ROCK

⁹ To whom will He teach knowledge? [Ask the drunkards.] And whom will He make to understand the message? Those who are babies, just weaned from the milk and taken from the breasts? [Is that what He thinks we are?]  ¹⁰ For it is [His prophets repeating over and over]: precept upon precept, precept upon precept, rule upon rule, rule upon rule; here a little, there a little.  ¹¹ No, but [the Lord will teach the rebels in a more humiliating way] by men with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people [says Isaiah, and teach them His lessons].  ¹² To these [complaining Jews the Lord] had said, This is the true rest [the way to true comfort and happiness] that you shall give to the weary, and, This is the [true] refreshing—yet they would not listen [to His teaching].  ¹³ Therefore the word of the Lord will be to them [merely monotonous repeatings of]: precept upon precept, precept upon precept, rule upon rule, rule upon rule; here a little, there a little—that they may go and fall backward, and be broken and snared and taken.  ¹⁴ Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem!  ¹⁵ Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol (the place of the dead) we have an agreement—when the overflowing scourge passes through, it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter.  ¹⁶ Therefore thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am laying in Zion for a foundation a Stone, a tested Stone, a precious Cornerstone of sure foundation; he who believes (trusts in, relies on, and adheres to that Stone) will not ^[b]be ashamed or give way or hasten away [in sudden panic].  ¹⁷ I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plummet; and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the hiding place (the shelter).  ¹⁸ And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol (the place of the dead) shall not stand; when the overwhelming scourge passes through, then you will be trodden down by it.  ¹⁹ As often as it passes through, it [the enemy’s scourge] will take you; for morning by morning will it pass through, by day and by night. And it will be utter terror merely to hear and comprehend the report and the message of it [but only hard treatment and dispersion will make you understand God’s instruction].  ²⁰ For [they will find that] the bed is too short for a man to stretch himself on and the covering too narrow for him to wrap himself in. [All their sources of confidence will fail them.]

Jesus taught it this way: 

¹⁶ He will come and [^[a]utterly] put an end to those tenants and will give the vineyard to others. When they [the chief priests and the scribes and the elders] heard this, they said, May it never be!  ¹⁷ But [Jesus] looked at them and said, What then is [the meaning of] this that is written: The [very] Stone which the builders rejected has become the chief Stone of the corner [Cornerstone]?  ¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that Stone will be broken [in pieces]; but upon whomever It falls, It will crush him [winnow him and ^[b]scatter him as dust].  Luke 20:16-18  And Jesus taught much on placing your foundations on stone and not sand.  Verse 18 is explained by Jesus in John 12:24-26,  a core verse for my own life.

^“I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains [just one grain; it never becomes more but lives] by itself alone. But if it dies, it produces many others and yields a rich harvest.  ²⁵ Anyone who loves his life loses it, but anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. [Whoever has no love for, no concern for, no regard for his life here on earth, but despises it, preserves his life forever and ever.]  ²⁶ If anyone serves Me, he must continue to follow Me [^[a]to cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying] and wherever I am, there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

So find and stand on GOD’s provided ROCK (Christ Jesus) as nothing else will stand in the final judgment of souls.  Nothing less than a 100% total commitment will survive.

( Past Issues of Worth Considering may be found at:  www.Trinity-Aloha.org  )

Yours, in HIS great love and wonderful grace and mercy,  Ken<>< 

There is but one Church of Christ Jesus and all who truly love and obey HIM are members.