When we think of the ‘last days’, it can be an exciting as well as frightening time. Exciting because we stand to witness the greatest revelation of God’s glory any generation has yet to experience, which will be accompanied by an unimaginable harvest of souls. It will be a time of glory and joy, judgment, and fear.
Fearful because as Paul wrote in 2 Tim 3:1, “There will be terrible times in the last days.” Right before this he said “But mark this.” Meaning, make note of what I am telling you. Keep track of it in your mind.
The reason for these terrible times wasn’t to be from persecution from government or atheists, but from the deception spreading throughout the church. This warning is found throughout the New Testament.
Deception is a scary thing. Because it’s deceptive! A person who is deceived believes with everything in them that they are right, when in truth, they are wrong. Jesus repeatedly warned against deception.
If Jesus found this important enough to repeat numerous times, then shouldn’t we stand up and take notice?? Wouldn’t we be foolish to over look it?
We will now look at two things. One, what is the root cause of deception? Two, why is deception able to run rampant, unchecked?
The root cause of deception, as we have studied, is disobedience to divine authority, or lawlessness.
James 1:22, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
Scripture is saying here, that when we hear the word and don’t do what the word says, that we allow deception to come into our hearts and minds. This person now lives under the conviction that he is on target when he is actually in error.
Where there is not true submission to God’s authority, which includes the authority of His Word, the door is opened to subtle but great deception. But why, will deception run rampant?
2 Thes. 2:10, “Because they did not receive the love of the truth.”
To love the truth is not just to enjoy hearing it, but love obeying it.
Ezek. 33:30-31, “But as for you, son of man, your people are talking about you by the walls and in the doorways of houses. They say to each other: ‘come now, and hear the message from the Lord.’ So they come to you in crowds as if they were really ready to listen. They sit in front of you as if they were my people and hear your words, but they will not obey them. With their mouths they tell me they love me, but their hearts desire their selfish profits.”
In other words, they HEAR, but do not DO.
There are people in the church who love good teaching and preaching, but when it comes right down to it, love their own ways more then they love God’s will.
2 Tim 3:1-5, “Remember this! In the last days there will be many troubles, because people will love themselves, love money, brag, and be proud. They will say evil things against others and will not obey their parents or be thankful or be the kind of people God wants. They will not love others, will refuse to forgive, will gossip, and will not control themselves. They will be cruel, will hate what is good, will turn against their friends, and will do foolish things without thinking. They will be conceited, will love pleasure instead of God, and will act as if they serve God but will not have his power. Stay away from those people.
We need to take up our crosses and deny our rights and privileges for the sake of fulfilling His will. Why? Because He is God, our Creator, our Redeemer, and His love toward us is perfect. This alone keeps us from deception.
Is this the devotion we see in the church? Do you think maybe the writers of this scripture had some insight to these very days?
Here is another warning: 2 Thes. 2:7, “The secret power of lawlessness is already at work.” This word lawlessness is the same Greek word anomia; we studied in the last lesson.
Notice there is a secret force or power behind it. The NKJV says the “mystery of lawlessness.” The mystery IS its secret power. Christians would not easily follow lawlessness if it was blatant, only if it was subtle and deceptive. That is the mystery. God warns us not to be ignorant of this secret power or mystery.
2 Cor 2:11, “I did this so that Satan would not win anything from us, because we know very well what Satan’s plans are.”
Satan is the master of deception. He led 1/3rd of the angels in an uprising against God.
Rev. 12:3-4, “Then another wonder appeared in heaven: There was a giant red dragon with seven heads and seven crowns on each head. He also had ten horns. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and threw them down to the earth…”
This took place in a perfect environment. They were up in the very presence of God!!!
Jesus told us that not only is Satan a deceiver, but the father of it.
John 8:44, “You belong to your father the devil, and you want to do what he wants. He was a murderer from the beginning and was against the truth, because there is not truth in him. When he tells a lie, he shows what he is really like, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
Matt 24:24, “False Christs and false prophets will come and perform great wonders and miracles. They will try to fool even the people God has chosen, if that is possible.
So, Satan will deceive even the people of God. Those who are a part of the church. But if he can deceive millions of angels in heaven, wouldn’t it be easy to deceive people living in the world here today?
We are living in the very days that Jesus spoke of, so we need to listen to Paul’s plea to the Corinthian church.
2 Cor. 11:3, “But I am afraid that your minds will be led away from your true and pure following of Christ just as Eve was tricked by the snake with his evil ways.”
Paul compared the vulnerability of believers to the deception of Eve. Without a doubt one of the devil’s most spectacular feats was the deception of Eve. She lived in a perfect environment, free from demonic rule and influence. She walked in the very presence of God, unhindered by her flesh. Causing her to rebel must have been one of Satan’s most crafty schemes. He resorted to subtle and cunning tactics with Eve, we expose his best weapon; we gain an understanding of how he tries to deceive us as well as why so many fall into disobedience today.
Recall that Eve was beguiled into disobedience, but Adam knew exactly what he was doing. People in the church have transgressed against God’s commands with their eyes wide open, fully aware of what they do. They are not deceived. They are treading on dangerous territory and advancing toward spiritual death.
Rom 8:13, “If you use your lives to do the wrong things your sinful selves want, you will die spiritually. But if you use the Spirit’s help to stop doing the wrong things you do with your body, you will have true life.”
Ignorance is a breeding ground for deception.
Isa. 5:13, “So my people will be captured and taken away, because they don’t really know me…”
The revealed knowledge of God’s ways and His spiritual laws guard us from the enemy’s deceptions. The light of His truth exposes and protects us from any lie.
Now let’s look at revelation vs. communicated knowledge
Gen 2:16-17, “The Lord God commanded him, ‘you may eat the fruit from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat the fruit from the tree which gives the knowledge of good and evil. If you ever eat fruit from that tree, you will die!’”
It was after this command that Eve was created. Eve did not hear this command directly from the mouth of God. We can figure this out by what she said to the serpent.
Gen 3:1-3, “Now the snake was the most clever of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day the snake said to the woman, ‘Did God really say that you must not eat fruit from any tree in the garden?’ The woman answered the snake, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. But God has told us, “you must not even touch it, or you will die”’”
God never said anything about touching it. This is what happens when we hear from others what God says rather then having it revealed directly by the Lord.
When God reveals His word by His Spirit, it then becomes a part of us. This can happen as we read a book, as we listen to another teach, or as we are alone reading the Bible, or in communion with the Spirit of God. To Adam, God’s command was as real as everything else around him; it was part of him. Conversely, when we hear God’s command, but it is not revealed to us by His Spirit, it is not a part of us. It’s just a law to us, and “the strength of sin [disobedience] is the law”
1 Cor 15:56, “Death’s power to hurt is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
I believe that Adam repeated God’s command to Eve. More then likely Eve did not seek God personally about it. She just accepted Adam’s information as “this is the way it is.” For her it was not revealed knowledge, but communicated knowledge. Hearing it secondhand would make her more vulnerable to deception. For that reason the serpent targeted her rather then Adam.
Revealed, not communicated knowledge is our greatest guard against deception. Many are bound my legalism because they’ve heard only the knowledge, instruction, or confines of Scriptures. Whether it comes from parents, preachers, tapes, or books they have yet to seek to know God’s very heart in the matter, which would give them the understanding that would guard them from deception. They have the letter without the heartbeat. They can accurately repeat chapter and verse, but they have lost the breath of life behind the Scriptures.
They may even have enthusiasm as they share a new teaching they just heard at a seminar or conference. However, they appear unable to live out what they so excitedly share. It is not a part of them. They carry the words, yet they remain barren and incapable of producing the life of God. When this happens, they are easily tempted to add or take away from what God has said. They can be easily deceived because they lack an understanding of God’s way.
Here is an example: “Money is the root of all evil.”
That is NOT what God said. He said the LOVE of money was the root of all evil. (1 Tim 6:10)
If money was the root of all evil, then Jesus was out of order because he had a treasurer and a money bag! A woman poured perfume over him that was worth a year’s salary. Judas who loved money was upset, but Jesus rebuked him and commended her.
No, its not money itself, but the love of it, that is a root of all evil. It is an unhealthy desire for and dependency on money. This legalistic view causes people to have an unhealthy attitude toward money that God never intended. God warns us of an unhealthy desire for, and dependency on, money. Therefore, they can never operate in the area of finances in a truly godly manner. This ignorance confirms God’s Word has not been revealed in their hearts. They have only a communicated knowledge of His Word, and they are candidates for deception.
So how do we receive revelation knowledge? By walking humbly before God with the fear and love of God burning in our hearts.
Isa. 66:2, “… These are the people I am pleased with: those who are not proud or stubborn and who fear my word.”
The one who trembles at His Word will instantly obey Him, whether he sees the advantage or not.
Ps 25:14, “The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.”
Now we understand better what Solomon’s statement meant at the end of his life. “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.”
God reveals His secrets or ways to those who fear Him.
1 John 2:26-27, “I am writing this letter about those people who are trying to [deceive] lead you the wrong way. Christ gave you a special gift that is still in you, so you do not need any other teacher. His gift teaches you about everything, and it is true, not [deception] false. So continue to live in Christ, as his gift taught you.
This shows us how the revealed Word of God keeps us from deception. Eve was deceived into disobedience because she lacked God’s revealed knowledge. Therefore, she did not detect trickery and perversion in the words of the serpent.
Gleaned from UNDER COVER by: John Bevere http://johnbevere.com