Deception...Matthew 24:4, Luke 21:8, I Corinthians 6:9-10,

Galatians 6:7-8, Revelations 12:9, Revelations 20

 

Deception...Greek (dolos) means lying, comes from root word (delo)

meaning to take with a bait, transfer guile, craft and subtilty. A deliberate

concealing or perverting of the truth with the intention of misleading

another.

 

A. Deception is designed by Satan to hinder you from knowing the truth

about God, Salvation, eternity, etc.

 

B. Deception separates men from God and leads them into sin. It's purpose

is to mislead you, to convince you that God did not mean what he said

and to make you believe that you can get by regardless of what God

says about it.

 

C. The purpose of deception is to cause you to have a mis-conception of

truth, so as to cause you to sin.

 

a. Genesis 3:4,... before Satan could get Adam and Eve to sin, he

had to deceive them.

 

b. Acts 5:1-13, deception caused them to lie to the Holy Ghost,

thinking that they could lie and get by with it.

 

D. The reason God warns us so many times about deception

 

a. Because of the deceitfulness of our own hearts...Jeremiah 17:9.

There are many natural inclinations in our human nature that

remains undiscovered until the force of outward circumstances

bring them out and into action. But Satan knows that these

things are there all the time. Moses knew nothing of his

impatience, Hazeal of his cruelty, Hezekiah of his pride.

 

b. The moral darkness which has come over our mental and moral

facilities...i.e. Inspite of the light God has given us, there is a

tendency of our conscience (a sense of rightness or wrongness of

one's own acts) becoming corrupt. This is why God gave us the

word of God, even if our conscience tell us that what we are

is right, we must check it out with God's word, we can not go

altogether by the feeling of our conscience. There is a danger

that our conscience is deceived about a certain thing. The

conscience has to submit to the word of God. The Devil will

deceive you through your conscience...How? By concealing the

true nature of your conscience. Pauls conscience was deceived,

his conscience taught him to do many things contrary to the

religion of Jesus of Nazareth.

 

c. Deception causes us to think that we can stop sinning at any

point we desire and find forgivness.

 

d. Deception teaches us to invent excuses for our own wrong

conduct...i.e. Blaming someone else. Adam and Eve, Aaron

about the golden calf.

 

e. Deception makes us excuse ourselves for lack of performing

our duty to God, Church, Lost, etc, but saying that the cares of a family, business demands, etc are as important as your faithfulness to God and His cause.

 

f. Deception causes one to mistake profession for practice, a of Godliness for the living reality of it's power.

 

g. Deception works in so many ways about so many things:

(1) It makes men think that it's impossible to live up to God's

commands.

(2) It gives men vain hopes that do not exist.

(3) It prevents various appearances to the fancy in order to

engage the affections.

(4) It allures with the prospect of riches, but it steals away our best treasure of all,...God.

(5)It causes one to think that because of certain sins, they can not find forgiveness, therefore they live under bondage of guilt, causing spiritual depression.

(6) It leads to a Phariseescal and Laodicicean attitude,

“thinking themselves rich and increased and standing in need of nothing, but are deceived and in spiritual blindness, nakedness and poverty of their soul.

(7)It induces men to conceal or cover-up their sin, thinking

they can escape the exposure and punishment of their sins...as did Achan at Aii.

(8) It causes mankind to think that somehow they can get to heaven without having to serve God faithfully down here. Deception works in these and numerous other ways.

 

E. In these things you better not become deceived:

 

a. In the character of the being and perfection of God.

 

b. In the eternality of your soul, and that you are accountable for every thought word and deed that comes from your lips.

c. In sowing to the flesh, for every seed sown in the flesh will come up and the crop that you must reap will be eternal perdition.

d. In sowing to the spirit, a life of holiness and service to God in this present life will pay off for you in big dividends in the life to come.

 

e. In the doctrine of eternity, this is final and fatal.

 

F. How to avoid deception:

 

a. Always be honest with yourself. Don't excuse yourself, seek truth, accept truth even if it is contrary to your own opinion.

 

b. Never close your eyes or mind to an unpleasant truth. Sometimes truth is not what your flesh desires to hear.

 

c. Do not allow your spiritual vision to become blinded or darkened by passion or distorted by prejudice.

 

d. Be willing to see things as they are, not the way you would like for them to be. Always be impartial.

 

e. Don't take for granted things that appear good on the surface, investigate.

 

f. Always adjust your opinions and convictions to revealed truth, rather than trying to adjust truth to agree with your opinion and convictions.

 

g. Accept all truth whether it is favorable to you or not.

 

h. Do not ignore the consciousness of the future judgment just because in the present all is well.

I. Study the Bible for instructions and not for confirmation of your own views, and if need be, correct your views in the light of God's Word.