Deception amusing; Deception destroying
Can you spot how one of the three images on the left differs from the other two? Study each one carefully…. Do you see it?
How about the one on the right? If I gave you some little square blocks and glue could you build one?
How about this statement: “Everything I say is a lie.” Is the statement true? Or a lie? If it’s a lie, does that mean it could be true?
While the examples above may be amusing, deception can be costly, as victims of investment scams will testify. Deception can also be deadly. It can cost you your life, as discovered the man who believed harmless the cyanide he ingested. But far worse, deception can cost you your soul!
“Do not be deceived,” warns scripture, “God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” (Gal. 6:7). Rebellion against the Truth has consequences… eternal consequences. “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). Reaping or earning, what you get back depends on what you do, and what you do grows from what you believe, and so what you believe had better be true.
This sort of thinking… believing has grown less and less popular in our world. Today many scoff at the notions of a Creator God, personal sin and the consequent alienation from Him which humankind experiences. Creation just “happened,” says this world. There is no sin. Every one for oneself. Live, party, die! There is no point, purpose, eternity. “Nothing to kill or die for, And no religion to,” just Imagine, sings Lennon.
Yet scripture has told us to expect precisely this: “the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” (2 Tim. 4:3).
It only gets worse, affirms scripture, so bad that even God will abandon us to our deceptions (2 Thess. 2:8-12). So stop now. Reconsider. Think! There is a God in Heaven and you have offended Him! He has made a way back, but it will soon be removed.
Covid-19 may take your body, but deception can take your soul. “Do not be deceived,” and
Press on…
To hear this past Sunday’s message, go to the Facebook page of Lincoln Baptist Church, or link to the livestream from the church website.
thebrokenrunner 