Do Not Be Deceived

Well, it is so great to see everyone here tonight. This past Sunday was such a blessing with Holy Spirit moving and stirring in people’s lives!

For those of you who may not have been here, I spoke from the epistle of , where Paul is addressing the issue of our allowing the lies of the enemy into our lives and of how we are to take every thought captive and prevent the lies of the enemy from rooting into our minds.

I was so moved by the honesty of people who responded and shared of how they know that the devil has been and is currently speaking lies into their lives and of their desire to take these thoughts and lies captive and under the obedience of Jesus Christ!

This is an area that the enemy does not want anyone to touch or tamper with!

He knows, as the Bible tells us, that a person who is free from the stronghold of lies and begins to walk in their spiritual authority is a powerful enemy of his. And if those whom Jesus has set free begin to help unshackle others from his bondage, then the church begins to rise up in power and dismantle his grip on this nation!

Let me let you watch something cute this evening to make a point to you. (I could have just taught this, but, I’m a visual person and this is so amazing!)

SHOW VIDEO FROM YOU TUBE, ON COMMON CUCKOO BIRD PUSHING OUT THE EGGS FROM THE NEST!

Now what you just watched, is an example of what the Audubon Society refers to as a parasitic bird. (Do we have any bird watchers in here tonight?)

These are birds, such as the cuckoo, the warbler and the cowbird, who purposely and deceitfully, lay their eggs into the nest of another bird, with their eggs.

They do this so that they do not have to waste their time and energy on childcare of their own! (Sounds like a lot of people nowadays!)

The reason that I am showing this to you tonight, is to simply make a point about the M.O. of our enemy, the devil.

I feel that having just addressed the issue of our spiritual authority and taking the lies into captivity, I needed to spend some more time speaking on different aspects of this subject.

Tonight we are going to briefly speak on how we are deceived and even more so, how we deceive ourselves and in doing so, lead others into the same deception!

I want to start off with a passage first and a with it, the understanding of a warning about ignoring God’s words about sin and how we deal with it.

says,

Genesis 4:1–7 NLT

Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the Lord’s help, I have produced a man!” Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel. When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground. When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected. “Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

Now, notice here what God warns Cain of, “Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

This is what we just read about this past Sunday in II Corinthians, where Paul says that we must tear down the strongholds and take every thought captive; WE MUST SUBDUE THEM!

God said that the sin was crouched down at the door and eager to control Cain. (Being crouched down is likened to that of a wild beast, waiting to pounce on him!)

This is the same understanding about the devil that we see in ,

1 Peter 5:8 NLT

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

If we are not watching and alert to the enemy, then he is ready to pounce on, to take over and control us with deception and sin!

This is very similar to the statement about sin that goes, “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. –”

This account, when read from other translations of the Bible, reads this way, as God is speaking to Cain, “And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

The word used here for desire, is the Hebrew word, “tešû·qā(h)”, and it refers to a very strong desire; a strong desire to dominate!

This same word is used in the chapter before this chapter, where God is addressing the sin of Eve, and God says to her, “Your desire (your tešû·qā(h)) shall be to control your husband, but he shall rule over you.”

In other words, God was pointing out that, because of the sin committed, it had now changed the designed and creative purpose that God had intended for Eve, as well as Adam.

but he shall rule over you.”

This is what sin does, it changes our ability to walk in God’s designed plan for our lives!

So, God, just as He told Eve that she would have an unnatural desire to dominate her husband VERSUS walking along side of him as the adjunct and protector of the husband that the wife was designed to be. (If you remember awhile back we looked at the role that God created the woman for; to walk alongside of and help protect the man as he carried out his authoritative role on the earth), so now, due to sin, she would desire to have dominion over him instead of serving along side of him as a helper!

In this same way, God is telling Cain that if he doesn’t get a handle on this attitude and jealousy of his, then sin will come into the picture and take dominion over him and his life!

And what is the outcome; what did Cain choose?

He didn’t do what was right and listen to God’s warning; rather he yielded to the enemy and committed murder!

And does sin that is unrepentant go away?

Well, look several verses later, to the 5th generation of Cain, and the man named Lamech and his life.

Lamech was the first recorded practitioner of bigamy, which was in direct contrast to what God made man and woman for; the TWO shall become one flesh! (Not the three or four, etc.!)

Lamech also had a situation where someone had struck or wounded him, and just as he had no regard for God’s design of one man and one woman, he also had no regard for human life and took the person’s life!

He even made a boast of it, as we see in the verse that mention this account, ,

Genesis 4:23–24 NLT

One day Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; listen to me, you wives of Lamech. I have killed a man who attacked me, a young man who wounded me. If someone who kills Cain is punished seven times, then the one who kills me will be punished seventy-seven times!”

He is seen boasting here that his vengeful action is to be more protected than that of his for-father Cain as God had established by saying to Cain, “No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you.”

In other words, Lamech is taking it upon himself to assign a greater covering of protection on his wrong doing than the mercy that God had given to Cain!

This is exactly what sin ,(the devil), does in our lives. It promotes self-justification at extreme measures, even at the expense of others and their lives!

Lamech didn’t see fit to forgive, but rather to follow the footsteps of his for-father and kill for revenge and all under the self-proclaimed covering of seventy-seven times more protection than what God has given to Cain.

Yet, in Matthew, Jesus tells us that if someone wrongs you, you are to forgive them seventy times seven, versus taking revenge against them!

The main point here is that there was no mention of Cain repenting or showing any sign of remorse for what he had done, even though God told him directly that he should do what was right, Cain still allowed the desire for revenge, (for retribution), to take full effect and in its course, bring about death. (This being exactly what James tells us of our desires and their end results, in , “Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”)

Cain’s unrepentant nature is seen 5 generations later, in Lamech, in the same way and for a very similar reason; retribution and no regard for God and His will and His word. (God hadn’t changed His stance on Cain’s sin of shedding the innocent blood of his brother and He didn’t show favor on Lamech for doing something similar.

In fact, as unrepentant sin keeps going, it produces more enmity between us and God, as seen by Lamech’s self centered desire to alter God’s design for one man and one woman!

The point that I am wanting to get at here and leading into tonight’s main point, is that if you and I do not walk CLOSELY with God and adhere to His word, then the presence of the enemy is harder to detect/recognize and we are much more susceptible to being deceived and walking directly against the will and the Word of God and not even thinking, or being aware that we are doing wrong!

It is through deception that the devil does his best work. There is a difference between being tempted and being deceived. Eve was deceived first in the Bible and then the allurement of the forbidden tree became a temptation!

Deception is not deception, if you know what is happening! Our enemy is a master at this art and we must not be captured by it and all the while plead ignorance of his ways and what he was doing in our lives!

Paul tells us in ,

2 Corinthians 2:11 NLT

so that Satan will not outsmart us. For we are familiar with his evil schemes.

2 Corinthians 2:11 ESV

so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

2 Corinthians 2:10–11 NLT

When you forgive this man, I forgive him, too. And when I forgive whatever needs to be forgiven, I do so with Christ’s authority for your benefit, so that Satan will not outsmart us. For we are familiar with his evil schemes.

2 Corinthians 2:11 ESV

so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

2 Corinthians 2:10 ESV

Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ,

We need to know our enemy’s ways and how to counter them, according to the Word of God.

Or, as Paul said in , “Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth,” - The Truth of the Gospel message is mighty for destroying the schemes of our enemy!

Ephesians 6:14 ESV

Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

What I want to do for the next few minutes is mention some areas that the Bible tells us that we allow ourselves to be deceived and how this deception affects us.

The whole point in the Audubon video, was to point out that the enemy can come in subtly and plant something into out midst and if we do not stand firm on God’s word, we will begin to nurture and develop this deception, even to the point of harming or killing what God had blessed us with.

So, I am going to mention some particular verses and read the ways that we are allowing ourselves to be deceived. OK?!

One of the things that gets many Christians into trouble, is flirting with the thing that led to the reason for the fall of Lucifer himself; PRIDE. That is, they think more highly of themselves than they ought to.

says,

Galatians 6:3 NLT

If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.

Now pair this verse with which says,

Romans 12:3 NLT

Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.

So, when we see another brother or sister who is struggling with their walk with the Lord because of a sin and we develop that high and mighty attitude of, “Well, they should have known better, so now they can just deal with it. I’m not stupid enough to fall into that and they shouldn’t have either!”

The moment that you proclaim yourself above another’s circumstance and that you are better, then you have fallen into a deceptive, prideful, religious lie and it ultimately hurts you and your walk with the Lord!

I like this statement about pride, “Pride, the idolatrous worship of self, is the national religion of hell."

Many people in the church body (many religious people), make heirs about their religious practice and how Godly they are and yet something is drastically wrong; their tongue flops about like a wind sock in a strong breeze! tells us,

James 1:26 ESV

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.

You see, when you or I go around we gossip, or complain and murmur and do it all under the proclivity of our Christian faith, we are dramatically deceived and our “RELIGION” is completely worthless!

We are no good to the kingdom of God with an unbridled tongue; , tell us this about the tongue,

James 3:8–10 ESV

but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

James 3:9–10 ESV

With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

NO HUMAN CAN TAME THE TONGUE!!! But if we are willing to submit to the Sword of the Spirit, that is, the Word of God, and align our thoughts and actions by it, then even the untamed tongue can be bridled and brought under control.

The next way that many are allowing themselves to be deceived, is through the embracing of the world and its teachings, its standards, its beliefs; ultimately, its wisdom!

,

1 Corinthians 3:18–19 NLT

Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, “He traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness.”

If you look at letter to the church of Pergamum in , we find Jesus warning the church there, that although many of them had remained true to Him, even with persecution, the church, still, large and in part had sold out to the world’s system. They had begun to embrace teachings of the world within the church body and Jesus staunchly warns them that unless they repent and turn back, He would come and fight with the Sword of His mouth!

,

Hebrews 4:12 ESV

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

We may be deceived because we have chosen things of this world, under the covering of our Christian faith, but word of God is never wrong and it will always guide into all TRUTH! It instantly shows the intents and motives of why we will or will not do what is right according to God’s will!

Look at the condition of this country right now and the things that our nation has embraced, that run completely counter to the Word of God. This is bad, but what is even worse is that many churches and believers have been deceived through false teachings and embraced the same things; all under the covering of LOVE.

God’s love is endless, but it is also unchanging and when God says something is a sin, it remains a sin in His eyes! He doesn’t bend His rules for people because they refuse to read and pray and seek the TRUTH of His Word and then say that God allows the change out of LOVE for everyone and the changing of the times!

Part of the sad reality of this deception is that it seems completely hopeless to those who fall into it.

SPEAK ON THE DECEPTION OF THE LGBT AGENDA AND ESPECIALLY OF THE TRANS-GENDERED POPULATION! (Have prayer for these at the close of the service!!!!!!!)

One more way that I am going to mention that we can be deceived and thus hurt our relationship with the Lord, as well as the effectiveness of our witness, is our relationships.

In , Paul is dealing with a heretical teaching about the denouncing of the truth of the Christian resurrection and he says this,

1 Corinthians 15:33 ESV

Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

This saying, actually has much greater implications than just the situation that Paul was addressing as far the heresy of the resurrection. When we allow the company of others, whether within a church circle, or not, to influence us to the point that we begin to compromise our faith and turn from what the Word of God says, then we need to turn and walk away from these relationships.

I am not saying that we need to disassociate ourselves from being loving and kind and faithful witness, when we encounter these people, but you cannot compromise your faith for the company of others!

My overall point in continuing some of the same thoughts from Sunday, was to push, with emphasis, that we must remain vigilant and always aware of the wiles of the devil, because we can and will be deceived if we are not always aware of what is being said and done around us. We take every thought captive and we wear the belt of Truth to ensure that we know what is right in the eyes of God!

This reminds me of the guy who was shopping at WalMart. An old lady keeps staring at him. Finally she says "You look so much like my late son. I know it's silly, but if you call out 'Goodbye, Mother' as I leave, it would make me feel so happy."

The guy says "I'll be glad to do it."

The old lady proceeds through the checkout and as she leaves the supermarket, the man calls out "Goodbye Mother."

The old lady waved back, and walked out the door.

He was pleased that God used him to bring happiness to someone else. So he goes to pay for his groceries. The cashier says "That'll be 362 dollars."

The guy says "362 dollars???? Why so much? I only bought a few things!"

The cashier "Yeah, but your mother said you'd pay for her..."

Let’s close out with a word of prayer and especially pray for those poor souls who have bought into and are utterly despondent from the lies and deception of the enemy!