Jump Start # 1261

2 Timothy 1:12 “For this reason I also suffer these things,  but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”

  Yesterday, in our Jump Start we talked about deception. Not seeing ourselves as God sees us. Fooling ourselves. This happens all the time. A person can be convinced that they are right with God when they are not. The Pharisees were like this. Jesus used graphic illustrations to show how deceived they were. They were like white washed tombs, the Lord said. Pretty on the top side, but beneath the soil, rotting bones. They were like a dish which had been washed on the outside, but the inside was dirty. Deceiving others. Deceiving self. Not deceiving God.

Most folks that make the effort to go to some church on a Sunday morning are convinced that they are doing pretty good. Sure, there would be some minor things that they need to fine tune, but all in all, they are better than most. They’d be convinced that they are saved. They’d be sure that they were going to Heaven. Yet so many do not understand what God says. They worship as they want, not as God wants. They pray. They read their Bible. They raise their families. They are nice, good people. They are generous, helpful and contribute to bettering the value of others.

The amazing thing is that when we read the book of Acts, we are introduced to people such as Cornelius who would top the list of great people. Godly. Prayerful. Giving alms. Yet, he wasn’t considered saved. The eunuch from Ethiopia is another one. He had traveled all the way to Jerusalem to worship. He had purchased a private copy of Isaiah and was reading it. Reading Isaiah! Philip, the preacher, met him and preached Jesus to him. He wasn’t saved. These two examples show that goodness can be a great deception.  A Christian is a good person. But just being good doesn’t make one a Christian. It’s knowing Jesus. It’s following Jesus. It’s doing what the Bible says.

Our verse today, from Paul, demonstrates the confidence and assurance that comes from knowing Jesus. The difference between Paul and those who are deceived is that Paul knew. The deceived think they know, but they don’t. Paul had centered his life around the word of God. He taught it. He believed it. He obeyed it. He used it. He spoke it.

It’s easy to allow someone else to tell us what to believe. That is the danger preachers face. We preach and teach and some will take what we say without thinking, checking or doing their own homework. Books can do the same thing. Someone writes some thoughts, throws in a few verses, it sounds pretty good, and it is believed and accepted without thinking things through. Those mighty Bereans searched the Scriptures daily to see whether the things they were hearing was so. There was a confidence and trust in the word of God. The Bible was the final answer. This is how Jesus used the Bible. When questioned about divorce by the Pharisees, He referred to Genesis. When tempted by Satan, He quoted passages from Deuteronomy. When the Sadducees challenged Him about the resurrection, Jesus referred to the Bible. He didn’t quote scholars. He didn’t say, “My church teaches this.” He didn’t say, “I feel…” He went to the Bible.

All of this leads us to the thought that we must be opening the Bible often. We must be looking in the Bible often. We must understand the words. We must ask questions. We must investigate, dig, do some research. We must think for ourselves. Now two things top this list.

First, we must be interested enough to want to do this. If the interests is not there, then we will not do this.

Second, we must put the effort and energy into doing this. It takes some time. It’s easier to just let someone else do your thinking for you. It’s easier for someone to just tell you what you are supposed to do. But those are the very ways deception is allowed into our hearts. We let someone else convince us. We get talked into some thing. It’s like going to look at new cars. You best be careful when you do this. The next thing you know is that you are sitting in a new car. Then before you know it, the salesman has keys in hand, and you are driving that car around the block. And before you know it, you are sitting in his little cubicle signing papers. All you came to do was look. You drive home that new car and late at night you start thinking about payments and finances and it hits you. That dreaded buyer’s remorse. You wished now that you hadn’t bought it. You are too embarrassed to take it back, so you are stuck with something that you were talked into. This leaves a sour taste in your mouth.

For some, that car buying experience is the same with religion. The slick salesman, happens to be a smooth talking preacher. He talks fast, smiles a lot and the next thing you know you’re told to do this and that and your head is spinning. That slick preacher has you signed up to teach the two-year-old class, convinced you to give a huge amount of money, and sent home telling you that you are saved, and you don’t know what has just happened. Modern religion, American style. This is why so many dread preachers. We dread them like car salesmen. We fear that they are going to convince us of something and then guilt us into something.

Such is not what you read in the New Testament. Preachers did not act that way. The convincing came from the Bible. Open the book and show the Bible. With the eunuch, Philip began right where he was reading, Isaiah. He showed him Jesus. He could read. He could think. He could ask questions.

The difference between being convinced and being deceived is truth and trust. When we are convinced, we can show why we believe. Our faith is built upon truth. It’s God’s word that has caught our attention and turned our heads. Deception involves something that isn’t right. To deceive is to trick, lie or convince someone into doing what they don’t want to do. The deceived trust the words of the deceiver. Their confidence is in what someone else tells them. That’s what happened to Eve. She was deceived by Satan. She trusted his words more than God’s word. Satan didn’t prove himself. He offered no evidence. He lied. He added words. He twisted things. Poor Eve didn’t think things out. She didn’t ask questions. She accepted what he said as truth. She was convinced that God was wrong. That’s deception!

God wants us to be sure. He wants us to be confident. Paul, from our passage today, knew. He was sure. The Bible built his faith. The Bible is where is faith stood.

Deceived or convinced…there is a difference.

Roger