Do Not Be Deceived

Q: What does the Bible say about deception in teaching?

The Bible warns against deception by urging believers to hold firmly to the truth in Christ and to be vigilant against false teachings. In Colossians 2:4-8, the Apostle Paul warns the church to be on guard against plausible arguments that could lead them astray. He emphasizes that believers should be rooted in Christ and established in their faith. The problem of false teaching is not new; it has plagued the church since its inception. Paul urges the faithful to avoid being captivated by philosophies and empty deceit that do not align with Christ. This deception often devalues God while elevating human reasoning, causing believers to compromise the truth of the Gospel.

Q: How do we know the biblical doctrine of human depravity is true?

The biblical doctrine of human depravity is affirmed by Scriptures teaching that all humanity is fallen and sinful from birth. The doctrine of human depravity asserts that all individuals inherit a sinful nature due to the fall of Adam. Romans 3:23 states, 'For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.' This foundational truth means that humanity cannot achieve righteousness on its own. Additionally, psychological concepts that suggest we are born as 'blank slates' contradict Scripture, as the Bible affirms that we are inherently inclined towards sin. Without recognizing our depravity, we cannot fully understand the necessity of Christ for salvation.

Q: Why is it important to study Scripture in avoiding deception?

Studying Scripture is crucial as it equips believers to discern truth from error and to confront false teachings. In order to avoid deception, Paul instructs believers to diligently study Scripture. As mentioned in his letters, understanding the Word of God allows Christians to rightly divide truth from falsehood and enables them to identify false teachings that may sound plausible but lead away from Christ. The Bereans are noted for their example of checking Paul’s teachings against Scripture (Acts 17:11). This process fosters a community of accountability, where believers can encourage one another in the truth and guard against the manipulative interpretations prevalent today.

Q: What does it mean that Satan masquerades as an angel of light?

Satan masquerading as an angel of light signifies his ability to deceive through appealing messages that sound like truth. 2 Corinthians 11:14 warns that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, representing a significant spiritual danger. This means that the temptation to accept falsehood often comes wrapped in seemingly good or Biblical rhetoric, luring believers away from the true Gospel. Understanding this truth helps Christians remain vigilant against teachings that, despite their alluring nature, do not align with the unadulterated message of Christ. Believers must be discerning and measure all teachings against Scripture to avoid falling for these deceptive lies.

Q: Why is it dangerous to follow a different Jesus or gospel?

Following a different Jesus or gospel distorts the true nature of God and can lead to spiritual destruction. In 2 Corinthians 11:4, Paul warns that receiving a different Jesus or gospel is a grave danger for believers. Such distortions downplay God's sovereignty and elevate human desires, ultimately misrepresenting the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. When believers accept alternate gospels that promise prosperity or self-fulfillment, they stray from the biblical call to self-denial and obedience to God's Word. This deviation can lead to a false sense of security and a separation from the true grace found only in the authentic Christ, threatening the soul's salvation.

All right, we should be hooked
up, should be going. I think we are. This morning, if I have to put
a topic on this... Okay, I'm trusting we're going. If I have to put a topic on this
message this morning, I would say the... subject title would be, Do Not
Be Deceived. I've got three scripture texts
that I'll read to begin with, and that will kind of set the
tone for this, and we'll go from there. The first passage I would
read to us this morning is from Colossians chapter 2, verses
4 through 8. And in that passage we are told,
I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible
arguments. For though I am absent in the
body, yet I am with you in the spirit, rejoicing to see your
good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. Therefore,
as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted
and built up in Him, and established in the faith, just as you were
taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you
captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition,
according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according
to Christ. The second passage is from 1
Timothy 1, verses 3 and 4, and there we are told, As I urged
you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus, so that you
may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine,
nor to devote themselves to myths, and endless genealogies which
promote speculation rather than stewardship from God that is
by faith. The third passage I would read
for us this morning is from 2 Corinthians 11, verses 3 and 4, and there
we are told, But I am afraid that as the serpent
deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray
by a sincere and pure devotion led astray from a sincere and
pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims
another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive
a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept
a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with
it readily enough. Now I realize that we've broken
in on each of these passages, but the general context is in
each instance here that we've read, Paul was addressing the
problem of false teaching within the various churches. Within
the few short years after the death, burial, and resurrection
of Christ, the early churches were already being assaulted
by false teachers and false doctrine. It is a problem that God's people
have dealt with from the very beginning. Of course, we understand
that the first deception was in the garden, as Adam and Eve
were there, and the serpent encouraged them to eat the fruit. They did
eat it, and from that day forward, deception has been a problem
amongst God's people. We, because of our depraved natures,
will listen to and accept deception. It is in us to do so. We are of a broken nature and
we cannot discern the truth without the guidance of God. So we will
accept deception. It's a problem that Adam and
Eve dealt with in the garden and in their lives thereafter
once they were expelled. It is a problem that ancient
Israel dealt with constantly throughout their time as a nation. It is a problem that the church
deals with even now. The manifestations of the deception
can be broken down into two main heads or two main parts. Any
deception will devalue God. Any deception will devalue God. It will make Him less than He
is, that is, sovereign of the universe. Anything that will
deceive us will ultimately devalue God in our eyes and our hearts.
The second part of any deception is that it will elevate mankind. It will make us feel better about
ourselves than we should. We're told in the Scripture that
we have a problem as depraved peoples, as broken spirits, as
fallen man. We have a problem. We think God
is like us. We devalue God in our broken
nature, in our depraved nature. We think God is like us. The second problem is that we
think we're better than we really are. We would like to think,
as the deception of the garden said, you shall be like God. We like to think that we are
like God. All deceptions that will assault
us will devalue God and will elevate man. In the process of
being deceived, we will seek to create and follow after a
God who pleases us. God demands that we please Him. We seek to create and follow
a God that pleases us. I think as we go through this
this morning, we'll see that that's true, unfortunately, even
in the church. We look at the pagan world all
around us, people that profess no religion or other religions,
and we can see that this is true. They're seeking after their own
things. They're seeking after that which will lift them up
and give them what they want in this life. And we look at
them and we oftentimes think that we're away from that. We're
better than that. We'll charge the pagans with
doing these things. And rightly so, by the way. There's
no fault in that. The pagans are indeed wrong.
They are seeking after wrong gods. But, the unfortunate truth
is that the church itself, and I use this in the grand, generic
sense when I say the church. So, let us understand that throughout
the message. I use the word church, and we,
And that is in the broad, broad sense. I'm not speaking about
any one of us in here sitting in the pews or standing in the
pulpit. I hope and pray that we are not the deceived. But
I use the term church and we in the broad, generic sense.
And if you look, you'll find out that the church It's full
of deception itself. It's not a stretch to say that. If any of you have turned on
the Trinity Broadcast Network and watched it for more than
about three seconds, you understand that there is more false doctrine
being preached than truth. And it's unfortunate. It's very,
very unfortunate. And the problem of deception
is one that we battle with against constantly because every new
generation is a new generation of sinners. And there's always
a possibility of deception then coming amongst us as new sinners
are around us. Again, the warning of Paul to
the Colossians was that we should see to it that no one takes you
captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition
and the elemental spirit of the world and not according to Christ.
We should keep that in our mind as we go through this. As Christ
walked this earth as He dwelt among men in the flesh, He oftentimes
warned of false prophets with false messages of the kingdom.
The word of Christ in His day and time was, Do not listen to
them. Do not follow them. Do not go
where they say to go. After Christ was crucified, buried,
and resurrected, Paul becomes a spokesman within the church,
and Paul constantly warned of the same things. Within that
short period of time after the resurrection of Christ, many
deceivers had entered into the church already. There were great
problems amongst the believers with false doctrine
coming in them, into the churches and trying to take them away. Paul warned that we should hold
to the truth, we should know the truth and hold to the truth
and have nothing to do with these false prophets and deceivers.
The threat continues. Even today, and as I said, if
you'll just turn on the TV or listen to the radio for a few
minutes, you can see that that's very true. Paul warned us that
there will be those who will preach another Jesus, another Spirit, and another Gospel. We should keep that in our mind
always. John warned us in 1 and 2 John,
his short epistles, that even in his day, Antichrist was present. And that Antichrist will be present
until the end. Now a word about Antichrist is
John uses it. I understand that currently,
because of dispensational thinking within the church, Antichrist
has somewhat taken on a new message and we associate it with this
one world leader that is supposedly going to come and take over. That's not how John uses the
term. John uses the term that Antichrist
is anything that denies the true Christ. So any man that preaches
false doctrine to us is anti-Christ. And John warned us, even in his
day and until the very end, there will be anti-Christ among us. And he would have us be aware
of it. Now, as the church We claim that
we have the truth of Jesus Christ, that we hold to the truth of
Jesus Christ, that we know it and we apply it. And rightly
so, we should. But here's the problem with deception. Deception always comes at us
wrapped in Scripture. We're told by Paul that Satan
masquerades as an angel of light. Anything that would deceive us
as Christians is going to do it manipulating the Scripture. We need to be aware of that.
If I stood up here today and I said, that we should all leave
this place today and go out and rob a liquor store and shoot
some people. You wouldn't accept that message.
That's obviously not a Christian message. That is so wrong and
so counter to what we know that you would not accept it. We as
Christians will not accept outlandish arguments against our faith.
We won't do it. But we can be led astray by smooth
sounding words, by words that appeal to Jesus in some way. We've seen it over and over and
over, even in our lifetimes. We don't have to go back through
history very long to see that there were people who were led
astray by folks claiming to speak for Jesus. come into mind most
immediately, just easily and quickly to mind, the cult in
Waco that followed David Koresh. He did not deceive those people
by saying, let's go out to the countryside, act like a bunch
of kooks, and bring the government down on us. That's not what he
said. He had a word from Jesus Christ,
he said. And he appealed to people who
were very Christian, if you will. The deception comes at us always
using Scripture. Paul, in the passages we read,
was mostly addressing the deception that the Judaizers, the legalists,
were using. They had followed Paul as he
preached, and they were telling the congregations that yes, Jesus
was a good start. Yes, Jesus died on the cross. Jesus was resurrected. That was
a good start. But now let's go to a higher
level. You Gentiles, be circumcised. Stop eating certain foods. Start wearing certain clothes. This will take you to that new
level of religion. They used the Scripture. If somebody
questioned and said, Wait a minute, I'm a little hazy on this. I
don't see where you're going with it. They could pull out
their Old Testament, what we call the Old Testament now, they
could pull out their Scripture, and they could say, well, don't
you see right here that Isaiah said? Well, he did, didn't he? He did
say that. There could be something to this. The deception starts. And Paul, as we know, wrote many
letters we now call our New Testament. And what were those letters?
They were to counter the deceptions that had come in to the church.
Even sincere believers, if we are not diligent, can be led
astray for a season. The Scripture I read earlier
said that we are not to be deluded with what this translation calls
plausible arguments. The arguments are reasonable
sounding. They're not way out on a limb. I don't have to really
kind of wink and nod to accept that message. It sounds reasonable. It appeals to things that are
within my religious view. It speaks the name of Jesus.
It talks about a better life that I can have with God. There's the deception. But a
lesson that comes from all this that we should always, always
remember is just because somebody calls upon the name of Jesus,
and quotes a few scriptures does not mean they are telling the
truth. Paul warned us, and we should
hold it always close to our thoughts, that there are those who preach
another Jesus, another gospel. That can remain purely academic.
We can leave it in the first century. We can say, well, Paul
was addressing the Judaizers, and he solved that problem or
addressed the problem in his day. But the truth is, the same
struggle with deception within the church is here today. There are people occupying pulpits
all over this country, indeed all over this world, this morning,
that are saying things that are not correct. Many are being deceived even
as we speak. Recent polls indicate, and there's
a couple of pollsters that are constantly monitoring the religious
pulse of the nation, Recent polls indicate that as many as 86%
of all Americans claim to be Christians. That's phenomenal. 86% of the people in this country
claim to be Christians. We have a society that is in
decay. Our streets are not safe. Our
people are rotten and corrupt. Our government is rotten and
corrupt. Our churches cannot decide whether
certain issues are right or wrong. What does that tell us? People come to Christ, truly
come to Christ. The Scripture tells us that there
is an internal work in their hearts and we are taught from
inside. We are changed and we learn by
Christ Himself in the Spirit dwelling in us to say no to worldly
lust and ungodliness. If this society claims to be
Christian, 86%, and yet our nation spirals into
decay, I would venture to say that we follow another Jesus,
another gospel. Because the true gospel and the
true Jesus lifts us up out of the sewer. It does not push us
down into the sewer. That's the importance of this. We need to be aware that there is a problem. Many people follow another Jesus. They hear another
gospel. Satan masquerades as an agent
of light. The deception sounds good. It uses the right words. But in the process, if we'll
examine the different messages, we find out they devalue God
and they give a false elevation to man. These deceptions will
be based on the philosophies of men. Paul tells us that. The
thinking of men. The thinking of depraved men.
It will be based as well on the traditions of men, the things
that men have established and decided that are good to do.
And it will be based on the elemental spirits of the world, basically
the lusts of our flesh. These deceptions will ultimately
work to feed our lusts. We will sit in our depraved natures
and we will listen to people tell us what we want to hear.
And I think we've seen that. That applies all the way around.
That's a spiritual truth as we talk about Jesus Christ and the
gospel and what we will hear and what we will not hear. And
it's a political truth. We constantly elect guys that
tell us what we want to hear. We like our kids to tell us what
we want to hear. I look at my kids, and I would
like for them to tell me good things, but sometimes it doesn't
happen. I can look at them and see that
they're wrong, but they'll tell me good things. We like to seek
after the things we like to hear. The things that, as we're told,
I believe it's in Timothy, the things that tickle our ears. That's what we in our depraved
nature like to hear. Now let's talk just briefly about
a few things that are in the churches today that pass themselves
off as gospel. And again, all of these things,
or these few things that I'll talk about, come at us not claiming
to be a deception. No one stands in the pulpit and
says, I'm fixing to rock your world with something that is
not Christian. They don't say that. They call
upon the name of Christ. They tell us we can have a better
life in God and in Christ. And then they feed us these messages.
Something that has infiltrated the church in a very, very big
way in the last 30 years especially that I know of is psychology. Psychology. Psychology came out
of the humanism of the Renaissance. It was developed into a real
codified sort of systematic thought and teaching in the late 1800s. It's been around for a while.
Of course, you always talk about Freud and Jung and other people
like that. But it began to infiltrate the
churches as far as I'm aware. Now, I don't have perfect knowledge
on this. I'm not old enough to know if
it goes back further. But I became very aware of it
starting in the 70s. The major teachers, the ones
that have the hugest followings and the biggest influence as
far as bringing psychology into the churches were James Dobson
and some fellow travelers and fellow disciples of his, Smalley
and Trent. Now there are many others. The
Minreth Meier Clinic is big into that. There's a bunch of these
psychologists that have preached their message in the churches.
And now, Nobody questions it. When they first started preaching,
the churches stood up, shook their heads, and said, no, this
isn't lining up. This doesn't work well with the
Scripture. But you tell a lie often enough,
and with enough supposed authority, and you can beat people down. And they did. What's happened as a result of
psychology is that we have basically done away with the doctrine of
human depravity. There are two schools of thought
in psychology. One is that people are born as
what they call blank slates. Neither good nor bad. You're
born a blank slate. Then you become corrupted. That's when you begin your life
as a sinner. Now of course, the doctrine of
depravity is that we are fallen in Adam and every one of us is
born a sinner. Even when we breathe our first,
we need Christ. It is not that we are born a
blank slate. Psychology denies depravity.
The second teaching, as I said, one teaching under psychology
that denies depravity is that we're born a blank slate. The
second is, worse yet than that, that we are born basically good. That we're on the good side,
but we become corrupted. Well, this is an assault on the
truth. This is an assault on the truth,
and yet I cannot tell you how many people have followed that
teaching. James Dobson is probably the
most popular psychologist, Christian psychologist teacher there is,
and he teaches blank slate. He has a huge following and his
thinking is considered to be very important and many churches
have adopted his position that we are blank slates. We are not
depraved sinners at birth. We are blank slates corrupted
later. Something else that has happened
is that sins are not considered sins by psychologists, but diseases
or disorders. They're diseases or disorders.
They're things that happen to us, not necessarily things that
we do. They're not sins anymore. They're
disorders. A man who runs around on his
wife, biblically, is an adulterer. According to the psychologist,
he's a sex addict. He's got a problem. They'll admit
he has a problem. He needs help. But he's not necessarily
a wicked sinner. He's got a problem. He's got
a disorder. He's an addict. And of course, everything becomes
an addiction of some sort. We have alcohol addiction. Drug
addiction. Everything is an addiction to
these people. They will not call sin, sin. Now, if that's true, they have
also done away with, and they will say this, that there is
no room for guilt or shame in their theology. So they do away with guilt and
shame. And yet, the Scripture tells
us that it is by conviction of the Spirit, God drives us to
know our guilt, feel our shame, and then we fall down at the
feet of Christ, begging for His forgiveness. The psychologists,
even the Christian psychologists, tell us there's no room for guilt
and shame. Nobody should be made to feel guilty. That is an old-timey
thinking, and we will not be beat down by that anymore. There's no room for guilt and
shame. As you think about some of the
messages you've heard from various preachers and teachers on the
radio, on TV, maybe you've even sat in their pulpits, have you
heard some of these things before? I have. I have. And I think that's unfortunate
because these are false messages. This is another gospel. This
is another Jesus they preach. Another movement that's very
popular, coming up out of the Pentecostal circles primarily,
but now it's everywhere, and that's this Word of Faith movement. This Word of Faith movement.
And the key phrase that you will hear these people use over and
over and over is, have faith in faith. Now does that sound so bad? I
mean, the Bible speaks of faith. We come to Christ by faith. Is faith such a bad thing? No. But what is the object of our
faith? We don't take comfort in the
fact that we have faith. We can have faith in any number
of things. We take comfort in Christ. The object of our faith
is not faith. What is that? Have faith in faith. No. Have faith in Christ. These people develop faith as
a law and a formula to be used to gain what they want. They
maintain that their words are creative agents. If I speak something,
it will happen. You'll hear them talk about negative
confessions. We don't want negative confessions. You can actually bring bad things
into your life by speaking them. No, speak positively because
your words have creative power. No. Our words don't have creative
power. God has creative power. My words are hollow and meaningless
apart from God. I can spew out all the words
in the Oxford Dictionary, and if Christ does not choose to
honor those words with His presence and His power, I've just blown
air around. There's no creative power in
my words, and yet these people maintain there is. Have we heard this even sometimes
from Baptist pulpits? We can point at the Pentecostals
and we can say, oh, you know how those people are. You know
how they are. Well, I'll point back at Baptists
and say, well, you know how we are. I've heard this in Baptist
pulpits. The deception is present. The
deception is present. And it all sounds good. These
people draw from the Scripture. If you question them on what
they're saying, they will give you chapter and verse ten times
over. It sounds good. It's a plausible
argument, as Paul said. People that fall into this camp,
just to put names on it so that we can see that what I'm saying
is real, Kenneth Hagin Ministries. Now Kenneth Hagin, the old man,
is dead now. His son, has taken over the ministry
and he's every bit as bad. You've got Kenneth Copeland,
Benny Hinn, Joyce Myers, and most every preacher on the Trinity
Broadcast Network. Now the reason I mention them
is because they are worldwide. They now have three different
satellite stations, networks rather, that they broadcast over
the entire world in umpteen jillion languages. But they're preaching
another Jesus. They're giving people false hope
and false expectations. They're fueling people's lusts,
but not meeting their needs in salvation. It's unfortunate. Coupled along with this, and
it's a small step to the next one I mentioned, and that is
the prosperity doctrine. If our words are creative agents,
as the Word of Faith movement says, then the prosperity doctrine
is just a small step. And the basic doctrine here is
that God would have every one of His people be healthy and
wealthy. It is the Gospel that you should
have two Cadillacs in your driveway, a 4,000 square foot house, a
boat, a place up on the lake, and anything else you want. Now,
I don't remember Jesus speaking about any of that in the Gospels,
but they maintain that it's all there. Whatever your heart desires,
you ask Jesus And He'll give it to you. And if you need verification
or a further bonding of that, then get with one of your buddies,
and if two of you agree, then it will be done for you. That's
their message. What are they doing? They're
fueling our lusts. The truth of the matter is, I
mean, probably every one of us in here could use more money.
I could. I won't lie to you about that.
But do I demand that God give me more money? Or do I trust
that in His providence He will provide for my wants and needs
as He understands and knows I have want and need? They maintain
that we have creative power in our words and that we know best
for ourselves what we really need and want. And that is not true. God, who
is the sovereign of the universe, knows us at a level that we can
never even know ourselves. The things that I think would
be good for me, oftentimes are disastrous. Are disastrous. I can think of the times that
God in His providence has let me have what I want. Sometimes it doesn't work out
so good. But the prosperity doctrine says if you want it, grab it.
God is like a giant storehouse. Your faith, your words are the
key. You can open the door, go in
and take out what you want. This teaching is in the churches. Have you heard it? I have. People that push this doctrine
heavily, this prosperity doctrine, Creflo Dollar, Morris Cirillo,
Jesse Duplantis, and again, most every preacher on Trinity Broadcast
Network. I mention these things because
I want us to understand they're real. There's another threat,
another deception, And I mention this, and this is hard for me
to accept, but Oprah Winfrey and her universalistic doctrine. Oprah Winfrey has become the
spiritual guru of millions of people in this country. Now she
started out as a Christian. Take that for what you will,
I believe a Baptist. But she has become a universalist
in her personal theology. She draws from Eastern mysticism. She draws from occultist Christianity. She draws from everywhere. And
she has melded it together in this universalistic doctrine
that basically all roads lead to heaven. If we will but do
good things and work together, we will get to heaven. Now that seems laughable at times
when I think about it to say that that doctrine could be meaningful
to so many people and that Oprah Winfrey is truly a spiritual
guru. But she is. Proof of that. She comes on our television show
and she says, I just read this book. Oh, this was such a wonderful
book. And two days later, it is the
number one bestseller in the world. There are a lot of people that
listen to her and they buy what she says, both in terms of the
words she speaks and the products she pushes. And she is not preaching
Christ. Now she will preach the New Age
image of Christ. Often times you'll hear such
words as Christ consciousness. Or the Christ within you. When Paul says the Christ is
in us, he means something completely different than what she means.
She means a universal spirit of good that is just out here
and it's in us. This is a real popular teaching. It started gaining ground after
the Puritan period in this country. The Unitarian Church, the Congregationalist
Church came out of the Puritan era and became Unitarian. And
that movement has always been there. And you'll hear terms
on the radio and the TV for different preachers declare themselves
to be Unitarian Universalists There's
one guy that's on the TV out of Houston here every Sunday
morning. He's on it 830 I Can't remember what channel, but he's
he's here. They they are a they call themselves Unity Christian
Church, and they call themselves progressive Unitarians his doctrine
I've listened to him his doctrine is all roads lead to heaven and
That there is a consciousness that we'll call Christ. A good
feeling, a good spirit that's in us. And if we'll just draw
from it, we'll get to that place. It's not exclusive to Christ.
Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the light. These people
say, many roads. Many roads. A universal spirit
of Christ. But the person of Christ is not
necessary. All of these things, as I said,
sound good to us upon a casual listen. They tend to downplay
or do away with our depravity. And let's face the fact, none
of us left ourselves likes to hear a message that tells us
that we are unworthy scum. When somebody comes up to me
and starts bad-mouthing me, I don't want to hear that. Now that may
even be right. But I don't want to hear it.
But if you come to me, shake my hand and tell me, you know,
Mike, I think you're really a wonderful guy. You're doing the right thing. You got me. Let's go. Let's go have lunch together.
I like that. These things all come at us with
Scripture. They all call on the name of
Jesus. And they all say they're telling
us good news. Please always remember, just
because somebody says the name of Jesus and throws a few scriptures
at us does not mean it's the truth. There is another Jesus
and another gospel. Now, told us of a few deceptions,
that's not by any means an exhaustive list, but I think you can see
there's a common thread through all of those. As I said, they
devalue God and elevate mankind. Now, how do we keep free of these
deceptions as best we can? How do we avoid these deceptions?
The Scripture tells us, Paul tells us in the New Testament,
how to do it. Study the Scripture. We cannot
rightly divide the Word of God if we don't know it. The Christian faith is not a
faith for the lazy. It's not. God help us to know
Him, to desire Him in our hearts that we would seek after Him
and desire with all our hearts to know Him more and more and
more. It's not for the lazy. As the Gospel is preached so
many times, we just come forward and accept Jesus. And then we
can sit down. We can't sit down. We're called
to service for our God in Christ. If we are to avoid the deceptions
that are out here assailing us, assaulting us, we need to study
the Scriptures. There's no substitute for that.
I studied this week to give you a message. I hope this has been
a good message. I hope that it presented the
Gospel of Jesus Christ in truth and without error. But as much
as I study, There's no substitute for each one of you studying
personally. Study the Scripture. Second part of this, fellowship
with Christians. If we sit in a hole by ourselves,
even if we read the Scripture, our minds wander. We can come
up with all kinds of strange doctrine by ourselves. The Scripture tells us that it
is not subject to private interpretation. You check me. I check you. We work together to discern the
truth from God's Word. Fellowship with Christians is
essential if we are to know God and grow in Christ. Another thing that we must do,
John tells us in his first epistle, to test all spirits. Test them. John was addressing heresy that
had come into a congregation and he wrote a letter to them
to correct that error. And he tells them, test all spirits. Again, another Jesus, another
Gospel. Just because someone comes and
says, I believe in Jesus, doesn't mean they're going to tell you
the truth. John said, test all spirits. Two precious examples
from the Scripture of this. Hold to these and cherish these
examples. Paul spoke in Berea to the church
there. And the Scripture records that
the Bereans were noble Because they pulled out the Scripture
to see if what Paul said was true. Now, of course, we know
the hierarchy of all things. God, Christ, and then Paul right
there. I mean, it doesn't get any better
than Paul when you're talking about people. They pulled out
the Scripture. And they tested to see if what
Paul said was true. Another example is John on the
island of Patmos. John is there on the Lord's day
and he has a vision of the risen Lord. What did he do? He had a vision. Was he just hallucinating? Had
he eaten a bad piece of meat or a funky mushroom? Maybe he
was hallucinating. He didn't know. The Scripture
says that he drew back on the Scripture and the testimony of
Jesus Christ to judge that vision. We're told that in the first
chapter of the book of Revelation. John himself was given a vision,
a powerful vision, and he knew this was the right and proper
vision because he checked with the Scripture, which we would
now call the Old Testament, and he remembered on the things that
Jesus told him personally. John tested the Spirit. We should do the same. Just because
somebody says, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, doesn't mean they're talking
about the same thing we're talking about. Underlying this whole
thing, this all sounds terribly negative and I don't want it
to be. Knowing the deception, being
able to recognize false teaching and come back from it is a positive
thing. This message may have tended
to take a negative tone. And I don't want it to be that
way. Let me end by telling you that we as Christians have our
job set out for us. Deception is everywhere. It's
true. It's true. But let us take confidence in
a few things and know that God does not want us to be deceived. We're told in the book of Titus
that the same salvation that we have in Jesus Christ now teaches
us, works in us, teaches us To avoid the things of this world,
ungodly lusts and the evils of this world. So let us understand,
these things are out there. And they are a threat. But let
us take confidence in the fact that as God has saved us, He
will teach us. He will bring us through deception,
by deception sometimes, and sometimes through deception, bringing us
to a true vision of Jesus Christ. God does not want us deceived. Paul tells us that he is confident
that God, who began a good work in us, will see it through to
completion. So let us take confidence in
the fact that these things are out there, and we may, at times,
even for a season, be a little bit misled by them, but God will
not leave us there. As He began a good work in us,
He will bring us through to completion. But let us be aware. Let us be
able to see the deceptions, to understand that these things
are real. There are people out there. Most
of what passes as the gospel today is not the gospel. It's
not the gospel. It's smooth sounding words that
are very religious, but without real meaning, without real help
for sinners who need a Savior. Let us see the deceptions. And let us be able to speak the
truth as God gives us the opportunity at any given time and place.
Let us be ready always to hold forth the hope that we have in
Jesus Christ. And let us hold always to the
confidence that God can and will keep us from deception. With
that I'll end this morning. I thank you. I hope this message
has been meaningful. Let me explain where this came
from real quickly. Every once in a while, I take
a fit. And it's probably not wise to
do that, but I'll turn on Trinity Broadcast Network. And every
time I do that, I am amazed again and again at the idiocy that
is preached there. And it's almost like one man
says this, and the next guy has to do something more outlandish
so that he can be on top. And they're doing this spiritual,
can you top this nonsense. And none of it is gospel. It may be spectacular. It may
be good puppeteering. It may be interesting stories.
It may be any number of things, but it is not the gospel. That's
what led to this this week, and really I probably need to turn
the TV off. On that I'll end. I thank you for listening. I
hope this has been meaningful to you. I hope you gain something
from it as God gives us ears to hear and eyes to see. I thank
you. Brother Craig, would you close
us please?

Do Not Be Deceived

What does the Bible say about deception in teaching?

How do we know the biblical doctrine of human depravity is true?

Why is it important to study Scripture in avoiding deception?

What does it mean that Satan masquerades as an angel of light?

Why is it dangerous to follow a different Jesus or gospel?

Sermon Transcript

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Do Not Be Deceived

What does the Bible say about deception in teaching?

How do we know the biblical doctrine of human depravity is true?

Why is it important to study Scripture in avoiding deception?

What does it mean that Satan masquerades as an angel of light?

Why is it dangerous to follow a different Jesus or gospel?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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