August 03, 2021
The Great Deception Series
By Rick Combs
We wrap up our series on The Great Deception. We explored the deception of mixing together the different ways that God deals with mankind. This only leads to confusion and disobedience to God. If you try to follow what God said to Noah about building an ark, or what Moses was instructed to do when receiving the Law at the burning bush, you will be hopelessly lost and find yourself in a quagmire of confusion. This is Satan’s finest method of deception; getting you to follow in the footsteps of another dispensation that does not belong to you.
Today, Satan works overtime in deceiving us with this tactic. I do realize that this thought will put me at odds with much of the church world. We have become so humanistic in our doctrine that we lust after the things of this world. Instead of following the Pauline epistles, we want to “follow Jesus” according to the Kingdom of God pronounced in the four gospels. So, we pick and choose what’s best for us. This begs the question; how much are we really following Jesus?
Case in point;
We want to ask God for anything we desire and get it…
But we ignore; sell all that you have, give to the poor and follow me (Matthew 19:21).
We want the good life and have everybody like us…
But we ignore; if you follow me you will have tribulation and persecution. (John 16:33; Matthew 5:10-12).
We want to be rich…
But we ignore; Lay not up treasures for yourselves on earth… but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21).
We want to be forgiven…
But we ignore; forgive others first (Matthew 6:14-15).
We want all of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to apply to us…
But we ignore; Jesus was sent to Israel (His people) and not Gentiles (Matthew 10:6, 15:22-24; John 1:11; Romans 15:8).
Obviously, this is just the tip of the iceberg. We could give many more examples. The point is, we do not follow Jesus from the four Gospels as much as we think. The reason? We are not living in the “at hand” phase of the Kingdom gospel given to Israel exclusively.
We live today in the dispensation of the Gospel of Grace according to the revelation of the Mystery detailed by the Apostle Paul in his 13 Epistles.
God has given to the world This Wonderful Time of Grace that gives us Peace with God.
Amen!