FLEE FROM DARKNESS AND DECEPTION

…AND DON’T LOOK BACK!!!

That’s what one of the angels said to Lot, his wife, and his two daughters.  The Lord was extending mercy to Lot’s family before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:16, 17).

Over and over the Lord God has been a deliverer of His people. 

Jesus came to the earth to “set the captives free” (Isa. 61:1).  He came “to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10).  Jesus and His apostles sounded the warning to “watch out for false prophets,” false teachers and their heretical doctrine.

Paul said at Acts 20:29-31 that “savage wolves would arise and distort the truth and would not spare the flock … so be on guard!”  He said, “For three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.”

Believers in Jesus Christ would receive power and the Holy Spirit according to John 7:37-39; Acts 1:8; John 14:16-18, 26; 16:13; and Romans 8:9-11.  Christians would be recipients of God’s truth, ones who would “know” God’s truth and would “know” God.

The Holy Spirit was promised to all who believe and they would be taught, guided, and loved by the Spirit of Truth.  Christians receive the “mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16).  God’s Spirit connects with the believers’ spirit and His truth is revealed (1 Cor. 1:10-16). They “know the truth and the truth sets them free” (John 8:32, 36).

The world where we live is filled with darkness and deception, BUT Christians are called to be light and salt, to be “witnesses” of Jesus and to be “disciple makers” (Matt. 5:13-16; 28:19, 20; Acts 1:8).

Followers of Jesus Christ are said to be devoted people.  Devoted to the apostles’ teachings, devoted to fellowship, to Holy Communion, and to prayer (Acts 2:42).

They are given power, strength, courage, a compulsion to share the Gospel, wisdom from above, and gifts and fruit of the Spirit.  Their new birth gives them “a new heart,” and a new life. And they are “changed” forever (2 Cor. 5:17).

How does this happen to an “unsaved” person?  Jesus said at John 15:16, “you have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.” “We love God because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).  God chooses, calls, and appoints.  So who is it that believes?  Acts 13:48 tells us that gentiles who were appointed or ordained believed.

SO, KNOW THIS:

…salvation, eternal life, becoming an adopted child of God is a free gift of God, and NOT by works or human effort (Eph. 2:8-10).  Life is all about God, His love, His mercy, His grace, and His faithfulness.

Jesus did not leave His followers as orphans but sent the Holy Spirit to wash and regenerate, sanctify, and give a second birth to all believers (Titus 3:4-7).  Christians are saved by the blood of the perfect Lamb, the Lord Jesus (John 1:29; 1 Pet. 2:24 ,25).

Having “the mind of Christ,” being set free from sin and guilt and vain works, being made alive in Christ and being declared righteous in the blood of the Lamb, could raise this question:

Why would Christians ever want to look back?  Paul, speaking to the  believers in Galatia said, “Are you so foolish?  After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?” (Gal. 3:3)

Christians are saved and sanctified through faith in Jesus, by believing and NOT by works (Eph. 2:8-10; Gal. 2:16; Acts 16:30, 31).

Anyone who comes out from behind “the Watchtower curtain” and its false gospel of “works saves” or out of any of the hundreds of other cults and heretical false teachings that are leading people astray, will hopefully not look back!

…Not to prophecies of man’s imagination, not to deceivers who lead people astray from the Author of true faith, not to false words and lying visions of foolish false prophets who follow their own spirits, and have seen nothing (Ezek. Chapter 13 and Deut.1 8:20-22).

No, rather, Christians focus their eyes and thoughts on Jesus (Heb. 3:1; 12:2).  They are soldiers of Christ enabled by God to recognize and fight against false teachers and their false doctrine (Eph. 6:10-18).  Believers are watchmen on the wall defenders of the faith, steadfast, ever knowing and serving God and proclaiming His truth (2 Tim. 2:15; 4:1-5).

Those appointed by God are assured, confident and loyal to Jesus Christ.

No one can snatch them from His hand.

They cannot be separated from the love of Christ.  Peter says that “He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for us” (1 Pet. 1:3, 4).

So please heed this warning: 

If you have left a cultic group, don’t carry their false teachings out of captivity.  Come to Jesus for eternal life, to a new life in Him.  Make a clean break from false prophets!

Why would a believer in Jesus Christ ever turn back?

…Jesus said, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Mt. 11:28-30).

Why would anyone want to return to a terrible task master, to “works” and endless rules?

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”  —Galatians 5:1

Jesus is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

He is “the Lord of me and the God of me,” as Thomas clearly stated to the resurrected Jesus. –John 20:28

The apostles Paul and Peter said that He is “the great God and Savior.” –Titus 2:13; 2 Peter 1:1

John said that Jesus is “the true God and Eternal Life.” –John 1:3; Colossians 1:16, 17

The Bible also says that He is the “Creator of all things” not as the Watchtower Bible translators wrote, “all other things.” 

Jesus told us that He is the First and Last, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and Omega – the Lord God, the “Almighty”  —Revelation 1:8, 17, 18; 22:13  

His name is above all names and there is not another name by which man can be saved.  –Philippians 2:9,10

He is the “I AM!”  –John 8:58; Exodus 3:14, 15

 Jesus is the Shepherd who says at Jn.10:14 “I AM the good Shepherd.  I know My sheep and My sheep know Me.”

Yes, without question and in full confidence, Christians proclaim that “knowing” Christ and “coming” to Him and having Christ live in them is the only way to eternal life (John 17:3; 14:6; John 5:39, 40; Rom. 8:1:9-11).

 If Jesus is the “Way”, why would a believer, born of God, the Holy Spirit ever want to turn back to the old life of “self” and “works” and “darkness?”

Jesus is the “Light” and He lives inside believers.  They have been declared “the temple of God.”  What a miracle and a free gift of deliverance!  Born again believers become “a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come!”  –2 Corinthians 5:17

The Lord tells us again and again not to look back.  “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am making all things new!”  —Isa. 43:18, 19

God has not patched up believers.  He has made them completely new, “to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”  –Ephesians 4:20-24

Paul writes that Christians are devoted to God’s word and desire to “speak the truth in love.”

Christians are “no longer tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming” (Eph. 4:14, 15).

Paul encourages Christians at Philippians 1:6 when he tells them to be “confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Jesus said that believers are filled “with streams of living water (the Holy Spirit).” –John 7:37-39  They know that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ” (Spirit filled) (Rom. 8:1).  They are confident, assured, guaranteed, sealed, and kept and will not look back!

> Jesus makes a concluding statement about the cost of following Jesus.  He said “no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the Kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).

Now, if Jesus “has set you free, you are free indeed!” (John 8:36)

Let all lovers of God flee from darkness, run to the Light and DON’T LOOK BACK!