What is valuable will be compromised
The treasures of heaven are received by faith. That is, you have to believe it without proof before you can receive it.
For example, the gospel is a valuable thing, right? How do we receive it? We receive it by faith, as Paul mentions in Rom 1:16-17.
Rom 1:16-17 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."
In other words, no one can prove that if you receive Jesus as Lord and Savior you will go to heaven instead of hell.
It is from faith to faith in the sense that you believe one thing and you receive it, and then you believe the next thing and you receive that too. For example, after you have believed that God has forgiven you, you can believe that God will help you to stop sinning and then that comes to pass too.
You can’t get anything from God without faith. And, you can’t please God without faith either.
Heb 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
Faith is believing what you can’t prove.
Heb 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
It only makes sense to believe someone who always speaks the truth – someone like God, for whom it is impossible to lie.
Heb 6:18 so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.
In practice, since the Bible is God’s word, it is the only dependable source of true information concerning the treasures of heaven.
Without such truth to believe, a man is adrift in a sea of all sorts of crazy ideas about who God is and what He wants.
Truth about God is very valuable. It is valuable because it can make the difference in your eternal destiny.
Given that truth is so valuable, Satan, who greatly desires that you end up in hell, is going to try and distort it. That is, he will try to get you to believe what is not true. Scripture describes Satan as a liar and a deceiver (a person who attempts to get you to believe what is false).
Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
Jn 8:44 "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
It is very important to understand this truth, and the implications thereof. Specifically, Satan is not out to make you poor, or to make you work hard, or to steal your money. He is out to steal the truth about God. He is out to get you to believe false doctrine.
In his quest to steal the truth, Satan does not go about in a disorganized fashion. On the contrary, he is very organized and very strategic. He places his coworkers in positions of trust all over Christianity. There is trickery, craftiness, deceitful scheming, and mentioned in Eph 4:14. There are false apostles (2 Cor 11:13-14).
The compromise will be seemingly minor – just enough to made it invalid and just enough to make it look valid. But these multiple minor changes result in a big change in direction after a period of time.
How does one escape getting fooled?
The first step is to love the truth.
2 Thess 2:7-12 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. 8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
The second step is to be noble minded, like the Bereans, and check everything that people tell you carefully.
Ac 17:11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.
When Paul preached to the Bereans, they didn’t just accept what Paul said. Instead, they examined what he said in the light of Scripture – not just Scripture that Paul showed them, or Scripture that they found in a commentary, but the Scripture that they themselves were familiar with and studied.
In God’s eyes, such people are noble minded. They are noble minded because they love the truth so much that they become very familiar with it and are not easily fooled. Like Jesus, they understand what is written, and they also understand what is also written.
The third step is to be humble like Moses and do exactly as God commanded – nothing more and nothing less – when it comes to things pertaining to God.
You see, a man who has high thoughts about himself is open to what his own mind says about how to please God. Such a man is not qualified to build the tabernacle or the temple (God’s house in the Old Testament), or the church (God’s house in the New Testament). The one who qualifies is the one who trembles at His word and doesn’t use his own ideas or the ideas of his fellowman.
Is 66:1-2 1 Thus says the LORD, "Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool . Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? 2 "For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being," declares the LORD. "But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.
It is such people who will be great in the kingdom of heaven.
Mt 5:18-19 18 "For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 "Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
That is the fourth step – to give attention to even the least of the commandments of God, and to teach those too.
So then, as the apostle John cautions, let no one deceive you.
1 Jn 3:7 Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous;
Satan will make slight alterations to the important truths of the Bible, and thereby change its meaning sufficiently to render it harmless or invalid or extremely harmful. Don’t let him steal the truth from you. Don’t let him prevent you from building the true house of God. Don’t let him steal the eternal reward stored up in heaven for you.
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