Preserving Biblical Truth Against Modern Challenges

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Preserve the teaching of God; entrust his instructions to those who follow me. I will wait for the Lord, who has turned away from the descendants of Jacob. I will put my hope in him.”
Isaiah 8:16-17 NLT

“Preserve”, “entrust”, “follow”, “wait”, and “hope”. All words that define our relationship with God, or should do. There is something in these words and in today’s verses that provides a picture of God: dependable, unmoving, reliable, alive, active, and the One who should determine our course of life. And yet, in today’s secular societies, there seems to be great efforts to do the opposite. The “teaching of God” is eroded and distorted by some people and even denominations, so that it aligns with a worldview considered more acceptable to the people of our day. “His instructions” are largely ignored because people think they know better, and anyway, they want to live their lives following their own agenda, free of external influence. Such people certainly don’t want to follow God, because they have a distorted, or even downright wrong, view of who He is. The next verse is equally ignored because the concepts of waiting on and hoping in God are foreign to most of the people we live among today. 

Jesus taught about the ways of the world compared to God’s Kingdom in His Sermon on the Mount. He said, “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). Pictorial language that was picked up by John Bunyan many years ago in his book, The Pilgrim’s Progress. John Bunyan used the broad and narrow ways to represent two opposing paths in life: destruction and eternal salvation. The narrow way represents faith in Christ, which is straight but difficult, whereas the many broad ways represent the easy, tempting roads of the world. Early in the story, the character Goodwill introduced Christian to the narrow path. He explains that this road was laid out by the patriarchs, prophets, Christ, and the Apostles. Goodwill warned that many wide, crooked paths intersect with the narrow way, making it very easy to get lost. The broad paths represent the various worldly philosophies, sins, and distractions that lead to ruin. It’s a fascinating book to read, and can even be found brought up to date with more modern language. John Bunyan wrote the book from a jail cell in Bedford after the monarchy cracked down on religious separatists, but it had a marked effect in furthering the Protestant faith in the 17th Century and became the second-best-selling book of his age.

The “teaching of God” we find in the Bible is expounded by Godly men and, through the Holy Spirit, supported and implemented in the lives of faithful pilgrims everywhere. The Bible is, as someone once said, God’s only written work, and it has survived many generations and the tests of time to bring Godly counsel to Christians today. The problem for many today, including people in some denominations, is that Biblical teaching contradicts what they want to believe, presenting truths that are countercultural and opposed to the beliefs in the society around us. But Isaiah wrote that such teaching is to be preserved, and it is, both on paper and in the hearts and minds of God’s followers. Intuitively, someone who follows God will know what is true and what is false, because the Holy Spirit lives within them. 

In the lives of us pilgrims, the “teaching of God” leads us in His paths day by day, and the Holy Spirit is constantly at work helping us to do what we should, veer away from what we shouldn’t, and keep us close to Him. Isaiah said he would continue to wait for God to keep His promises to those who are faithful to Him. And that is where we pilgrims are today. Waiting. The Bible is full of His promises, and they will be worth waiting for, even if some are not realised until we are in His presence. In Isaiah’s day, God had turned away from “the descendants of Jacob” because of their sin and idolatry, but Isaiah would wait for Him by placing his hope in God. 

Dear Heavenly Father. We, too, put our hope and trust in You and Your Word. Please guide us along the narrow way so that we do not get lost in our journey to the Heavenly Promised Land. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Right Road

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“They have wandered off the right road and followed the footsteps of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to earn money by doing wrong. But Balaam was stopped from his mad course when his donkey rebuked him with a human voice.”
2 Peter 2:15-16 NLT

Peter continues his tirade against the false prophets and teachers that were around in his day. They have taken a wrong turning, and “wandered off the right road”, he wrote. There is a right and wrong road for us pilgrims, as we know. Life is a journey through many different terrains, some easy going, but others particularly tough, and we often cry out in anguish, “It’s too hard, Lord”. Sometimes we stop to rest for a while, and are tempted to stay there. We find a spiritual place of great blessings and echo Peter’s sentiments in Matthew 17:4a, “Peter exclaimed, “Lord, it’s wonderful for us to be here! … ”  But as we read in Matthew 17:9a, “As they went back down the mountain, Jesus … “. He loves us too much to leave us, even in a place of blessing, and there comes a time when the mountain top has to be vacated and the journey continued. 

But how do we know which road is the right road? There is often a choice of different paths that we can take. Do I take this job? Marry this man/woman? Buy this house? Join this church? All choices that will determine the direction of the road before us. Some choices we make will affect the rest of our lives, so we carefully and prayerfully consider the options. Only God sees the end from the beginning, so who else can we trust for the right counsel? At other times, we open God’s Word, the Bible, and use it to shine a light on what we are doing or thinking. Sometimes the illumination is uncomfortable and draws us back to our knees in repentant prayer. Perhaps this morning there is someone who is facing into a situation where they know they have to make some personal changes. Changes far beyond what they can achieve in their own strength, but changes required nevertheless.

Jesus taught about the difficulties of the broad and narrow roads. In Matthew 7:13-14, we read, “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it“. He was right of course. It is far easier to go with the flow in life. Being a Christian inevitably involves being, sooner or later, counter-cultural. Making a choice in life that is different to everyone else draws a variety of responses, mostly negative, from those around us, even in our own family.

The “gateway to life” starts at the Cross of Calvary, where the God-man Jesus died in our place. Because of our sins, we deserved to die, but He took the punishment for us. So with a few tentative steps, we open the gate and pass through. And there in the distance there is a bright and appealing light illuminating the horizon. But before us is the “right road”. We have a difficult journey ahead of us, in fact it is so difficult that many turn back and re-join the broad path, the “highway to hell”, as Peter describes it. But for all those who persevere in the journey along the narrow road, there is help. Jesus knows how difficult it is because He has trodden it too, and there are times when He carries us along. At other times we find a fellow pilgrim, going the same way, and we travel together. God never leaves us and He is always there with us. Worldly success may not come our way, but we are building up treasures in Heaven. Step by step, day by day. 

In Peter’s day, there were false prophets and teachers who tried to turn the narrow path into a broad way, teaching the believers things that did not conform to God’s requirements and ways. Even today, their descendants are still with us, perhaps repeating what the devil said to Eve, “Surely God did not say …”. False teachings that tempt us, draw us, confuse us and, condemn us. 

The Apostle Paul was journeying to Jerusalem and dropped off en-route to speak to some elders and church leaders. This is what he said, “For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves” (Acts 20:27-30). We pilgrims need to hear this “whole counsel of God”. Nothing else will do. And we need to look out for the “savage wolves” and those “speaking perverse things“.

In John 6 we read about the disciples who were facing into some hard teaching, and we read that many deserted Jesus. But Peter was made of sterner stuff, and in response to Jesus asking if the Twelve wanted to leave as well, “Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life”” (John 6:68). Those words will sustain us on our journeys. There is no alternative to a relationship with our wonderful Heavenly Father who loves and cares for us. Only He has the map to keep us on the “straight and narrow way”. And one day He will welcome us home with a “Well done …”. Worth waiting for?

Dear Heavenly Father. Thank You for Your Word and the love and grace that sustains us. Please continue to lead and guide us on our journeys. In Jesus’ name. Amen.