Beware

BEWARE

ILLUSTRATION: Look at the beautiful bird sitting on

the tree limb...soaking in the sunshine...singing such a

beautiful song. This bird seems so, at peace, with

everything. She seems to have a full belly and a beautiful

day awaits her...BAM...CRASH!

1. The lights go out...the cat got her............

To a degree...this is how life works.

A. Just as things seem to be going well...all kinds of

things start to happen....unexpected things...un-

wanted things...nasty, rotten things.

1. When we are not properly prepared for these

things...we call them catastrophes.

a. Perhaps it only seems like the cat just

jumped on us...perhaps it just seems as

though the lights went out...and then...

perhaps it isn’t really as bad as we first

make it out to be.

Let me introduce you to the uncertainties of life.

A. These come when they are least expected and

when we can least afford them.

The only real answer for us is to be aware and alert to life’s

little hidden surprises.

A.The buzz word is...BEWARE!

1. Far too many go blithely through life and

place themselves in spiritual...mortal danger

because they will not heed the warning signs

that are there in God’s Word.

a. It warns us to be wary of the many

different spiritual attacks by satan.

Col. 2:8 - 8Beware lest anyone cheat you through

philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of

men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not

according to Christ.

I. Just how can anyone cheat a person of their salvation

through philosophy?

A. First, understand the word...then understand the

concept.

1. The word comes from two Greek words...

philios...love, and sophia...wisdom. The word

literally means “love of wisdom”.

a. Perhaps we do need to define something

else, here, if we are going to properly

understand the concept.

1.) “Wisdom” ...this is a high level

abstraction...What wisdom...whose

wisdom?

a.) Let me assure you that you

will never get in spiritual

trouble by following the

wisdom of God...so then...we

must be addressing the

“wisdom of the world”.

B. The “wisdom of the world” can be all or part of

what is considered smart...good...clever...

physically discerned knowledge.

1. Even Christians have been led astray with

this kind of “wisdom”.

a. One can be impressed by the number of

letters after one’s name...or the institute

of higher learning...or the accolades

that have been heaped upon a man...

just the mere name can give us the

illusion of wisdom:

Ex. - Winston Churchill; Albert Einstein; Socrates...etc..

1.) Man’s “wisdom” is finite...limited..

dated...(and the real problem)...

it cannot contribute to mankind’s

eternal good.

** And yet, so many are drawn away from following the

wisdom of God because of the physical and mental

appeal from the wisdom of man.

I Cor. 2:4-14 - 4And my speech and my preaching were

not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in

demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5that your faith

should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of

God.

6However, we speak wisdom among those who are

mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of

this age, who are coming to nothing. 7But we speak the

wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which

God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8which none of

the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would

not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9But as it is written:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,

Nor have entered into the heart of man

The things which God has prepared for those

who love Him.”

10But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For

the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

11For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit

of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the

things of God except the Spirit of God. 12Now we have

received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is

from God, that we might know the things that have been

freely given to us by God. 13These things we also speak,

not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the

Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with

spiritual. 14But the natural man does not receive the things

of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor

can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Acts 17:21-23 - 21For all the Athenians and the

foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else

but either to tell or to hear SOME NEW THING.

22Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said,

“Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very

religious; 23“for as I was passing through and considering