Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. The devil has been set
loose in the earth according to God's purpose as the father
of lies, and he goes about seeking whom he may devour, easily finding
many willing subjects. In the garden of Eden, the serpent
deceived Eve, who then easily persuaded Adam to willingly disobey
the clear commandment of the Lord. Though this sin was gladly
entered into by Adam, its beginning was crafted in subtlety and deceit,
brought about by him who was a liar from the beginning, and
presently lies in wait to deceive others. Deception and its fruit
is as much a part of the condemnation of men as the fact that they
willingly embrace the sinful desires of their flesh. Because
men cannot see clearly and are easily deluded is no excuse before
God. The Lord Jesus said that even
the elect would be deceived and destroyed if it were possible.
Practically all doctrinal error begins with some sort of deception,
if not on the part of the teacher, then on the part of the hearers.
Peter was deceived concerning the extent of the error of the
Judaizers, as were some of the Galatians. What is not possible
is that they should ever be ultimately deceived about who Christ is
or doubt his all-sufficiency. Now, while we are certain that
none of the elect shall ever perish, we are confronted with
many warnings in the Scriptures concerning the dangers of those
whose purpose it is to deceive the sons of God. Some glibly
approach these exhortations with a casual reading, as if there
really is no danger present. Yet the earnest exhortations
of the apostles, Paul and Peter, to beware must not fall on deaf
ears, nor should the people of God go whistling in the dark,
as if there were no dangers on the right hand and the left.
Just as surely as He ordained that we shall never perish, He
has also ordained the means whereby we should be redeemed by Christ.
As a result of that redemption, He has wrought in us a love of
the truth, and has ordained the means whereby His Spirit shall
lead us into all truth, that we might not be ultimately deceived,
even as others who have not been given this privilege. So are
we to sit on the couch and receive every wind of doctrine, as though
it can do us no harm? Absolutely not. See then that
you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming
the time because the days are evil. Ye therefore, beloved,
seeing that ye know these things before, beware lest ye also,
being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your
own steadfastness. Only those who have no love of
the truth can fall into this trap of a licentious attitude
towards the true dangers of deception. We must be mindful that the largest
deviations from truth often begin with the smallest error, which
oftentimes is almost imperceptible. Who are those deceivers of which
we must beware? First of all is Satan, who is
a master deceiver. The scripture plainly indicates
that deception is the chief tool the devil uses in devouring men.
According to God's purpose, he is the originator of it and was
the first to use it against men. He goes about seeking those he
is able to deceive through the spreading of falsehood, which
men by nature ignorantly receive. then there are false prophets
and teachers of lies. But there were false prophets
also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers
among you, who privileged shall bring in damnable heresies, even
denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves
swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious
ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken
of. Though Satan is the master deceiver, he most often sends
forth his messengers clothed in the garments of those who
seem to speak truth. Multitudes gladly receive their
message, and many who call themselves Christians shall be deluded by
them. Apart from the mercy and grace
of God, we should all be overtaken in their damnable lies and heresies,
which are a judgment of God upon all those who have not received
a love of the truth. The Lord sends these strong delusions
that false brethren may be overtaken in them, even to the point of
denying the redemptive work of our Savior. When a man has denied
the sufficiency of Christ's redemptive work, he is left with no redemption. The final deceiver of which we
must beware is our own selves. Perhaps our biggest enemy is
our flesh, which wars against the spirit and would bring us
again into bondage. We are admonished to set a watch
upon our hearts, to bring our bodies into subjection and to
guard our minds. Paul said it quite well. Know
ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth
the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. I
therefore so run not as uncertainly, so fight I not as one that beateth
the air. But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection,
lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I
myself should be a castaway. Are you sure that you are not
deceived? Christ is all. For a free CD
containing 15 of these radio broadcasts, send an email to
forthepoor at windstream.net.