JUNE 3, 2023 – LISTEN

READ: Matt. 5:17-20

Now, O Israel, listen … that you may live, … You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, … Your eyes have seen … for the Lord your God has destroyed from among you all the men who followed Baal of Peor. But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you. – Deut. 4:1-4

In our time, faith has become more about feelings and experiences than about listening and obeying. However, you cannot know God and the Gospel without listening and reading, for God has revealed Himself in that Word and His Son comes to you through it. God’s Word is a real covenant word: it shows everything that is necessary for life under God’s blessing. It demonstrates how He has created us, bound Himself to us, and how Christ has reconciled us with God and brings us to eternal life. God’s commandments are also part of these blessings; they are words of His covenant of love, love commandments.

Law and Gospel belong together. You must not separate them, or things will go wrong. If you detach God’s law from the Gospel, you will no longer see the law as a word of love, a command to love God and your neighbor. And if you take away the law, how can you know your sins and show gratitude for your salvation? God has given both. 

We need every word of it for our salvation and to honor God, as the Word of God, breathed by Him. We must not detract from it or add anything to it. Moses had to remind Israel of this on behalf of the LORD, and John impresses it on our hearts on the last page of the Bible with the threat that our salvation is at stake (Rev. 22). 

But even if you leave the Bible intact, you still have to open and read it and listen to it. Israel had a lot of trouble with this. Despite so many favors, many have been disobedient to God’s promises and His law. Instead of being able to live under God’s blessing, they were wiped out by Him. Let the remaining ones listen to what the LORD says to them, and us too!

How well do you know the Bible?

Singing: Ps. 19:4                                            

                                                                                                 Are you working on it?