December 21

It would not help if He kept us safe from one enemy but left us open to another. But Christ has made sure that His hedge comes all the way around His beloved ones.

Solomon says, "The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein" (Proverbs 22:14). And so is the mouth of a seducer who comes with strange doctrines and whorish opinions. If we look closely we see this pit as Satan's design to trap the saint, for if possible he would "deceive the very elect" (Matthew 24:24). His greatest ambition is to defile the children whom God has washed in the blood of Christ.

But God's intention is to punish the hypocrites and false teachers who would never embrace Christ and His truth. He leaves these people in the pit as prey to corrupt doctrines. "They received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12).

These men, like deer running across an open field, are shot down; but the ones inside the pasture fence are safe. It is the outer court that is left to be trampled underfoot. And although God gives up hypocites to be deceived by false teachers, He speaks comfort to the elect. The same decree which appointed them to salvation provided also for them to embrace truth. And it still serves to show them how to find it. "But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth" (2 Thessalonians 2:13). And God has determined to possess our mind by the power of His truth.

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