the judgement seat of Christ.
You may think you stand alone, and it is true that faithfulness can be a lonely position to be in. Elijah was there but he did not compromise the message. Paul was often there but he did not retreat on his calling – {{1Corinthians 9:16-17 “If I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of for I AM UNDER COMPULSION, FOR WOE IS ME IF I DO NOT PREACH THE GOSPEL. If I do this voluntarily, I have a reward, but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.”}}
Jeremiah was there also but God will always minister to his faithful servant. He will never abandon His true ministers. In Jeremiah’s case the Lord sent support this way – {{Jeremiah 26:24 “But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that he was not given into the hands of the people to put him to death.”}}. I once had a man who spoke out for me when all were opposed. God will never deny Himself but the comfort of Christ surrounds.
Now in closing, I return to the theme of this message – DO NOT OMIT A WORD of the message because of compromise or cowardice. Be committed to the Lord in dependence and the faithfulness of God will stream through in your faithfulness. The days are dark; the coming of the Lord is very close; preach for all you are worth; please God and not man; live in the light of, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
