Let us begin our study with the question: “What is a standard? The online Collins dictionary defines it as a level of quality or achievement thought to be acceptable; something that is used to judge the quality of something; moral principles which affect people’s attitudes and behavior; describes things which are usual and normal; a text that is widely read and often recommended. God sets forth His standards to live by in His Word. These standards are not for our salvation but so we can live in the power God can give us when we live a life in the way that honors Him. First, in Genesis 2 God gives us His Divine standard for marriage—one man and one woman as helpmates; His standard for a week—six days and the seventh as a Day of Rest to the Lord. In Exodus 20 God gives to Moses His standard for holy living first spoken and then written by the finger of God upon stone tables. (Ex. 31:18) This standard is holy, just, good and spiritual. It is a message of hope. If His people would reaffirm our faithfulness to the way of life set forth in God’s commandments, that devotion to God would be our source of strength and we would be saved from the enemies’ attempts to destroy us. The Church, His saints in this world, have numerous enemies who are all united under Satan to overthrow us and destroy God’s kingdom. The enemy attacks “like a flood” with great violence and noise as if what Satan is doing is sweeping everything clean before him. But the Spirit of the Lord will drive him back like the waters of Jordan which were driven back towards their foundation when they stood between the Israelites and the Promise Land. In Isaiah 11:10 we read “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a standard (banner) to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious.” The Law was fulfilled in Jesus who is our Standard. We know that not only has Satan been defeated through Jesus, but as we raise the Standard of Christ as the Written Word and Living Word, we can drive back the evil one in our lives, in our church, our community and our nation. It is time for Christians to raise the Standard and drive back the enemy!
God is calling us to live under the standard He has given us in His Word. No longer are we slaves to sin, but God is calling us to live with the standards He has set for us. We will know how to live our life with the Father with His wisdom available to us and resurrection power to help us complete each assignment. With this in mind, I believe that God is calling us back to His standard—the Ten Commandments as we stand upon them and grow in His grace. God has not changed His mind—He is the same yesterday, today and forever. God spoke all these words saying: 1. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, You shall have no other gods before Me. 2. You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. 3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. 4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 5. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you. 6. You shall not murder. 7. You shall not commit adultery. 8. You shall not steal. 9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.
Earlier we looked at the statistics and consequences of removing the Ten Commandments and prayer from public schools. Many of you will remember the attempts and actions of Chief Justice Roy Moore to return prayer and the Ten Commandments to opening court sessions with a prayer seeking divine guidance for jurors in 1993 and displaying a carved wood plaque of the Ten Commandment in his court room in 1992. Of course, in 2002, we also remember that U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson ruled that the 5,280 pound granite monument of Ten Commandments in the rotunda of the Supreme Court of Alabama be removed as he ruled it violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment. On September 30, 2016 the Alabama Court of the Judiciary suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore for the remainder of his term (2013 to 2017) for defying federal court rulings in regard to same-sex marriage. However, what most of us did not know is that the House Joint Resolutions replaced the Ten Commandments with the seven Babylonian Noahide Laws, claimed as founding of a moral and civil society in America honoring a Babylonian Rabbi. It was signed in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush and in 1993 was signed by President Bill Clinton, expanding the Noahide Laws into the Education system in 1993. There are three Commandments missing in the Noahide Laws—# 4—NOT honoring Sabbath, keeping it holy; #5—NOT honoring Mother and Father; #9—NOT honoring Truth—NO problem bearing FALSE WITNESS. The great deceiver, Satan quietly undermined God’s Day of Rest—Sabbath; the foundation of the family and home; and replaced truth with lies!
Even more devastating is the history of the Church and how and why the Sabbath was changed from the seventh day to the 1st day of the week—Sunday. After the death of the original apostles, new ideas began to be introduced into Christianity. During the second century, Ignatius, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria attacked the Sabbath observance established by God in Genesis. Tertullian followed in the third century. In A.D. 321 Roman Emperor Constantine established Sunday as a day of rest. As we noted earlier, “Sunday” is the worship of the “sun god.” At the Council of Laodicea around 365, the Catholic Church made it illegal to “Judaize” or be idle from work on the seventh-day Sabbath. (Note the name Council of Laodicea relates to the end-time church in Revelation 3: 14-19 that Jesus rebuked and chastened to repent.) These changes were accepted by what had become the majority of Christianity, but scattered and persecuted groups of Christians continued to observe the seventh-day Sabbath and other teachings of the early New Testament Church. The change occurred because of a combination of church authority overriding scriptural principles and the influences of sun worship and anti-Semitism. The Sabbath was never changed from Saturday to Sunday by Jesus Christ or the apostles. Sunday became the day of rest and worship for mainstream Christianity through the traditions of man nullifying the Word of God. Jesus had strong words to say about this practice in Mark 7: 7-13. “Howbeit in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men…full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition…Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered; and many such like things do ye.”
This week the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk brought this to light as I listened to some of his podcasts and researched his background. Charlie was raised in the traditional Christian church but early in his life he felt God’s call to search the scriptures and be led by the Holy Spirit. He briefly attended Harper College, a community college in Illinois, but dropped out without earning a degree. He applied to and was accepted by Baylor University but chose not to attend. He also applied to the United States Military Academy at West Point but was not admitted. He recognized God’s opening and closing doors to reveal His plan for his life. Early on Charlie recognized the liberal bias in academia and in the departure from biblical truth in the Church. I listened to two podcasts where both Erica and Charlie addressed the importance of returning to God’s standard regarding the Ten Commandments and family structure. Erica related how Charlie’s conviction about the Sabbath according to scripture is God’s standard as they put their phones away on God’s appointed Day of Rest and spend time with the family, in Bible study and prayer. She commended him for his role as husband, father and spiritual leader. Charlie reaffirmed his strong conviction relating to the Sabbath and was in the process of writing a book. He was committed to following God’s standard and his calling to live for Christ—the Standard! Charlie Kirk was a strong witness in living in His power and with His purpose to make the difference that He called us to make on the earth. Immediately after I heard the news about Charlie’s assassination, God carried me to Acts 6 and 7 to the account of Stephen, a young man anointed by God for His service. Acts 6:8 reveals that Stephen was full of faith and power and did great wonders and miracles. He was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke truth boldly to the gatherings of people about God and Jesus Christ. Their reaction is recorded in 7: 54 “When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.” Stephen’s response in verses 55-56 is that he looked up and saw the glory of God and saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God. The mob stoned him to death. In verses 59-60 we read that Stephen was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” and kneeled and prayed “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” Stephen’s witness ignited a harvest of souls in the early church! God gave me a picture of Charlie as a biblical type of Stephen who like Jesus was willing to lay down his life for God’s purpose! We are already hearing about 1,000’s of requests from colleges for Turning Point to come to their campuses! Let us pray for Charlie’s family and the Turning Point ministry to ignite an outpouring of God’s Spirit to bring a great harvest of souls—especially in our youth/children!
Several months ago I heard a message delivered that said “The Lord has need of us at this time, shake off distractions, shake off disappointments, take your place, set your face like a flint toward God, do not be moved by what you see happening around you, it is temporary—there is a turning in the works in September—A TURNING POINT! We must believe His promises—remember His word and do not doubt it. We are anointed for this time—for this moment. God loves us and His commandments are good for us and help us to live a life of victory over the enemy! We must hear God and align with Him—prepare—get set and positioned like Stephen and Charlie! The best is yet to come!
God is calling each of us to lift up a standard in our lives. We must trust Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord. We must set the Word of God as our standard for living. We must not allow anything in our lives that contradicts the Word of God. We must surrender to the Holy Spirit. We must have daily cleansing by confessing our sin and repenting of it. We must keep a clear blameless conscience before God because it’s a blessing to us and will give us courage that most people don’t have—because no matter what we’re face, we’ll know that we’re in God’s will and have God’s all-surpassing peace in our hearts. We’ll be able to remain calm and silent when everything is in turmoil because our heavenly Father is with us. We’ll be fearless because God is on our side, and He faithfully takes care of His own. And finally we’ll know that we have a mighty testimony because there’s power and boldness in a clean, blameless conscience. We’ll be standing on the truth, righteousness and wisdom of God—and there’s no better platform on which to stand! God is calling us to a higher standard and He will enable us to reach it!