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Deuteronomy 13:1-4 (KJV) If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, {2} And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; {3} Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. {4} Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.

As Israel moved into the Promised Land, they would move among many peoples with many ideologies and theologies. In other words, nearly every nation Israel passed through had its own god, and that god was not the God of the Holy Bible! So God our Father established parameters that His people whom He loved were to follow.

In America today the Church that Jesus died for is in much the same position that Israel was in. We find ourselves surrounded by strange world views and bizarre philosophies. Relativism is in, and absolute truth is out. Truth can be bent based on your point of view. There was a Rock group called Buffalo Springfield that was popular when I was only 9 years old and still in Elementary School. The song was called “For What It’s Worth”, and the lyrics actually made sense. Back when I was young you could understand what the bands were saying. One part of the song popped into my mind right now:

There’s battle lines being drawn;
Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong …

Since you’re a Gospel and Country Music crowd I’ll stop there, but I have to say that what they sang was TRUE. Truth is absolute, and does not change based on your opinion. If you step off the roof of a ten story building you will die. That’s truth. It doesn’t matter if what you believe is contrary to that or not. Truth is truth. You can step off a ten story building believing you’re a bird, but you will only be goo in but a few moments. Period. It doesn’t matter what political party or color you are. Truth is truth. Our Lord Jesus stood in front of Pilate – His soon to be executioner – and said:

John 18:37 (KJV) …. for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

Jesus bears witness to the truth. There is an absolute truth. Jesus said that He came to bear witness to it … and those who are true will hear HIS Voice. Of course, Pilate was a politician, and they never change. The Pontius Politician responded to Jesus saying:

John 18:38 (KJV) … What is truth? …

Though he found no fault in Jesus and told the people the same he nevertheless crucified an innocent Man. Why? Because the world and the devil will do its best to make truth flexible and relative. The world and its devil will kill any who believe in the absolute truth that Christ witnesses to. The world says:

Everything’s right
Nothing’s wrong
There is no moral imperative
Just do what you will
And God will look the other way

To which God responds:

Hogwash! There Is Absolute Truth

Deuteronomy 13:1-2 (KJV) If there arise¹ among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, {2} And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them …”

People often watch various “religious programs” on the television or hear their figure heads preach on radio or podcast. When what they are saying is questioned they respond:

But they’ve got a BIG Church
But they do MIRACULOUS things
But they’ve been endorsed by so and so
But they’ve been to such and such a Seminary
But my uncle Bobsy said he saw them …
But they feed so many children

and so on, and so on. People speak of the outward signs or miraculous things these prophets or preachers do. What is interesting in this text today is that God said someone can do miraculous things and still NOT be walking with our Lord. God said:

IF they do a miraculous thing,
AND it come to pass,
BUT they try and lead you away from Me
THEN LOOK OUT!

The Apostle told us that we who are Christ’s children by faith are not in a battle with flesh and blood:

Ephesians 6:12 (KJV) For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Though there are times when we feel our enemy IS flesh and blood or humans, but the Apostle said definitively NO!

The evil driving the martyrdom, manipulation, and misinformation about and to the Christian is NOT flesh and blood or human but
a fallen angel we call satan.

When Lucifer became lifted up with pride and rebelled against God the Bible says that he led a third part of the angels (Revelation 12:4) to rebel with him. Satan and his forces (called “principalities, powers, and rulers of darkness”) are behind the fall of Adam. It is the devil who is behind the relative truth movement. Shall I tell you what Jesus thinks of this? He said:

John 8:44 (KJV) … the devil … He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

The vain philosophies of this world that lead away from the Creator God are but lies from the pregnant belly of satan. The devil – that old dragon – led a third of the angels in rebellion against God, and leads the fallen world to resist its Creator.

The Devil Doesn’t Want You To Know God Or His Word

He and his evil followers want to draw you away from the Real God and His Real Word, this Holy Bible. When they entice you to depart from God what should your response be?

Deuteronomy 13:2-3 (KJV) “… Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; {3} Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams…”

Don’t listen to them. Do what Jesus did when tempted of the devil. Jesus said “It Is Written”, then quoted God’s Scripture.

Matthew 4:4 (KJV) “… It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

Matthew 4:7 (KJV) “… It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”

Matthew 4:10 (KJV) “… Get thee hence, Satan: for It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”

The Phrase “It Is Written” Is Found 63 Times In The New Testament, In Most Instances From Christ’s Own Mouth

I treasure the works of Charles Stanley, Adrian Rodgers, J. Vernon McGee, C.H. Spurgeon, John Walvoord, John Wesley, John MacArthur, Dwight L. Moody, and too many others for me to name. These are all great men of God. However, my ultimate source of Absolute Truth is the Word of God, not what these men have said. The final authority for the believer must be, as Jesus made it, “It is written“. Otherwise, you will be led away after other gods!

Remember That The Devil
Can And Will Quote Scripture!

If It Is Of God It Will Lead You To God

Deuteronomy 13:4 (KJV) Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.

If what you are listening to is from God’s Word and God’s Throne, then that teaching will not elevate the FLESH nor will it magnify SIN, but it will draw you to God’s side.

The Bible teaches us that the works of the flesh, that is, the outflow from the Old Sin Nature is always selfish or self serving. The Apostle said:

Galatians 5:19-21 (KJV) Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, {20} Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, {21} Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

If you walk in darkness you are not walking with God. If you walk in the flesh you are not walking with the Spirit of God. If you are walking with God the fruit or output of your life will be like Christ. The Scripture says:

Galatians 5:22-23 (KJV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, {23} Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

Note that the text says the FRUIT of the Spirit. There are many works of evil attributed to the devil and the flesh, but only ONE FRUIT with many flavors from the Lord. Now look at the flavors of the produce of God: love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. Each flavor in the fruit of the Spirit supports the other flavors. The quality of life in Christ is amazing, and blessed. If you wish to have a blessed, satisfying life, then you must orient your life so as to follow after Jesus and not after the gods of this world.

Let’s Take An “I” Exam

• If “I” am a Christian then “I” am designed to walk with God. God saved Israel to walk with Him, to follow after Him. God save me to follow Him. The Scripture says:

Romans 14:7-8 (KJV) For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. {8} For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.

“I” do not belong to me. “I” do not belong to the devil’s world. “I” belong to Christ. He purchased me with His Blood. “I” am bought with a price that Jesus paid on Calvary (see 1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23).

2 Corinthians 6:16 (KJV) … what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

Ephesians 2:10 (KJV) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

As you have been given Grace from God, you are to be gracious to others. As the Scripture says:

Acts 20:35 (KJV) I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

• If “I” am a Christian then “I” am to walk in the clearly revealed truths of God’s Bible. I am not to argue with that truth, but to live so as to support it.

3 John 1:3-4 (KJV) For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. {4} I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

We who are Christians walk in truth, Bible truth. We love His Word and seek to live it out each day of our lives. Jesus prayed for His Church, saying:

John 17:17 (KJV) Sanctify them (set them apart, dear Father) through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.

The reason that God the Son sent the Holy Spirit to the life of the believer is to “guide us into all truth” (John 16:13). The devil is the thief who seeks to rob you of joy. Jesus said:

John 10:10 (KJV) The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

The only way you will ever experience the “peace of God that passes all understanding” (Philippians 4:7) is to fill your heart and your hands with God’s Truth. There is an old saying that states:

What’s down in the well comes up in the bucket!

If worldliness is stored in your heart then your daily output will be the same as a lost person. But if God’s Word is stored in your heart then your daily output will be to walk with God.

• If “I” am a Christian I am to follow after God or walk in God. The flesh will not be my driving force, but what God commands of me.

Galatians 5:16 (KJV) This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Deuteronomy 13:4 (KJV) Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.

“Cleaving” unto God is an intimate term. When Adam first saw Eve he said:

Genesis 2:24 (KJV) Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Just as Adam bound himself to Eve at the intimate level, we are to bind ourselves to God our Father that same way. We are to be “One” with God in our thoughts and in our actions. We are to walk AFTER God:

Romans 8:1 (KJV) There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

The believer is not under condemnation because he or she is indwelt by and empowered by the Holy Spirit of God. This indwelling Spirit directs us to live righteously, just as Christ did:

Romans 8:4 (KJV) That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

The righteousness of the Law can never be fulfilled by the unbeliever trying in his own power to do right. But the righteousness of the Law is naturally fulfilled by the God filled, God controlled believer. We walk after God!

• If “I” am a Christian I am to put my faith in my God and His Word. The Scripture says:

2 Corinthians 5:7 (KJV) (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

Christian, God calls you to do amazing things for Him. He calls you, like Israel, to impossible situations. He does this so that you will learn to rest in His Word and in His Promise. The battle cry of the Christian is:

Philippians 4:13 (KJV) I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

I rely on my God. I trust my God even when the situation looks dire, for I know that He is faithful. I choose BLESSING and not CURSING for my life.

Jeremiah 17:5-8 (KJV) Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. {6} For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. {7} Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. {8} For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”

You can see the difference between cursing and blessing when you look at the life of the Shepherd King David. When David trusted God he destroyed a giant called Goliath (see 1 Samuel 17). But when David began to trust in himself and “numbered his people” (see 2 Samuel 24; 1 Chronicles 21) he brought a curse on himself and on those around him. Seventy thousand people died (1 Chronicles 21:14) because David numbered Israel. Choose who you will serve, dear one. If you choose the Lord you will be blessed. If not, you will bring a curse upon yourself.

• If “I” am a Christian I will walk in love with others. Every time we enjoy the Lord’s Table I quote this scripture:

1 John 1:7 (KJV) … if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

God brings believers together so we can walk together loving Him and His Children. The Apostle said:

Ephesians 4:1-3 (KJV) I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, {2} With all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love; {3} Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

The walk of the believer should be in sharp contrast to the walk of the unbeliever, as day is different from night. That which characterizes the Christian walk is the peace of God, honoring our Savior with all that we do.

Romans 13:13-14 (KJV) Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. {14} But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.

You are either God’s Child by faith in Christ or you are not. If you are not, Christ calls you to salvation by faith in Him. He will save you, dear one, if you will but unconditionally surrender to Him. Do so this very day. Follow Him in truth and in sincerity. Oh, how I pray that your hearts be settled on following Him. Here and only here is there peace and joy forever more. Praise You, dear Jesus. Thank You, dear Father. Blessed Spirit, lead me to You for Your glory.