Through Deceit They Refuse to Know Me Jer. 9:6 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
In Jer 9:6 the Lord said, Through deceit they refuse to know me. That is men deceive themselves to keep from knowing God. The question is, “By what means of deception do they refuse to know God?” They refuse to know God through:
The deceit of Science – 1 Tim 6:20 – that is the science that opposes God. Evolution is the key “scientific” deception here. Those who espouse this opposing “science” as a means for explaining the existence of man conclude that God didn’t create us. That’s why the Bible calls this “science falsely so called.” There is an ongoing attempt to scientifically demonstrate how life started. However, the law of biogenesis states that life must come from life and evolutionary science says that organic life came from inorganic matter. Without God’s finger [Ex 8:16-19] and God’s breath of life [Gen 2:7] it is scientifically impossible for life to come from inorganic matter. In spite of the miracle of bringing forth lice from the dust of the ground, Pharaoh still refused to know God and chose rather to be deceived. He was just like men who refuse to know God today.
The deceit of Religion – the idea behind this deception is that all religions worship the same god [Rev 13], which is true of religions but is not true of the God of the Bible. Religions deceive men into believing that they can be saved by works of righteousness. But the Bible shows us that salvation is not by works of righteousness [Titus 3:5]. Religions all have some traditions [Mk 7:6-13] that men must perform or keep to be “saved.” God has no such traditions. He offers the free gift of salvation without works, sacraments and the like.
The deceit of Education – 2 Tim 3:7 – education magnifies the wisdom of man over the wisdom of God 1 Cor 1, 2]. When men become enamored with the enticing words of man’s wisdom, they forsake the plain and absolute truth of God’s wisdom. Be careful with sending your child off to college away from home. He or she will get an ear full of the “instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge,” [Prov 19:27].
The deceit of Philosophy – Col 2:8 – philosophies were invented by men to overthrow the Bible, God’s written revelation of himself. There are, principally, four of these philosophies:
- Naturalism – if you can’t perceive it with your senses then it is not real. That is a very convenient way to get rid of our invisible God. Since the sun and moon can be seen, they are deified. The sun becomes the male deity, typically worshipped as the god Baal. The moon becomes the female deity. Sex becomes the ideal form of worship because of the procreation of life [Rev 2:20-22]. In the Bible you see instances where men made a god and had an orgy [Ex 32:4-6, 25; Num 25:1-3]. To the naturalist, men have animal instincts and must have the freedom to enjoy them without rectitude.
- Idealism – the antithesis [the opposite] of naturalism. That is natural things are only manifestations of ideas. Therefore, the ideas behind natural things are the only things that are “real.” Considering what Rom 1:19-20 says, you would think that an idealist would conclude that God is the reality manifested in nature. To the contrary, while the idealist might conclude that God exists, he comes up with a different god than the God of the Bible. He has a different understanding of man than the Biblical description of a sinner without hope who is without God until he receives Jesus Christ [Eph 2:12].
- Realism – the synthesis [the combination] of naturalism and idealism. That is reality is a combination of observable facts and abstract ideas, which can include invisible forces and emotions. In essence, reality is what you perceive it to be. Thus, if, in your observation and thoughts, you cannot perceive God then he mustn’t exist or else he exists but only in the way that you understand him [A.A.]. To a realist, living morally is rational, positive and beneficial and it is consistent with his basic nature.
- Pragmatism – this is simply a way of applying philosophy to justify your means to arrive at an end. In other words, whatever you do is good as long as it works for you. If it doesn’t work then it wasn’t good. Right and good are simply statements to describe something that worked, practically. Very easily, good can become evil and evil good.
The deceit of Denial – Titus 1:16, Jude 4 – in denying the existence of God the person either says that God exists but denies him in his works or else he says that God doesn’t exist. In other words, all of life is in the here and now and there is no hereafter.
Conclusion: you can believe God or you can deny him. However, you are only deceiving yourself if you deny him [2 Tim 3:13].