For the idea of a slippery slope to exist we first have to believe that there is a place that we would also call solid ground. So what is solid ground? Solid ground would be defined as a place in life that is safe and secure. It would be the benchmark from which all other things are compared. It would be a set of teachings that would give excellent, proven guidance and wisdom for life. It would present a sound basis of history; a sound explanation for the things that we see and observe in this world and it would have a roadmap of some type that would point us into the future and tell us what to expect. This would be something like an “Instruction book” that came from the Creator himself that explains our purpose for being here and who we are and what is expected of us.
Since our culture has been so radically impacted by Biblical theology and ideology we can’t help but go to the parable that Jesus taught about this benchmark or solid ground of life.
In Matthew chapter 7 Yeshua said 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
So then from this very simple parable we can learn what the solid ground is. It is the teaching of the Bible from cover to cover. How can we say cover to cover especially when Yeshua came to set a new standard and bring in a new covenant of grace? Because He is the “Rock” that He is speaking off in the parable and if we look at the life of Yeshua we will see that He what is and is a legally perfect Jew! As John would say it, “He is the Torah, made flesh!” From the New Testament it is easy to demonstrate that He was Torah observant and was present at the Feasts and followed everything according to the law of Moses. He did however conflict with the laws of man that surrounded the law of Moses that put the people of the day in great bondage.
The Bible contains a pattern of life that contains many laws and principles to live by. These laws and principles are given to us by God for our good. They are designed to keep us safe and in right harmony with the design of the world, the design of family and the wisdom of God who knows good and evil and who also knows the nature of fallen man. It can be a set of do’s and don’ts while we are in a fallen world, subject to the voices of temptation and the tendency to go our own way. Since our expulsion from the garden back in Genesis God demonstrates His love for us even then when he supplied us with animal skins to help protect us from the elements as we went out into the world. God’s heart is always to love us, always to protect and to always demonstrate His attributes and character. His hope for us is that we will trust Him in this journey that we would read his book of instruction and that we would hear His voice that says don’t do that; don’t follow them; don’t go that way but come this way because I want to bless you and keep you safe.
The nature of man since being expelled from the garden became corrupt angry and bitter and began to say, “Since we were kicked out of the garden for such a trivial incident we are going to go out into the world and show God that we don’t need him!” This is the real root of bitterness and rebellion that is in the heart of man since the fall. Given this, the laws and principles in the Bible are a test of our willingness to trust and obey God, or to go our own way and do our own thing deciding not to trust the Bible and do not trust that God is truly good. When we think about it, we can identify this very same lack of trust at the original fall of man. From Genesis 3 we can clearly see that Eve decided to listen to another voice and to trust that voice instead of trusting God and the simple obedience and directive He gave to not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. “Did God actually say, “You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?” The very first lie came in the form of a question.
For us to be successful in this life and remain on the solid ground we need to know more about this contrary voice. Jesus describes this voice in John chapter 10. It becomes clear that we must learn how to discern his voice from every other voice. I suppose we could call this voice the voice of the slippery slope. I will include this lengthy passage:
“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.
7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.[a] They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again.18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
19 The Jews who heard these words were again divided. 20 Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?”
21 But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
From a certain perspective, we can clearly see that the fall of man was not necessarily an issue of obedience however it “was” an issue of obedience. Beneath the surface of obedience lies another issue, a deeper issue and that issue is “trust.” So the question is, do we trust the God who created us and simply do what He says without question and without doubt knowing that our God is a God who loves us and has the very best for us and has our best interest in mind? When we live in a world of turmoil, wars, famines, hurricanes, earthquakes, disease and death it can become a valid question, who is the God who created us and if He is all powerful, why is His world so out of control? Why is there evil and death all around?
This is where “worldview” is so important to each and every one of us. We need to know the overall plan of God and how we fit into that plan. The Bible gives us an excellent explanation of what is going on around us. It explains where we came from. It explains who we are. It explains why the world is in chaos and upheaval. It explains why people kill each other. It explains why there is famine disease and death. It describes the world that is in need of redemption. It records a history of what God did and is continuing to do to bring redemption and it describes what will come of all of this in the future. It presents an invitation for man to come along with what God is doing and to trust Him and to believe in Him and for those who do, the promise of living with Him in His kingdom forever.
So it boils down to this: Do we trust God? Or, do we trust the desires of our flesh? Or do we trust another voice this is contrary to the voice of God?
By the way, the Lord has given me a great tool to illustrate biblical truth on a unique timeline mechanism. I call it the “Ichthys Timeline.” Be sure to look for a video teaching of that coming soon. It will debut on the “Take On the World” Conference with Chris Bailey. You will want to see that.
Since we are speaking now of an issue of trust we have to recognize that trust is directly related to the subject of faith. So then, we have to believe that God exists and we must trust that He is a good God and that He has our very best interest in mind, that He is a God of life rather than death and He desires to bless us rather than torment us and give us a secure future. I suppose that it could’ve been possible for a demented evil angry twisted perverted God to have created a world that He could then use as an object of His torment and perverted evil desires. Imagine that for a moment– that we are creations of that type of God and are objects of his twisted pleasure. I can’t even imagine such a thing, but come to think of it that is who the devil is, one who has become the antithesis of what God is.
Some people have been led to believe that that is who the God of the Bible really is, a twisted hateful God of judgment, punishment, wrath and death. After all, what God would put desires in us such as sexual pleasure and then command us to resist those urges? Who would create people and then command other people to go over and kill every person man woman and child? Who would create plants or in the case of the Garden, the tree, and then tell us not to eat from it? Like many other things it’s possible to read something and draw wrong conclusions. I suppose when your presuppositions are askew, a mind is filled with lies from other voices, fear and doubt and clouded by rebellion you could read the Bible and find those passages that support those conclusions. Once again, this is no different than what happened to Eve in the garden. She became subjected to another voice and that other voice was persuasive and injected doubt and contrary instruction to that of God.
So, as we are going through this life we have a lot of choices to make one of which is what are we, or what are YOU going to define as solid ground. Then it becomes a matter of trust and obedience to remain on that solid ground instead of being seduced or deceived by any other voice. So at this point in time we have the Bible which is a revelation from God written by man that has survived the test of the scrutiny and time and there is a voice, a present and powerful living voice that we can hear in our spirit that is in complete agreement with the written word of God and that voice prods us and leads us and coaches us to follow and obey the written word so that we can receive His provision of redemption through the blood atonement of His Son, Yeshua Jesus Christ and then begin to understand what God is doing in the present moment and hear His invitation to join Him in the process of redemption for others and the establishment of His kingdom on the earth for the preparation of His return.
It will come down to the words of this old favorite hymn that says in one of its verses,
“No power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His hand; till He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.”
Blessings and Shalom in Yeshua