SILENCE OF SCRIPTURE

What God HAS said is important. Of equal importance is to respect what God HAS NOT said. Notice: Jeremiah 19:5-15 speaks of the children of Israel sinning by worshiping in ways “which I commanded not.” The prophet repeats their sin of Baal worship “which I commanded them not” (32:35). When God gave commands in the Old Testament, Christians learn the principle that to do other than what God commanded is sin, transgression of His law. When God told Noah to build the ark out of one kind of wood, it would have been sin to use any other kind. Noah, being a man of faith, did exactly what God commanded (Gen 6:22). The sons of Aaron did not obey God; they worshiped in a way “which he (God) commanded them not” (Lev 10:1-2). God struck them dead. God told Moses to “speak to the rock” to get water; Moses disobeyed by striking it, something God did not command. The result: severe punishment (Num 20:11f). This principle “was written to teach us” (Rom 15:4; I Cor 10). There is unity in obeying God. For example, God commanded Christians to “sing” in worship; He was silent about playing instruments of music, rhythmic clapping, dancing in worship. Ask for booklet on silence.

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