In Hosea 4:6 the Lord makes a statement that should garner the attention of every church member regardless of his/her religious affiliation. Here He is speaking to His chosen Israelite people, saying to them: “My people (all 12 tribes) are destroyed by the lack of knowledge. Because you (God’s people) have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you so that you will no longer be My NATION OF PRIESTS. Because you have forgotten (rejected) the Law of your God, I will also forget your (spiritual) children” who reject His Law. This statement applies to the modern church as the Apostle Peter reminds us in First Peter 1:15,16; 2:5,9 where he calls GOD’S TRUE SAINTS a “holy, royal priesthood.” He also noted that judgment is on-going in the (New Testament) church, and that “ONLY THE RIGHTEOUS WILL BE SAVED” (1 Pet. 4:17,18). The Apostle Paul reminds us that only righteousness and holiness will result in salvation (Rom. 5:21; 6:22). Anything less will result in a Matthew 7:23 response (“I never knew you”) from Jesus Christ on judgment day.

Relative to the above statements concerning those who profess to be God’s people being destroyed due to a lack of knowledge, let us turn to Isaiah 28:9-13 where the Lord, through the prophet, tells us how to gain the knowledge we need to in order to inherit eternal life upon Christ’s return. Here he separates those who are hell-bent on destroying their lives by going their own way spiritually and those who want to know God’s one and only way to oneness with Him. He asks who are the people who can be taught knowledge of the way of the Lord, who will learn His doctrines and obviously obey them? These are they who are weaned from the breast of traditional religion, who have matured and have moved on from the “breast milk” of baby-level religiosity.

At this point we will leave Isaiah and go to Paul’s letter to the Hebrew (Israelite) converts whom he was addressing in a rather scathing letter in which he points out that they have embraced the same mindset that had condemned their ancestors. Beginning with in chapter 5 verse 11 we find Paul lamenting that he has many things he needs to tell the converted Israelites but cannot get through to them because they were “dull of hearing.” He chastises them because of their immaturity. When they should be teaching those coming into the church the “oracles (commandments) of God” they themselves needed someone to teach them. He equates their spiritual immaturity to remaining on mother’s breast milk when they should be feasting on the “strong meat” of the “Word of righteousness.” He tells them that only the strong meat (God’s “fine print”) of the Holy Scriptures will enable them to “discern good and evil” (separate God’s Law from religious doctrines). Paul then tells them to leave the elementary principles of the doctrine of Christ (His “headlines”) and to go on to PERFECTION. He then lists some of the “milk” truths they should have learned long ago and moved on to mature discipleship.

Returning to Isaiah 28 we pick up with the prophet’s instructions as to how we must study God’s Word in order to learn His very important “fine print.” Here he tells us that we must study the Holy Scriptures “precept upon (after) precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.” He then reminds the Israelites that though their ancestors had been told the same thing, they had not followed his instructions. Instead they had “fallen backward, were broken, snared and were taken captive.” Now, as then, there is a definite need for the Lord’s “strong meat” of the Word which leads to MATURITY, PERFECTION, RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HOLINESS WHICH ARE NEITHER COMMANDED NOR EXHIBITED BY THEIR HIRELINGS (SALVATION HUCKSTERS). Instead billions of salvation seekers hear smooth, “only believe” messages that put a smile on Satan’s face. God, however, is not smiling.

Christ’s apostles tell us that the righteous are those who obey God’s Law which defines both sin (1 Jn. 3:4) and righteousness (1 Pet. 2:24)–sin if not obeyed; righteousness if obeyed. Paul, who characterizes the Law as “holy, just and good” (Rom. 7:12), declares that it must be obeyed, not merely heard (Rom. 2:13). God RULES His people through His Law. Those in the church who know about the Law but refuse to obey it are “deceiving themselves” (Jam. 1:22; 2:10,12) into a false sense of religious security. They believe that by going through the church motions the fix is in. According to the Holy Scriptures, that is not the case. Just owning a copy of the Law is not enough. One must be a doer/worker of the Law (Jam. 2:25) in order to qualify for salvation. Obviously, that Law was not “nailed to the cross” of Jesus Christ. L.J.