The Paths of all Who Forget God

Job 8:11-15 ESV

 

“Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh?

    Can reeds flourish where there is no water?

While yet in flower and not cut down,

    they wither before any other plant.

Such are the paths of all who forget God;

    the hope of the godless shall perish.

His confidence is severed,

    and his trust is a spider's web.

He leans against his house, but it does not stand;

    he lays hold of it, but it does not endure.”

 

False Faith in Jesus

 

Just because we profess faith in Jesus Christ does not mean we genuinely believe in Jesus. Just because we say we believe in him in our hearts and we have confessed him as Lord with our lips doesn’t mean that he is our Savior and our Lord. For, we can have all the outward appearances of being a believer in Jesus Christ while it may all be a façade, all outward, not inward.

 

Many people today are reducing faith in Jesus Christ to a mere confession or a profession of him as Lord and Savior but they are not teaching that faith in Jesus comes from God and that it means to be persuaded by God as to his will for our lives, and so it means to submit to God’s will and purposes for our lives, to forsake our sins, and to follow Jesus in obedience to his word.

 

So, here is our situation today, at least here in America. We have people in high up positions in government and in the institutional church who have promoted (pushed, persuaded) the marketing of the church just like any other business and who have propagated a false half-truth gospel intended to deceive the masses by appealing to their fleshly natures.

 

These people who are turning the church into a business of man and who are propagating this half-truth gospel are despicable people who take advantage of others for their own purposes. They are sneaky, deceptive liars who are living immoral lives and who are shifting the word of God in the direction of the felt needs of the people and to appease their flesh.

 

For, their goal is not the spiritual growth and maturity of those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, but it is the nurturing and appeasing of the flesh in order to keep people still dead in their sins so that they don’t have the hope of eternal life with God. Their goal is the destruction of the church, and of the gospel, and of human lives for eternity, not the saving of lives.

 

And so they are teaching them that they can believe in Jesus Christ, have their sins forgiven, have heaven guaranteed them when they die, but that nothing is required of them – no turning away from their lives of sin, no humbling of themselves in surrender of their lives to Jesus Christ, and no walking in obedience to his commands.

 

And so they are leaving them dead in their sins, bound for hell, but on the guarantee of heaven when they leave this earth. And people are flocking to this false faith by the droves because it tickles their itching ears and it sooths their fleshly lusts and desires. But in reality they are following pied pipers to their deaths, for they are not going to inherit eternal life.

 

On the Attack

 

These liars and deceivers and manipulators of the truth of the Scriptures, though, are not content with just convincing people to follow another Jesus and a different gospel, but they are going after the truth of the gospel and those who are teaching it, and they are attacking them vehemently with their lies and with their false accusations.

 

These cunning, crafty, and predatory creatures, who are wolves in sheep’s clothing, are out to destroy the truth of the gospel and all who are still holding to it and who are teaching it. So, they are on the attack, and they are laying traps, and they are using trickery to try to discredit the true gospel and its messengers and to bring them into disrepute.

 

So, they are attacking our covenant relationships with Jesus Christ with their lies. And they do this in many ways, many of which are subtle, deceptive, and manipulative. They will use memes on social media to spread their propaganda, as well as they will use “Christian” movies and songs to break down the truth of the gospel and to spread their lies.

 

They will use popular authors and public speakers and preachers and writers of devotions to also spread their subtle deceptions which most people don’t seem to pick up on, so the unsuspecting end up accepting and spreading whatever sounds good to them at the moment regardless of what the meme or the preacher or the book is really teaching at its core.

 

For, we live in a “fast food” society which takes quick glances and snapshots of things and then makes quick decisions and forms fast opinions, and with a quick push of a button “likes” and “shares” what they see without any further thought or examination as to whether or not what they just liked or shared had any truth to it at all, and without consideration if there might be a hidden message contained within filled with subtle lies.

 

Are You Being Discerning?

 

Take for example the popular TV series called “The Chosen.” Although they say it is a dramatization of biblical events, and they are not claiming that they are being totally accurate to Scripture, still this series is captivating the minds, emotions, and hearts of many people who call themselves Christians, and it is filled with subtle and not so subtle deceptions to deceive people.

 

And today I just saw that there is a new movie out called “The Jesus Music,” which is all about Christian contemporary music from the 1960s to the present, which includes all sorts of distortions of Christianity and the Scriptures and what worship of God is all about. But how much of that teaches repentance, walks of obedience, and submission to Christ as Lord?

 

Christians say they believe the Scriptures. They say they believe there is a devil who is out to deceive them, and yet most don’t seem to believe that they can be deceived, and so they are not being discerning about what they are watching, reading, and listening to, but they are far too quick to just readily accept whatever feels good or sounds good at the moment.

 

And they don’t see or they won’t see how much of what is being passed off as “Christian” these days is not only not biblical, but it is anti-biblical intentionally to deceive the masses and to lead them astray from pure devotion to Jesus Christ, to follow after their flesh and other humans and what feels good, looks good, and sounds good, without testing to see if it is good.

 

And so they get caught in the devil’s traps. They get caught in his webs of deceit. And so they live the lies. And they spread the lies. And they lead others to follow suit. And so while they are convinced that Jesus is their Lord and Savior and that when they die they are going to heaven, one day they are going to come before God and he is going to tell them to depart from him, for he never knew them. For, they were workers of iniquity.

 

And many people are going to be surprised when this happens because they were counting on that false promise of heaven when they die based on a clever deception and manipulation of truth. And they won’t test it because it is giving them the freedom to keep on living in sin, and they don’t really want to give up their sins, and so they believe the lie.

 

So, if this is where you are, still living in sin on the promise of heaven when you die, then please read the New Testament word for word in context with full sincerity and a desire to know the truth. For, the Scriptures teach that if we walk in sin we will not inherit eternal life with God. It doesn’t matter what we say we believe or what we profess with our lips. What matters is our obedience to our Lord and our submission to him.

 

[Eph 2:8-10; Heb 12:1-2; Jn 6:44; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10, 19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Matt 7:21-23; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

 

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

 

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

 

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

 

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg

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