Isaiah 28:10 … “For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.”
 
Isaiah the prophet is mentioning those that were making fun and are described in …
 
(Vs. 7-8) … “And these also stagger from wine and reel from beer: Priests and prophets stagger from beer and are befuddled with wine; they reel from beer, they stagger when seeing visions, they stumble when rendering decisions. All the tables are covered with vomit and there is not a spot without filth”.
 
They were being befuddled, swallowed up. The ones who should be giving clear guidance and teaching in a desperate hour are “befuddled” spaced out, and staggering around in a drunken stupor. At any rate, Isaiah is so disgusted he expresses the depths of his disgust by describing they … “are covered with vomit”. Bodily indulgence weakens and lessens spiritual perception. Spiritually they could not see the mess they were in.
 
They were angry that Isaiah was treating them like they were little kids. They felt they were adults who could think for themselves; they didn’t need someone to tell them what to do or think. So they mimicked and made fun of Isaiah as if he was speaking baby talk to them “blah, blah, blah, blah” …  “it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little …  yeah, yeah yeah, yeah … already Isaiah. They were mocking Isaiah’s messages acting as if he were an adult lecturing a little child. They were refusing to take Isaiah’s words seriously. They wanted nothing to do with his message or his ministry.
 
Isaiah responds … because they think his ministry is just a bunch of meaningless mumbo-jumbo like noises to a baby. That is exactly what they will hear – in the mouths of foreign invaders:
 
(Vs. 11) … “For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the LORD will speak to this people”.
 
For, come what may, God will speak, when the simple comprehension of God’s Word is refused, his judgment falls on His professing people in the way of the unintelligible garbled, meaningless comprehension. In other words, they would not be able to understand the message.  The Apostle Paul confronts the Corinthian believers in that same way, in fact, he quotes Isaiah 28:11 (in italics)
 
1 Corinthians 14:20 … “Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.
 
1 Corinthians 14:21 … “In the Law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.”
 
Their lack of unreadiness and refusal not to bow before the voice of God would keep them from the rest, comfort, stability and refreshment they could have…
 
Isaiah 28:13 … “to whom he has said, “This is rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose”; yet they would not hear.
 
Isaiah 30:15 helps us understand what he meant … “For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling”.
 
Since they refuse God’s invitation to rest in him by abandoning their petty pride and shameful pleasures … “they would not hear”. Hear with the desire to understand. Because they would not hear Isaiah the Lord said that His word to them would be irrelevant, neither here nor there. They could take it or leave it. They would not hear that which would be rest and refreshing to them. They would let it go in one ear and out the other. They had no mind to hear it. They had the letter of the precept, but no experience of the power and spirit of it; it was continually beating upon them, but it beat nothing into them.
 
Let’s read:  Isaiah 28:13 … “And the word of the LORD will be to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little, that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
 
Sound familiar? The way they made fun of Isaiah’s message now has become a reality to them. In other words, the script has now flipped. The Lord turned their mocking back on them. It would be time for an attitude adjustment … “that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken”. The NET Bible puts it like this … “As a result, they will fall on their backsides when they try to walk, and be injured, ensnared, and captured. Just like a drunk trying to walk forward only to fall back. If the people will not learn the easy way of faith, then they must learn the hard way of experience (vs. 28:13) … “They will go and fall backward”.
 
Matthew Henry comments on Isaiah 28 ...  ”God by his word calls us to nothing but what is really for our advantage; for the service of God is the only true rest for those that are weary of the service of sin and there is no refreshing but under the easy yoke of the Lord Jesus.”
 
Has the Word of God become like baby talk to you or irrelevant and neither here nor there? Does the Word of God just sound like garbled, mumbo-jumbo? Are you being swallowed up by other things, distractions or other pursuits? Has pride and shameful pleasures caused you not to hear God’s Word?
 
If we do not learn by the easy way of faith, then we must learn the hard way of experience
 
Psalm 119:10-11 … “With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
 
Psalm 119:15-16 … “I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.
 
To reject the Word of God is not to escape it!
 
Grace and Peace

Many times are affections are focused only on ourselves, not that we don’t give attention to or neglect ourselves as Paul counseled Timothy … “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers” - (1 Timothy 4:16), but if we're honest, there are many times that we don’t want to be around other believers. We would rather be selfish and stay home and watch television or in the name of "health first" go to the gym or whatever latest extreme exercise fads out there. We’d rather have “me time” than fellowship with other brothers and sisters in “the fellowship”.
 
Ephesians 3:19 says … “and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God”. This fullness is referring to God in all his perfection, including his presence, life, and power in the life of the believer and the church. We are to be filled up continuously with his fullness.
 
One of the ways that we experience this fullness of God is to know the love of Christ … “and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” (vs. 19). Paul’s prayer for the church at Ephesus is they would be “rooted and established in love” (vs. 17) and that with all the saints (brothers and sisters in the fellowship) they would comprehend the depths of Christ’s love … (vs. 18).
 
In order for you to experience the fullness of God and the depths of Christ love is connected to the fellowship with the brothers and sisters … “may have strength to comprehend with all the saints” (vs. 18). It is a work of Christ dwelling in the heart … “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (vs. 17).  As Christ is taking up residence or better yet, making your heart is home. As he lives in your heart things will change and your desires will change. “Me time” will now be “His Time” and “together time” with the brothers and sister in the fellowship. Rather than just having “me time” your affections and desires will now be for “the fullness of God” “together with all the saints (brothers and sisters in the fellowship)”.
 
We live in a “me first” culture and many times that thinking becomes our thinking and trickles into the fellowship …. “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self …” (2 Timothy 3:1).
 
Pray, that changes. Pray for a love that increases for the brothers and sisters. Pray for God to give you love of Christ for the brothers and sisters in the fellowship … and you can be absolutely and completely certain the Lord will answer that prayer!
 
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” -  Ephesians 3:20-21
 
Him First not Me First!

Correction Mr. Johnson, it is written in Romans 1:16 … "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the "power of God" for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Greek." To shift the emphasis on signs and wonders as "the power of God" is not the gospel and, as a result, distorts the true gospel. That is not to deny that signs and wonders did take place and were from God, but to say signs and wonders are the power of God removes the emphasis from the pure gospel message.

The gospel is written and defined clearly for us in 1 Corinthians 15:1-3 … "Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,”

The young Thessalonian believers were impacted by the power of God … “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.” How did the Apostle Paul know that the power of God … indeed, came to them? A couple of verses before Paul remembers them in his prayers in (1Thess. 1:3) … “remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” There was evidence of the power of God “work of faith”, “labor of love” and “steadfastness of hope”. These three are fruit of the gospel and evidence of the power of God produced in the life of the believer. They not only possessed the fruit and evidence of the power of God they lived it out. In other words, because the power of God came to them the evidence was undeniable. The evidence of God’s power was so strong the Apostle Paul says in (1Thess.1:6) … “And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia”. The Gospel “the power of God” worked in them powerfully that it made them (1Thess.1:6) says, “followers” (mimics) and (1Thess. 1:7) says, “examples” (the correct pattern) to all believers.

Only the power of God in the gospel can change and transform the heart of the unbeliever, not signs and wonders, as the following Scriptures will clarify:

• "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed. - (Matthew 16:4)
  

• “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” – (1 Corinthians 1:22-24)
  

• “For the word of the cross (the gospel*) is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” – (1 Corinthians 1:18)  *(italics are mine)
  

• “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me. Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.” – (2 Timothy 1:8-14)
  

We must guard that excellent treasure that contains riches of His grace, more valuable than thousands of gold and silver. It is to be kept pure and incorrupt, free from all mixtures of men; safe and sound that it not be snatched away from the churches by false teachers. And because the Apostle knew that either Timothy or any other was sufficient in themselves he directs the keeping of it “by the Holy Spirit”. By the Spirit they are made fit for their work, and will lead them into all the truths of the Gospel; and under his influence and teachings, and by the assistance of his grace, are they enabled to discharge their trust, abide by the Gospel, and stand firm in the preaching and teaching of it to the end. 

When the Ashley Madison breach went public and Josh Duggar apologized for being one of the 32 million who used the cheating website … cyber frenzy erupted.  This meant many more cheaters would be exposed not just from the public in general, but in the religious arena as well.

In a recent post: Expert: 400 Church Leaders Will Resign This Sunday Because Names Surfaced in Ashley Madison Hack … “The Ashley Madison hack will have a serious effect on churches. According to Ed Stetzer, as many as 400 pastors, deacons, elders and church staff members may resign this Sunday after their names surfaced on the list of users revealed in the Ashley Madison hack.” Indeed this will be devastating and although according to the post, “To be honest, the number of pastors and church leaders on Ashley Madison is much lower than the number of those looking to have an affair.” Nevertheless, the outcome will be just as disturbing for family members and churchgoers.

Here are helpful posts with links that help with the “what now”:

1. Life Is Eternal. Don’t Have an Affair.
2. ‘My Husband Is on the Ashley Madison List. What Now?’
3. My Pastor Is on the Ashley Madison List.

 Many are reaping what they have sown individually, but we are also reaping what we have sown culturally. The new sexual revolution has spun its web and has flaunted itself. Its how our culture has decided to go “the hook-up” culture …. But, Jesus shows a better way. That way is the way of Jesus, who spoke of a man and a woman becoming one flesh—one marriage, one sexual relationship, for one lifetime.

“He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself.”  - Proverbs 6:32

Life is eternal …. don’t have an affair!

(adapted from an article Anti-Church Evangelical Trends Six anti-church trends among American evangelicals Written by Shane Lems | Thursday, August 27, 2015)

Pollster George Barna notes that “the average adult thinks that belonging to a church is good for other people, but represents unnecessary bondage and baggage for himself.” [1] Today there are droves of professing Christians who have never been committed to the local expression of Christ’s body (the church), and never intend to be.

In his book “Set Apart: Calling a Worldly Church to a Godly Life”[2], Kent Hughes shares at least six tendencies that are common of Christianity in America when it comes to commitment to the local church.

1) Hitchhiker Christians:  These people say, ““You buy the car, pay for repairs and upkeep and insurance, fill the car with gas—and I’ll ride with you. But if you have an accident, you are on your own! And I’ll probably sue.” Today, at the beginning of the third millennium, we have a phenomenon unthinkable in any other century: churchless Christians. Many professed Christians are nomadic (drifting) hitchhikers without accountability, without discipline, without discipleship, living apart from the regular benefits of the ordinances (communion and baptism), and, perhaps most revealing, without responsibility.

2) Consumer Christians:  These are “church shoppers [that] attend one church for the preaching, send their children to a second church for its youth program, and go to a third church’s small group.  Their motto is to ask, ‘What’s in it for me?’”  The consumer mentality “encouraged those who have been influenced by it to think naturally in terms of receiving rather than contributing.”

3) Spectator Christians: “Spectator Christianity feeds on the delusion that virtue can come through viewing, much like the football fan that imagines that he will get strength and courage while watching his favorite pro team.  Spectator sports and spectator Christianity produce the same things – fans who cheer the players on while they themselves are in desperate need of engagement and meaning.”

4) Drive-through Christians: “[These kind of people] get their ‘church fix’ out of the way by attending once in a great while or finding a early service on Sunday morning  so that the family can save the bulk of Sunday for the all-important soccer game or recreational trip.  Of course there is an unhappy price extracted over time in the habits and the arteries of a flabby soul – a family that is unfit for the battles of life and has no conception of being Christian soldiers in the great spiritual battle.”
 
5) Relationless Christians: Despite the Bible’s emphasis on Christians gathering together in love, today some people say “the best church is the one that knows you least and demands the least….  Of course, the best example of this is the electronic church where Christ’s body can be surveyed by the candid camera and the Word can be heard without responsibility or accountability.” Indeed, Jesus’ Upper Room prayer taught that the quality of Christian relationships is an essential aspect of the church’s witness to the world: “I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me...” (John 17:23).

 6) Churchless Worshipers: “The current myth is that a life of worship is possible, even better, apart from the church.  As one person casually expressed it, ‘For “church” I go to the mall to my favorite coffee place and spend my morning with the Lord.  That is how I worship.’  This is an updated suburban and yuppie version of how to spend Sunday, changed from its rustic forebearer [namely, Emily Dickinson, who said 100 years ago] ‘Some keep the Lord’s Day going to Church – I keep it staying at Home‘”

These tendencies are pretty much accurate (Kent Hughes does describe them with a little more detail – in his book).  For now, consider these six and try to meditate on them from a biblical perspective so the next time you meet “so called” Christians like this you have something loving, biblical, and encouraging to share.

Footnotes:
[1] George Barna, The Frog in the Kettle (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1991), p. 133.
[2] Hughes, R. Kent (2003-04-16). Set Apart: Calling a Worldly Church to a Godly Life (Crossway, Kindle Edition).

Q: When does a church cease to being a church?

A: When there is a drift into a condition of apostasy.

 Apostasy is when a church denounces, disassociates, abandons or rejects something they once believed. Apostasy can also be an abandonment or defiance of what they once held to be true in the past and rebelling against those same beliefs and practices.

Jude’s Warning of Apostasy:
Jude wrote that he “found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3) because “certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:4).

Paul’s Warning
Paul saw it happening in his day and in one of his last letters he said “the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared” (1 Tim 4:1-2) and certainly any teaching from demonic forces must be an apostasy from what the true faith is which Paul said would happen “in later times.”

Peter’s Warning
Peter saw a lot of apostasy that would be coming too writing that “just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.  And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.  And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep” (1 Pet 2:1-3). So they exploit people with “false words” and blaspheme “the way of truth” but they will come to destruction and then condemnation.

In the very last letter that Paul wrote he told Timothy that “the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Tim 4:3-4). Anything that is taught as a “man-pleaser” or to tickle the ears, must be considered apostasy for anything taken away from or added to the gospel makes it another gospel entirely and one that is altogether different and isn’t really a gospel at all (Gal 1:7). There are certainly a lot of apostate teachers and preachers out there today. Paul would identify “such men [as] false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.  So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds” (2 Cor 11:13-15). An apostate teacher or preacher is disguised “as an angel of light” meaning they look like they’re teaching the gospel but they’re really apostates and what they teach is actually apostasy or the doctrine of demons.

Guarding Against Apostate Teachings
One of the best ways to discern apostasy from the real gospel is to be consistently in the Word of God and why the author of Hebrews wrote that “for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.  But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” (Heb 5:13-14) so if someone is not growing in biblical knowledge (lives on milk) rather than knowing more biblical knowledge (on solid food) their powers of discernment are not trained by constant practice in the Word and thus, cannot “distinguish good from evil” teachings by apostates.

Best Way to Avoid Apostasy or Reject the Teachings
The Bible warns us that “in the last days there will come times of difficulty” (2 Tim 3:1) and many will have “the appearance of godliness, but denying its power” (2 Tim 3:5). The best way to avoid apostasy and reject the teachings of apostates is to be reading the Word of God, study the Word of God, and listen to good expository biblical teachings in church. 

We are living in tough days … pressures on every side surround us. Whether these pressures are family conflict, wayward children, job troubles, personal financial struggle, and or health issues there seems to be plethora of concerns on your plate with each day. They are stacking up and the plate is near overload. Kind of like when you’re at the local “all you can eat buffet”.  You may be thinking “things may get worse”, “my health may progressively worsen”, “I may lose my job and end up out on the streets”, “my child may end up in trouble”. These prophecies seem realistic to me and if I can maintain a “down in the dumps” way of thinking then I won’t be too surprised. I will protect myself this way from greater disappointment.

There is a better way. God’s words to us are busting at the seams with hope! His story consists of many promises made and kept, once-and-for-all forgiveness granted, oneness with his people, and death conquered. In other words, my realistic gloom is better known as unbelief. Though some things will go bad, they are small matters compared to what goes well. As such, it is time to take seriously the unstoppable movement of Scripture toward hope and then on to joy. 

To get there, I can start with repentance. After all, my version of reality can turn into self-protection and self-trust. I like my interpretation of life rather than the Lord’s. So I need his forgiveness, mercy and his grace.

From there I give my attention to his joy, which seems to be within reach because I can find joy in other experiences.

Then [Nehemiah] said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”  (Nehemiah 8:10)

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. (John 15:11)

But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. (John 17:13)

Our aim then is to participate in God’s present and future joy. There are many reasons for his joy, and part of our work is to search out those reasons. But for now, it is enough to know that our God is presently a joyful one. Our mission is to both rest in and know this joy. 

Natural tendencies toward “down in the dumps” mentality are no excuse because joy is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).  Neither is our broken and troubled world a restraint to joy, because it is the intention of the kingdom of heaven, where God’s will is done perfectly.  Joy, as C. S. Lewis said, is the real business of heaven, and our present job is to be about our Father’s business.

The writer of Hebrews informs us that if we are to please God one must have "faith".

“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).

"By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible"  (Hebrews 11:3).

The writer of Hebrews states … “by faith we understand” that God spoke His word and the universe was created from the invisible to the visible.

God is impressed by the man or woman who wholeheartedly embraces the word of God, even when the circumstances seem to contradict God’s word.

• When the bleeding woman touched the hem of Jesus’ garment, he said to her, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well” (Matthew 9:22).

• When the centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant from afar, Jesus responded by saying, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith” (Luke 7:9)

• When Abraham saw Sarah getting older and older, he didn’t waver in his faith in God’s promise of a son: “No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised” (Romans 4:20).

           “But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and     
            preserve their souls” (Hebrews 10:39).

We are encouraged in these last days to possess and to express a kind of faith that pleases and impresses our Father by confidently trusting in His promises and power .... Today!