“We are not going anywhere until this room is picked up and completely clean!”

If you have never uttered that phrase to your own children, no doubt you at least heard it growing up yourself, yes?

And a good parent will back up what they say to reinforce that they mean what they say; sort of like what God does. When God told Adam they were not to eat off that one tree or they would surely die…(Gen. 2:17) … did He mean it? And what was the first thing the serpent says in his opening line following his entrance in to this drama? - “Has God really said?” (Gen. 3:1).

Then after some brief tap-dancing around some verbiage with a little creative twisting thrown in, he (the serpent) totally turns God’s word around to say just the opposite: “You will not surely die.” (vs 4)

Then, many, many ‘pages’ later towards the end of that beloved Bible of ours, we will read more about this ‘serpent’, a.k.a. the ‘devil’ or ‘Satan’ who was cast down to earth along with his angles and he…(are you ready for this?)… “deceives the whole world.” (Rev. 12:9)

This would be the same ‘wicked one’ that John makes reference to in his epistle when he explains that the whole world is under the sway or influence of there in 1 John 5:19.

Paul would explain just ‘how’ he does this by ‘blinding the minds of the unbelievers from seeing the light of the gospel’. (2 Cor. 4:3-4). And why would Satan be intent on that? Well, for starters, he has taken all men captive to do his will given that is what sin does…it opens the door and gives him place into our lives to come and ‘steal, kill, and destroy’. (2 Tim. 2:26; Eph. 4:27; John 10:10)

When God’s word goes forth…we are told that he ‘comes immediately’ (Mark 4:15) to “take away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.” (Luke 8:11-12)

Is that not interesting to read as we start putting all these verse together and find clarity and understanding to what God’s word actually is trying to communicate to us? And if you would, go read, once again, Acts 26:18 where we read what Jesus was conveying to Paul as to why He was sending him to the Gentiles to preach the gospel: (No, really…stop a minute and go read that please).

There really is so much provided for us in scripture to give us insight to this spiritual foe or enemy so that we will not be ‘ignorant of his devices and schemes’. (2 Cor. 2:11). And clearly, one of his ‘devices’ is the tool of ‘deception’ that distorts and contradicts what God says as we read early on there in Genesis 3. He knows what God’s word (truth) does…it sets people free. (John 8:32,36). And he (Satan) does not want people set free …lest they believe and are ‘saved’.

So given what we just read and pieced together there (hopefully a light went on for you as well), would it not make sense that he could come in and twist God’s message around to say something else…especially when it comes to this idea of being ‘saved’ and set free?

Think about that a moment if you would. We are in no hurry here today.

Is it any wonder that you will hear so many explanations and various responses offered up today on how one might become…’saved’…depending on what ‘church’ you drop in for a visit to? Yep…I can hear someone whispering under your breath now wanting to ask “So am I going to offer up another version’ myself? And to be honest, I am doing my best to avoid doing that. On the contrary, I am simply compelled to sound a warning that so many of us sincere (and even not so sincere) believers would do well to go back and reexamine many scriptures that might be telling another story than what your particular denominational HQ has been teaching you.

All I can do is point you to God’s word to examine yourself and leave the rest up to the Holy Spirit to confirm whether what I am sharing here with you is true and legit. (Act 17:11). I personally find a great freedom in knowing it is not my responsibility to get anyone to ‘see anything’. But to those who do begin to ‘see it’, it will have a profound effect on you, your walk of faith and your relationship with God. Trust me on that one.

I see this all the time…I share a passage of scripture and immediately, ‘something’ will rise up in people and they will flat out tell you to your face: “I don’t believe that!”; or, “That is not what that is saying!”. It is the most amazing thing to witness given you assume…that other ‘believers’ would love and adhere to God’s word. And yet, they seem to not have a ‘love for the truth’ as you might have first suspected…and for this reason…what did Paul warn us God would do? See 2 Thess. 2:11.

We already addressed the fact the other day here how Jesus warned of many coming in His name preaching other gospels and deceiving many as did Paul. (Matt. 24:4-5; Gal. 1:6-9; 2 Cor. 11:2-4)

So what if….what if the gospel presentation you were led to believe and trust in was not in fact, the ‘whole counsel’ of God but some cheap ‘knock off version’ that might have a thread or two of truth woven through it, which is what makes a lie so deceiving. How would you know? Does a deceived person know they are deceived? Are you so prideful to insist that you…could never have been deceived? Are you implying that you could never become like those Pharisees who were so convinced their ‘doctrines of men’ was so solid that when the ‘Truth’ was standing right in front of them, they were unable to receive it because He did not ‘fit’ with their beloved structure? (Mark 7:8-13; John 8:43-44)

So just what if…there was a tad bit more to this ‘gospel’ that was sent to set men free than what we may previously have understood? Are you at least open to wading further in to your Bible that you so proudly will hold up and profess to believe is…indeed…The Holy Word of God?

Remember, we need not be afraid of His word…even if it says something different than what someone else told us it said. Agreed?

Believe me when I tell you I am fully aware that I am swimming against the current of popular belief here today, and I’m just fine with that. You can do as you please with what you read here but I am telling you in Jesus’ Name you would be wise to study this out on your own as if your soul depends on it. And that is not hyperbole either.

Some of the most often repeated advice passed down from one generation to another is this nugget of thought: “If it sounds too good to be true, then it most likely is not true.” Yet scammers and con-artist use the same techniques to appeal to people’s lower nature to suck them into more deception.

So why do we discard that advice when it comes to the gospel that most of us have been raised up to believe?

In other words, just say this prayer or make this profession…(repeat after me) we tell them at our church altars…and you will be saved. Then, after they repeat those words and say that prayer and ‘accept Christ’, we go out of our way to convince them then and there that they are ‘now saved’ and when they die they will be greeted at the gates of heaven and ushered in to eternal life with God.

Now remember…most deception has ‘threads of truth’ woven through it so don’t get ahead of me here. And if you are ‘putting all your eggs in that one basket’ based on the story of that thief on the cross, then you are going to end up with ‘egg on your face’. Because I can point you to other passages that will give you more truth to consider. And I personally LOVE that exchange between Jesus and that thief as evidence of His mercy and grace. But…that story we read in Luke 23 is NOT the gospel. Because there were many others who were convinced they were ‘saved’ and learned something quite the contrary- (Matt. 7:21-23)

So I ask again…just ‘what if’ there was more to this gospel of just saying you ‘believe’. We sure love John 3:16, which is great…but how often do you hear Hebrews 5:9 quoted?

We know that Jesus did not come to condemn us, rather to save us given we were already condemned. (John 3:17-18). We know He came to save us from the ‘wrath of God’ that was upon each and every one of us. (Rom. 5:9; John 3:36). And the plan was for Him to come and lead us to put to death our old nature as He purifies our hearts and conforms us to His nature and likeness…so…that…we …could fulfill God’s law which is nicely summed up in one word: “Love”. (Gal. 5:14).

We are to love God with all our hearts and our neighbor as ourself (or as Christ loved us). And how on earth could we ever fulfill that law without having His nature in us? But before He can conform us to His image (Rom. 8:29) … He first has to ‘clean us up’ from that old nature. (John 3:30; Rom. 8:13) in order for us to become a ‘new creation’…capable of walking like He walked (1 John 2:6) in order that we too can fulfill all the righteous requirements of the law. (Rom. 2:13; 8:4)

And would you like to guess what all the demons in hell are sitting around laughing at? All these professing ‘believers’ who are waiting on that ‘rapture-bus’ to take them away when it is evident by the fruit coming out of their hearts that they are nowhere near close to having had their hearts ‘sanctified’ or made pure. (Read Matt. 5:8 and Heb. 12:14 lately?). Because we know Jesus is coming back for a bride that is…’spotless and pure and without stain, wrinkle, or blemish’. (Eph. 5:27).

Sounds sort of like a parent saying “We are not going anywhere until this room (heart) is picked up completely!” I don’t know about your parenting techniques or your parents, for that matter. But this I do know: God means what He says!

I know...I know...certainly not 'that many people could be wrong!'.  Really?  Who told you that?