Let no man deceive you
2 Thess 2:3 “…Let no one in any way deceive you...”
Ezekial 33:6 “But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman’s hand.’”
I. There will be some who try to deceive you
A. The sword is coming, some intentional and some unintentional.
1. Some people get off the right path, focusing on one aspect or another, instead of the right true way
a. 1 Cor 3:18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise
b. most religions came from this.
11. Henry VIII and the Anglican Church
22. Jehovah’s Witnesses
33. Mormons
2. Some men try deliberately to deceive and fool you, but this is rare. Usually it is just a church taking hold of one particular belief, not knowing it is ungodly.
a. Jer 29:8-14 "For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, `Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream. 9 `For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,’ declares the LORD.
b. Romans 16:17-20 17 Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. 18 For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. 19 For the report of your obedience has reached to all; therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil. 20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
c. Ob 1:7 All the men allied with you Will send you forth to the border, And the men at peace with you Will deceive you and overpower you. They who eat your bread Will set an ambush for you. (There is no understanding in him.)
1. Don’t worry that the Lord will ignore their wrongdoing.
aa. Amos 8:4, 7 “Hear this, you who trample the needy, 7. The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob, "Indeed, I will never forget any of their deeds”
bb. 1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; 3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. 4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; 7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men 8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,
d. It is obvious who the deceiver is. The devil. He is trying to get you off the path and onto some other way that will lead to desctruction.
11. Romans 20:3 “…and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer,
II. How does one get deceived?
A. Step at a time. A little bit of bad doctorine here and there, and then you are on the wrong path, heading the wrong way.
B. Be careful who and what you are taking to heart. Listening is fine, but making life and spiritual decisions based on someone’s words is a dangerous thing. Be careful.
C. Isa 64:8 “But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand”
1. Make sure he is the potter, and not the “leader” of your faith movement. Men often become the focus of religion, and not God. Are you following a prophet, or God?
III. Resist the deceiver!
A. Eph 6:13-18 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, 15 and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,
1. If you are as well rounded as this person, you will have no reason to focus just on one area—that is where you can go astray.
B. James 4:7 Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
IV. How will you recognize deceivers? Discernment. Knowledge.
A. Ezra 7:10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it,
B. 2 Peter 3:18 “ …but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
C. Phil 1:9 “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, …”
D. Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”
E. The word “deceive” in the Greek is Plunao, which means “to lead along the wrong path.”
1. How can I keep from being led along the wrong path?
2. Study the word of God. That will lead you flawlessly. Ps119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”
3. Always check out everything you hear with the Word.
a. If someone’s words conflict with the Word of God, they are the liar, and the Word is true. Romans 3:4 “…let God be found true, though every man be found a liar.”
b. Check me out, please!
V. How do you get this knowledge?
A. James 1:5 “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”
VI. Biblical examples of end-time deception
A. Rev 2:1-2 To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this: `I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false;
B. Rev 2:14-17 But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. 15 `So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 `Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth. 17 `He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.’
C. Rev 2:19-26 19 `I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first. 20 `But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 `I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. 22 `Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. 23 `And I will kill her children with pestilence, F25 and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. 24 `But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them--I place no other burden on you. 25 `Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come. 26 `He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO…
