AVOIDING DECEPTION
INTRODUCTION
There are indeed mockers of Jesus Christ living among us who continue to walk after their own ungodly lusts. Jude tells us that they do not have the Spirit of God living in them. Unfortunately, some of these mockers have infiltrated the pulpits of our churches. The church has got to be so careful when it comes to allowing someone to come in and speak. It would be totally ludicrous for me, or anyone else, to allow someone who claims to be a minister of the Word to stand behind this pulpit without first checking them out.
By way of introduction into my message, and to show you exactly what I am talking about, listen to a few quotations from some very popular television evangelists. See if you can pick out the heresy behind what is being said. Some heresies are very noticeable. In some cases, it sounds so much like the truth that you can’t really tell.
“I don’t think anything has been done in the name of Christ that, and under the banner of Christianity that, has proven more destructive to human personality and, hence, counterproductive to the evangelism enterprise than the often crude, uncouth, and unchristian strategy of attempting to make people aware of their lost and sinful condition.”
“For once a person believes he is an ’unworthy sinner,’ it is doubtful if he can really honestly accept the saving grace God offers in Jesus Christ.”
“I was shocked when I found out who the biggest failure in the Bible actually is…The biggest one is God… I mean, He lost His top-ranking, most anointed angel; the first man He ever created; the first woman He ever created; the whole earth and all the fullness therein; a third of the angels, at least--that’s a big loss, man. . . . Now, the reason you don’t think of God as a failure is He never said He’s a failure. And you’re not a failure till you say you’re one.”
“God can’t do anything in this earth realm except what we, the body of Christ, allow Him to do. Now that statement is so--that’s so--that’s so foreign and so contrary to tradition that, like I said, if they could get their hands on me right now most evangelicals would burn me at the stake and dismember me and feed me to the crocodiles, because they’ll consider that statement to be just heresy.”
“Adam, as I said, gave it [the earth] away to the serpent, to the Devil. As a result of it, he got his behind kicked out of the garden. He went out of Eden, out of the garden. He began to wander around, and he has troubles from day one. Now God was out of the business. God was out of the earth realm. God had no more stock in this earth realm. No more. None at all. Nothing He could do. Not a thing in the world He could do. . . .The only way God could get back into this earth realm, He had to have an invitation. Ha-hah! He had to have an invitation. And so, God looked around--saw different men, saw Noah, saw different ones. He gave them a few instructions. They did what He said. So and so and so and so. But, finally, He got to a point where He had His plan ready for operation. And He saw a man named Abraham.”
“The cross Christ calls us to bear will be offered as a dream... an inspiring idea that would incarnate itself in a form of ministry that helps the self-esteem-impoverished persons to discover their self-worth through salvation and subsequent social service in our Savior’s name...”
Now, I didn’t make all these quotations up. These are actual quotes from television evangelists over the past few years. There are more, many more, but my stomach just can’t take too much of it. The sad part is that every day something similar to what I have showed you is passed along to Christians as the truth. Worse yet, it is accepted without question. Usually with thunderous applause! As Christians we have got to know how to discern the truth so we can avoid being deceived. The only way that we can do so is to continue in the word.
John 8:31,32 – Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.
Our study today will show us all how we can know God’s truth and avoid being deceived by ungodly, sensual mockers dressed as God’s messengers.
I. AVOIDING DECEPTION
JUDE 20 - 23 – But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some have compassion, making a difference: and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
A. Building up yourselves on your most holy faith
In order to build yourself up on your faith, you must first have the faith to begin with. I have no doubt that there are people sitting here this morning who have not professed a faith in Jesus Christ. If you fall into that category then please listen to me carefully. If you want to know the truth you must believe on Jesus Christ and accept him as Lord and Savior of your life. If you haven’t placed your trust, your faith, in the saving power of Jesus Christ then this passage of scripture is not meant for you. It’s as simple as that. You do not have a faith to build upon. My prayer this morning is that that statement will upset you and you will be able to think of nothing else. I pray most fervently that the Holy Spirit of God will show you that you are lost and bound for hell before this service is concluded.
For those of us who are saved this passage of scripture is telling us to build ourselves up on our faith. That is a clue to me that there is going to be some work required on my part. God doesn’t automatically zap us with all the knowledge and wisdom that we will ever need for our Christian walk. We have to put some effort into it. Many Christians are deceived because they are downright lazy. They listen to what the speaker says and accept it as truth without ever going to the Bible to check it out.
Isaiah 2:22 – Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he? (NIV)
I try my best to bring you the truth, straight from the Bible and I hope that everyone listens to what I have to say, but listening really isn’t enough. Take notes. Read the scriptures again when you get home. Make sure that what you are hearing lines up with the Bible. If you find that I said something that just doesn’t seem right then ask me about it. You have a responsibility to do so.
BUILD YOURSELF UP ON YOUR FAITH.
B. Praying in the Holy Ghost
Prayer is the most neglected and least understood part of the Christian life. It is also the key to a successful relationship with God. We’ve studied prayer before, and I know that the ladies Sunday School class has been spending a lot of time on this subject, but it is a subject that can never be taught enough.
James 5:16b – The effectual, fervent prayers of a righteous man availeth much.
That scripture means that if we are active and energetic in prayer then our prayers will prove to be highly effective. Unfortunately, most Christian’s prayers are just the opposite; they are inactive and lethargic. How can we change that? What can we do to make our prayers more meaningful and powerful? Jude tells us that we should pray in the Holy Ghost. We need to get to a point in our prayer life where we are allowing the Holy Spirit of God direct our prayers.
Romans 8:26 – Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
The Holy Spirit of God will help us in our infirmities, or weaknesses. The Spirit is there to intercede for us, to help us where we are weak, and prayer is definitely a weakness for most of us. When we pray we should ask the Holy Spirit to show us what to pray for. I dare say that most Christians have prayed the same prayer over and over for years and rarely stray from repeating the same things every time they kneel in prayer. It isn’t wrong to have an idea ahead of time what to pray about, and it isn’t necessarily wrong to repeat a prayer, but don’t just go into prayer with a regular agenda. Be prepared to pray about anything that God may bring to your mind.
Meditate on the glorious attributes of God while you are praying. Think about all the wonderful things that he has done for you. Contemplate your salvation and imagine where you would be without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Try reading scriptures while you are praying and actually make the scripture a part of your prayer life.
A pastor once told me that he was reminded of the greatness of God by the simple expression, “Providence is a privilege.” He burst into tears and fell on his face before God praising him for that privilege. That was the Holy Spirit of God working in him. That was the Spirit interceding, showing this man what he should pray for. We do not know what we should pray for, but the Spirit of God will show us if we allow him to have free access to our prayer life.
If we can learn to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us in prayer then we will be drawn closer to God. Remember James 4:8 – Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. The more time we spend with God through the person of the Holy Spirit the more we know about him and the less likely we are to be deceived by the crafty words of the enemy.
PRAY IN THE HOLY SPIRIT.
C. Keep yourselves in the love of God
God’s love is the subject of many Christian songs. People like to express how they feel about the overabundance of love that he rains down on us. Too often though, the love of God is sung about and the reason behind that love is never mentioned.
The same pastor that fell on his face at the expression, “Providence is a privilege,” told of how he was visiting in a church as a guest speaker. Before he was to speak a young man sang a special song. The song focused on love, but God or Jesus Christ was never mentioned. When the pastor came to the pulpit, not being one to mince words, he said, “Son, I could have sang that song to my coon dog!”
If we are going to keep ourselves in the love of God we have to recognize what that love is all about.
1 John 4:10 - Herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.
We should never forget that the love of God comes directly from the fact that he chose to send Jesus Christ as a propitiation, or atonement, for our sins. God’s love and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross can never be separated. They are forever tied together.
We would not know the love of God if it had not been for the death of Jesus Christ. This is one thing that we should never stop thinking about.
KEEP YOURSELF IN THE LOVE OF GOD BY REMEMBERING THE DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST.
D. Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life
What does it mean to look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life? It goes hand in hand with keeping yourself in the love of God. We have touched on this for the past 2 weeks.
Titus 2:13,14 – Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
We have the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ. He had mercy on us and has purified us from all iniquity by his death on the cross. He became the sin penalty for us and because of the sacrifice that was made he has purified us unto himself and made us a peculiar, or treasured, people.
What did we do to deserve it? Nothing. It was a gift given to us freely by God. What should we do in return for the mercy that has been bestowed upon us? We should be zealous to perform good works.
Titus 3:8 – This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.
Notice that the scripture says that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. It doesn’t say that maintaining good works will cause one to believe in God. Works are an outward manifestation of the Spirit of God working within us and have no saving power in and of themselves.
Ephesians 2:8,9 – For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.
The question still remains, “What does it mean to look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life?” It means that we should be constantly aware of the mercy that was afforded us by the shed blood of Jesus Christ and strive to live our lives zealously performing godly works that are good and profitable to men. Not trusting in the works as our salvation, but performing them with the intent of pleasing our heavenly Father.
REMEMBER THE MERCY OF JESUS CHRIST BY PERFORMING GOOD WORKS.
The scripture that we are studying gives two works that we can perform.
1. And on some have compassion, making a difference
The NIV Bible interprets this verse, “Be merciful to those who doubt.” God is telling his people that we have a responsibility to be merciful to those who have
not called on his name. That isn’t very hard to do if we look back to the condition that we were in before the Lord saved us.
Ephesians 2:11-13 – Wherefore remember that being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision
in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
It is against the plan of God for Christians to look down their noses at the lost people we come in contact with. We must remember that at one time we were in
the same spiritual condition, strangers from the covenant, having no hope. We used to be afar off, but praise God, we have been drawn close by the blood of
Christ.
HAVE COMPASSION FOR THE LOST.
2. And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire.
Not only should we have compassion, but also we should make that compassion known by telling the lost about Jesus Christ. The scripture says, “And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire.” What is it that we are to be fearful of? If nothing else, we should be fearful of the very thing that the scripture tells us to pull them out of: THE FIRE.
I once heard a man tell of a near death experience where he claimed that he was given the opportunity to see hell. His description of it scared me to death. He described it as a sea of rolling, steaming lava where spirit-like beings bobbed up and down, screaming every time they came to the surface.
I don’t know if he saw hell or not, but I can look in the Bible and know for sure that it exists. In Luke 16 Jesus tells about Lazarus and the rich man. Lazarus is resting in paradise, or Abraham’s bosom, and the rich man is in hell. This is not a parable. Jesus did not use names in his parables. This is an event that actually happened.
Luke 16:23,24 – And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.
The rich man was in hell, and there were real flames tormenting him. All he wanted was one dip of water on the tip of his tongue. Don’t ever believe anyone who tells you that hell is not real. Not only was it real, but the rich man made a plea with Abraham to allow Lazarus to leave paradise and go tell his brothers how awful hell was.
Luke 16:27,28 – Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldst send him to my father’s house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
Our culture today likes to make hell out as a place where one big party is always going on. But that isn’t the case at all. I had a man tell me one day that he would rather be a ruler in hell than a servant in heaven. That statement upset me because I know that he will never be a ruler in hell. He is going to be like the rich man one day if he doesn’t give his life to Jesus Christ. One day he will look up from the pits of hell and plead for just one drop of water.
We should be constantly telling others about Jesus Christ, fearful that one day, if they don’t accept him, they too will spend an eternity in everlasting flames.
TELL OTHERS ABOUT JESUS CHRIST.
E. Hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
We are in constant battle with our flesh. The flesh does not want to obey the Spirit. Paul tells of the struggle he had with the flesh in the book of Romans.
Romans 7:24 – O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Paul realized that he could not live a life that was pleasing to God without the aid of the Holy Spirit. We are the same way. We must constantly beat our own selfish desires into submission so we can allow the will of God to be performed. We cannot allow our flesh to take over. If we do we are bound for failure.
STRIVE TO KEEP THE FLESH UNDER SUBMISSION.
CONCLUSION
Our society is full of people who do not teach the truth about God’s Word. As Christians, we should be constantly aware of this and guard ourselves from these ungodly, sensual mockers. By looking at Jude 20-23 we found that we can know God’s truth and avoid deception by:
BUILDING OURSELVES UP ON OUR FAITH
PRAYING IN THE HOLY SPIRIT
KEEPING OURSELVES IN THE LOVE OF GOD BY REMEMBERING THE DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST.
REMEMBERING THE MERCY OF JESUS CHRIST BY PERFORMING GOOD WORKS
HAVING COMPASSION FOR THE LOST
TELLING OTHERS ABOUT JESUS CHRIST
STRIVING TO KEEP THE FLESH UNDER SUBMISSION
We have a responsibility as Christians to do all of these things. It is a matter of simple obedience to God’s Word. The more we desire to please God, and the more we learn about him, the less likely we are to be taken in by some of the false doctrine that is so prevalent in our society. May the Lord bless you richly as you study his Word.
THE FOLLOWING IS SOMETHING THAT I FOUND IN MY NOTES. THE SAD THING IS SOME PASTORS ADHERE TO THESE PRACTICES. I DID NOT WRITE DOWN THE AUTHOR’S NAME OR I WOULD GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE.
"HOW TO PREACH WITHOUT CONVERTING ANYONE"
Preach on every doctrine that centers the attention on man rather than Jesus.
Teach every doctrine that makes man the center of God’s attention rather than God the center of man’s devotion.
Tell people only what God will do for them.
Avoid preaching about the necessity of a radical change of heart.
Make your supreme motive to be popular with all people, then, of course, your preaching will be suited for that purpose, and not to convert souls to Christ.
Avoid preaching doctrines that are offensive to the carnal mind, so that no one should say to you, as they did of Christ, "This is a hard saying, who can hear it?"
Make no distinct points, and do not disturb the consciences of your hearers so that they may become truly alarmed about their souls.
Avoid all illustrations, repetitions, and expressive sentences that may compel people to remember what you say.
Avoid all heat and enthusiasm in your delivery, so that you never make the impression that you really believe what you say.
Make appeals to the emotions, and not the conscience, of your hearers.
Be careful not to testify from your own personal experience of the power of the gospel, so that you never should produce the conviction upon your hearers that you have something, which they need.
Do not stir up uncomfortable memories by reminding your hearers of their past sins.
Denounce sin in a general way, but make no reference to the specific sins of your present audience.
Do not make the impression that God commands your listeners here and now to obey the truth.
Do not let them think that you expect them to commit themselves right on the spot to give their hearts to God.
Give the impression that they are expected to go away in their sins, and to consider the matter at later time of their convenience.
Preach salvation by grace; but ignore the condemned and lost condition of the sinner so that he never should understand what you mean by grace, and know his need of it.
Preach the gospel as a remedy or a cure, but conceal or ignore the fatal disease of the sinner.
Do not speak of the spirituality of God’s holy law (by which comes the knowledge of sin). That way that the sinner will never see his lost condition and repent.
Make no appeals to the fears of sinners; but give them the impression that they have no reason to fear.
Preach Christ as an infinitely friendly and good-natured being. Ignore those scathing rebukes of sinners and hypocrites, which so often make His hearers tremble.
Do not rebuke the worldly tendencies of the church, so that you should never hurt their feelings, or possibly convert some of them.
Admit, either obviously or casually, that all men have some moral goodness in them. That way sinners will never understand that they need a radical change of heart, from sin to holiness.
Say so little of hell that your people will think that you do not believe in its existence yourself.
Make the impression that, if God is as good as you are, He could not send anyone to hell.
Make no disagreeable reference to the teachings of self-denial, cross bearing, and crucifixion to the world, so that you should never convict and convert some of your church members.
Do not rebuke extravagance in dress, so that you should never make an uncomfortable impression on your vain and worldly church members.
Encourage lots of church socials, and attend them yourself.
Aim to make your hearers pleased with themselves and pleased with you, and be careful especially not to wound the feelings of anyone.
Make sure you avoid preaching to those who are present. Preach about sinners, but not to them.
Say "they," and not "you," so that no one will take your subject personally and apply it to their own life, securing the salvation of their soul.
Preach that the new birth is something God deposits in people, not a fundamental change in the ultimate purpose of our lives.
Never tell people that they must cease from serving self and serve God and do His will.
Never tell them that repentance is man’s ability and responsibility to turn from sin to God!
Make sure that no one realizes his true responsibility requiring him to repent in order to be saved.
Preach that a person can be saved without making Jesus his lord.
Teach that holiness is just an option and not a requirement of the gospel. Teach them that they can be a Christian without becoming true disciples.
Preach that no Christian needs to do anything. Teach them that they are safe and heaven bound even if their lives are disobedient and rebellious.
