Deceived? II
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Our vision here is to help people reach their full potential in Christ: physically, spiritually and emotionally. It’s been a while since I mentioned that, but if that hasn’t caught on in your life – then do it. We believe that there is a potential for each person – a fullness in Christ Jesus that God desires for each of us – in this life.
It is the responsibility of every believer in Christ to pursue godliness, righteousness and maturity in Christ. As we pursue godliness and maturity, it is also the responsibility of every believer to help others reach their potential in Christ. For it is the greatest commandment to
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
And until each of us do that perfectly, we have room for growth and maturity.
Fulfilling this command has always been a challenge for God’s people – and even more so as we approach the end of the age. And so from the beginning, I want to challenge each of us this morning to take seriously the command to love God and neighbor seriously, because the truth is, many will not.
Please stand for the reading of God’s Word.
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you.
For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
All these are the beginning of birth pains.
“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,
and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.
Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,
but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
As the political-cultural landscape changes in America, and as Christian persecution increases, we need to be proactive in our response. We need to plan now how we will respond. Christians are not to complain or run and hide from the culture, we are to engage the culture - even if we lose our homes and jobs, and lose the comforts that we cherish. Regardless of what culture is doing, we have a mission to accomplish – to help people know Christ and mature in Christ; therefore, it would be wise to prepare now for the changes and persecution that’s coming.
I remind us that persecution of God’s people, Jew and Christian is somewhat par for the course. Gods’ people have been persecuted for thousands of years. Westerners are among the few who have enjoyed relative peace from persecution. So, the changes that are coming will be new and perhaps frightening to many of us.
As I stated last week, the disciples in Matt. 24 wanted information about the End. It seems like they wanted to know the ooohs and aaaahs of having privileged knowledge - but Jesus’ main concern was not the ooohs and aaaahs, but rather their ability to be aware of and stand against it deception. We need to get this –
Jesus’ concern is not prevention of persecution, but perseverance in persecution.
So, how do we persevere? Well, as with most things in life, perseverance is easier when we prepare. The first thing Jesus tells us is to have …
I. Situational Awareness
Jesus said, “Watch out!” (βλέπέtέ, blepete) - To take extra care in prudence and observation.
Stay alert! And for some of us, staying alert is not the issue – some just need to wake up and become aware of the situation that we’re facing. When I was in the military, they pounded into our heads the importance of situational awareness - being aware of and paying attention to the environment – pay attention to yourself, your buddies and the enemy.
And here’s the problem - many are susceptible to deception simply because they do not pay attention. Fact - Complacency is the greatest enemy. More people get injured or killed because of complacency than anything else. It’s true in the military, true in the civilian world and it’s true in the spiritual.
There are several reasons Jesus emphatically warns us to watch out! Now, this first one is not in the text but it’s something to think about. If complacency is the greatest cause of injury and death, and
if Christians are complacent in their relationship with the Lord, who reaps the consequences?
So you see, situational awareness is imperative because …
a) We have a Real Enemy
Jesus said, that many will come in His name.
There is a real enemy who hates Israel, and who hates the Church, who wants to deceive us and will stop at nothing to deceive us until the End.
We are in a spiritual war for souls and many of us don’t know it.
Jesus said,
“Many will come in His name,” means to usurp the authority of Christ and to replace Him as the only Christ.
- only savior. We have a real enemy who will do anything to convince the world that Jesus Christ is not the only way to salvation. And sadly, many Christians and churches are falling to this deception – blending Christianity with other religions and philosophies. The Judeo/Christian faith does not mix with Buddhism, New Age, Witchcraft, Humanism, Eastern Mysticism, or any other religion or teaching that denies Christ as the one and only Son of God who alone died on a cross for our sins and He alone is the Savior of the world. To Coexist is a farce and lie from Hell. Too many churches and “christians” have a form of godliness, but they deny the power of the Gospel (2 Tim. 3).
Situational awareness is imperative, because we have a real enemy, but also because …
b) Many will Defect
At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,
and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.
False teachers (by the way, is anyone who teaches a different salvation than Christ), will cause believers stumble and turn away from the faith. What is the faith? The faith is trusting what God has revealed to be true - that humanity is separated from God because of personal sin, but God loved the world, therefor He sent His only Son to die on a cross, to pay for our sins in order to offer forgiveness to any who call upon His name and believe in His death and resurrection, and who repent of sin and follow God - and that Jesus will return.
That is the faith in a nutshell, we are not to deviate from what God has revealed, but sadly that is what many who claim to believe will one day reject because they allowed themselves to be deceived – and that should give all of us great concern - and that should give us reason to be diligent, to prepare now to know the truth so as not to be deceived.
Jesus warns us to have situational awareness because we have a real enemy, because many will defect, and because …
c) Many will be Distracted
In verse 6, Jesus said, “Do not be alarmed!” Jesus is saying, “Look, there are a lot of things that are going to happen in this world before I return - so don’t be surprised, don’t worry, don’t be filled with apprehension. Why? Because worry and apprehension can distract.
Jesus made it very clear – it’s going to get worse as the End approaches. So why in the world are Christians surprised that what Jesus said is coming true! Right! We should be the least caught off guard with all the chaos ….
Look, all these things should not upset or distract us – but they do, and they are.
And when the Church becomes distracted, we lose our focus from what’s eternally important and we become consumed with self-preservation, and safety and comfort. When we are distracted, we neglect the mission of God, lost souls, the Gospel, authentic worship … etc. etc. When God’s people become distracted, we cling to tight to this world, and to our rights … and we chase social and political issues that are secondary instead of primary.
And that my friends, is one of the greatest deception strategies ever - distraction. When the bad guys create a ruse, the good guys shift their focus, that allows the bad guys easy access to infiltrate and defeat the good guys. And that I believe is what is happening to the Church in America - we’re following a ruse, we keep focusing on the wrong narrative. The enemy is keeps dangling carrots in front of our noses and we keep chasing the carrots.
Now, I’m not saying that we ignore social and political issues. There is a proper way to engage and we should. But, when we put the cart before the horse, we lose.
This is just one example. Someone dangled a carrot in front of us and told us that homosexuality is the main issue - and so we followed the carrot. Someone told us that homosexuality is the unpardonable sin. Someone told us that we can’t back cakes for homosexuals, but we can bake cakes for liars; we can bake cakes for people who worship other gods; we can bake cakes for heterosexual fornicators …. Someone told us that we need to fix homosexuals, and when they finally get fixed (no pun intended) - (and how’s that working for us), then we can introduce them to the transforming power of the Gospel!
Homosexuality is not the issue! People are broken, people live in a broken world and people do broken things. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has always been and will always be the issue - that this Jesus whom was crucified came to set us free from sin and death - and once the Good News is proclaimed, and a person receives Jesus Christ as Savior, then the fixing can begin!
Paul said it best in 1 Corinthians, I preach Christ and Christ crucified! Yes, we should engage social and political issues, but we must bring every issue back to the Gospel. Do not get distracted by dangling carrots, which was a problem in the Corinthian church. “I follow Paul. I follow Apollos. I follow Cephas.” Stop! Get back to the Gospel!
(Luke 4:18-19???)
As we prepare for what is to come, situational awareness is imperative. We must protect ourselves from deception and from distraction. And, we must be like the men of Issachar who understood the times and knew what to do.
So, what do we do?
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:
Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
What is the Spirit saying to you right now?
Where are you susceptible to deception? Or defection? Or distraction?
What do you need to do increase your spiritual situational awareness? To increase your knowledge of the truth?
Where is the Gospel in your life?
Do you know Christ? God loves you ….
Admit … you’ve sinned
Believe … God sent His only Son to die
Confess … Jesus as Lord & Repent