By David Campbell
The Church of God International
Springfield, MO.

I was talking to our congregation after a sermon one Sabbath and the question came up “Does God accept all who claim to be Christians even though they may not know what He wants them to do?”

It was a good question and one that is often rationalized away by saying; “God knows my heart” and “God doesn’t hold me accountable if I don’t know.” While this last statement may hold some truth the first is certainly true! God does know your heart and He knows if you are playing Church or if you are really trying to follow the instructions that He inspired in the Holy Scriptures.

Then there is this statement “Don’t teach me anything because I don’t want to be held accountable.”  What do you think God thinks about that?

Well the best way to tell what God thinks is to look at what He says in scripture.

I have to admit, I had not realized what this first scripture was saying until my wife pointed it out to me but here is what it says.

Prov 28:9

9 One who turns away his ear from hearing the law; even his prayer is an abomination.
NKJV

That is pretty plain I think! It is saying that you need to listen to and understand the law of God if your prayers are to be heard.

Then I thought of this scripture! It is talking to us if we say that we know Christ.

1 John 2:3-4

3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.

4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

During the conversation that I mentioned earlier, a friend of mine made the comment that God “winked” at those who did not keep His law and that they were just as “saved” as the rest of us. Well, there are two things wrong with that statement. One we will cover in this article and the other we will have to cover at a later time. [The other being what is salvation or saved from what? We will cover that topic later]

Let’s talk about the first statement that God just “winks” at those who do not obey his law.

Let me point out something that I think people have talked themselves into believing. People in general have begun to believe that God isn’t particular about how we worship Him or that He isn’t particular about how we keep His law. Does God care about how we worship Him and how we come before Him? Does He care about how we interpret and keep His laws?

How would we go about finding out? We go to the words of God and see what He said to those who lived before us; even those with whom He talked face to face.

The first person that I thought of from scripture was Moses. God spoke face to face with Moses. We know that from scriptures such as these!

Ex 33:11-13

11 So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.

And here:

Num 12:7-8

7 Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house.

8 I speak with him face to face, Even plainly, and not in dark sayings; And he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant Moses?”

And again here:

Deut 34:10

10 But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,

And even though Moses was a man with whom God spoke to face to face, Moses was not allowed to go into the Promised Land with the rest of the people. Do you remember why?

Here is the story in short form. You can read the rest of the story in the book of Exodus to get the full impact of it.

Basically God gave Moses instruction that he was to perform in front of the Israelites when he was to bring water out of the rock. Moses was to hollow God in front of the Israelites, to show them that they could believe what God said. In the first instance God told Moses to strike the rock with his staff and bring out the water.

Ex 17:6

6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Then there came a second time when the Israelites got thirsty again and cried out against Moses. Moses beseeched God on their behalf and God told Moses to “Speak” to the rock in front of the Israelites and He would bring out water for them again.

Here is what God instructed Moses to do:

Num 20:7-8

7 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

8 “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.”

Here is what Moses did:

Num 20:10-11

10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock; and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?”

11 Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.

OK, Water came out because God said it would but do you see a problem here? There are two!

First Moses said, “Must we bring water out of the rock”. God had said that He would bring water out of the rock. God wanted Moses to give the credit to the one who could actually bring out the water, which was God Himself.

The second mistake was small but it kept Moses from entering the Promised Land.

Note: The physical land that Israel inherited is symbolic of the Spiritual Kingdom that we will inherit with Christ! Not all of the Israelites were allowed to enter in. What about the Kingdom of God? Will all be allowed to enter in?

The second mistake was that instead of doing what God told him, which was to “Speak” to the rock; instead Moses hit the rock as he did in the first instance when the water came forth. Sounds sort of trivial doesn’t it?

Apparently not, because this was God’s response!

Num 20:12

12 Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

And so it was Moses did not get to cross over into the Promised Land! He died in the desert and his bones were buried in a location that no one knew.

Lesson to be learned: God means just what He says! He is our parent, our creator, and He knows what is best for us. He knows what is best for us now and for all eternity! He knew what was best for the nation of Israel but they didn’t listen. Too bad most of mankind hasn’t figured that out yet.

Here is another example. It has to do with the carrying of the Ark of the Covenant. You might want to go back and look at how much detail God gave to those who were to build the tabernacle and to those who would carry the Ark of the Covenant. God gave exact measurements for the Tabernacle and exact instructions on how to carry the Ark. If God didn’t care all that much He sure wasted a lot of scripture repeating the instructions in great detail. I think God was making a point. God created the universe and had He been sloppy in doing it we might have a planet that would not support life. Think about that for a moment! Just the right distance from the Sun; just the right amount of oxygen and other elements; just the right tilt on the axis of the earth to create seasons and just the right elements in the soil to grow the food that we need to live.

Here is how the Ark of the Covenant was to be carried.

First off it was to be carried by the Tribe of Levi. Not just anyone who thought he could lift it.

Deut 10:8

8 At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister to Him and to bless in His name, to this day.

Secondly it was to be carried on two poles!

Ex 25:10-15

10 “And they shall make an ark of acacia wood; two and a half cubits shall be its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height.

11 And you shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and shall make on it a molding of gold all around.

12 You shall cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in its four corners; two rings shall be on one side, and two rings on the other side.

13 And you shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.

14 You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, that the ark may be carried by them.

15 The poles shall be in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it.

There are half a dozen places in scripture where God gives this same instruction over and over, but did the Israelite’s listen? Let’s read on and see what happened when they did not follow God instructions.

1 Chron 13:7-10

7 So they carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart.

8 Then David and all Israel played music before God with all their might, with singing, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on cymbals, and with trumpets.

9 And when they came to Chidon’s threshing floor, Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen stumbled.

10 Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against Uzza, and He struck him because he put his hand to the ark; and he died there before God.

Notice how they carried the Ark. Not like God had told them but on a new cart. Had they carried the Ark as instructed it would not have tipped over and Uzza would not have needed to reach out his hand to catch the Ark. Uzza was not from the tribe of Levi either so God made an example right then and there that was not likely to be forgotten anytime soon.

Now let’s re-ask the question that we asked in the beginning. Does God just “wink” at those who don’t know to do right or those who think they are pleasing God by doing something they think God might like? Uzza probably thought so as well!

God, who created us along with all that we can see, touch, hear or smell, gave us an instruction manual. This manual was God’s perfect instruction book on how to live life, get along with our fellow man and how to come to know God as a Creator and a loving Father. Through God’s instructions we come to know about Him. How He thinks, what He is planning for us and how He is working it out here on earth. God even gave us Holy days to celebrate as reminders of His plan and how it is being fulfilled. Without these special days man forgets very quickly what God created us for and why God is bringing us into His Kingdom as His children.

Yes, everyone says they want to be with God forever in His Kingdom, but they don’t want to learn how to act like God acts or think like God thinks. God’s word reveals to us just that, how God thinks and what He is doing.

The first thing man wants to do is throw out the very instructions that tell us how perfect God is. God is perfect! We are told in scripture to become perfect.

Matt 5:48

48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
KJV

So does God really “wink” at those who worship him in a false way?

Let’s look at what Christ had to say about that!

Matt 7:21-23

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’

23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!‘

Do I really need to explain what lawlessness is? No, I didn’t think so! Man actually knows what lawlessness is but man doesn’t want to come out of it. That reminds me of Israel thinking that they would be better off if they went back to Egypt. How many times did they throw that one at Moses? At least six that I counted and I may not have browsed all of them. How quickly we forget! How quickly we turn back to the very sin that Christ came to remove from us!

Man is pretty good at convincing himself that God knows we mean well; but yet we really don’t want to do as He said. I don’t think God is going to be Ok with that and here is why.

Luke 6:46

46 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say?

Here is what Christ said to do if we love Him. This is in His own words.

Prov 8:17-21

17 I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me.

18 Riches and honor are with me, Enduring riches and righteousness.

19 My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold, And my revenue than choice silver.

20 I traverse the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of justice,

21 That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth, That I may fill their treasuries.

And Christ goes on to say;

John 14:15

15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.

John 14:21

21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” 

John 14:24

24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.

John 15:10

10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

I must conclude this article with this statement. All of the scriptures that I have included have more depth and story to them than what I could go into here in this short article. Read the Bible for yourself and use these scriptures to get you started. Ask your Father in Heaven for His understanding, not mans, and then act on what God reveals to you from His words.

Christ tells us this:

Matt 7:16-20

16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?

17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

How is Christ going to know those that are His? The scriptures above tell us the answer to that. What kind of fruit are you going to bear so that Christ will know that you are His? Will you follow along with the deceptions of the world and continue to deceive yourself into thinking that God is “winking” at your disobedience or will you turn to God, repent and do a work that God can recognize?