Thursday, June 12, 2014

Deceived

In my previous post I wrote about Jesus opening up the gates of hell that have kept people imprisoned by deception and releasing the captives. During this past week I have been thinking of those who have been deceived and their reaction to finding that out. So I’m writing this post in the hope that those who are set free will run to God as a result of His mercy to them.


Revelation 12:9, “And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”

I know someone who came out of a religious organization very disillusioned and angry at God as the result of discovering that they had lied to him, that he had been deceived.

The reason for my writing this post is a few days ago I was reading that there is an exodus from a religious organization as the result of people realizing they have also been deceived. My concern is the reaction I saw in the person who became angry with God. This caused him to walk completely away from God, and I don’t see that as the appropriate reaction.

We see in the Scripture above that Satan is the deceiver of the whole world. You have been deceived, and I have been deceived. Welcome to the fallen human race that has been under to the control of the evil one.

1 John 5:19, “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.”

But let what has happened to you be the reason for you to run to God with thanksgiving that He thought of you enough to deliver you from deception and destruction and lead you to a knowledge of the truth. His purpose in that is that He wants you to be forgiven and delivered from judgement and to receive eternal life from Him and an inheritance with Him. And to receive this hope from Him is simple.

Jesus carried your sins to the cross, was crucified and paid the penalty for your sin, taking them out of the way. Colossians 2:13-15, “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

Jesus died and was buried, but on the third day He was raised from the dead by the Spirit of Holiness. There is no sin in Jesus, therefore death was not able to hold Him. Romans 1:4, “and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.”

He wants to credit His righteousness to your account, the righteousness that God demands and only Jesus can provide. Romans 3:21-26, “But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified (declared righteous) freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies (declares righteous) those who have faith in Jesus.”

In a simple prayer, if you ask Him to apply this to your life, He will do it. He will adopt you as His child, seal you by His Holy Spirit, and give you the guarantee of eternal life with Him. John 1:12-13, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

It’s that simple.

That’s the good news. You don’t have to work to be in right standing with God. Jesus did everything needed to make the way for you to be saved from judgment. Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”