Are You Being Decieved? Series

Sermon Brief

Date Written: February 26, 2009

Date Preached: March 11, 2009

Where Preached: Oak Park (Wed Evening)

Sermon Details:

Sermon Series: A Series from 1 John

Sermon Title: Are You Being Deceived?

Sermon Text: 1 John 2:18-23

18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. 20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. 21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

Introduction:

Today there are those who say they are Christian but yet they live lifestyles opposed to Scripture. There are those who say that they know God but yet deny the exclusivity of Christ in their teaching and deny the claim of Christ, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life…”

The one name that comes to mind when I speak on this subject… the most recent popular figure that has come out and denied the exclusivity of Jesus is Oprah Winfrey.

On one of her shows, Oprah was interviewing people who were having affairs with married people. One woman who had a long-standing affair with a married man was saying how happy she was. But then someone from the audience raised the question of morality.

The woman protested this question by saying, "I am a Christian, but my personal life and my religion don’t have anything to do with one another. God wants me to be happy, and if I am happy with this man, then God doesn’t mind."

This is what John was speaking about when he spoke of being deceived. Let me ask you a question, “Is God only happy in making us happy?” As believers, can we believe in God and live like the Devil? Can we sow wild oats all week then go to church like nothing was wrong in our lives?

I believe the prophet Habakkuk said of God in Hab 1:13, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong” God does not like, tolerate or put up with sin. Sin will and ALWAYS will have consequences and we can NEVER come to the point where we believe sin is the answer to our happiness… OR that God will tolerate sin in our lives JUST to pacify our desires!

But back to Oprah, she was born in Mississippi and raised in a Baptist church with the doctrines of the Bible taught to her. Oprah has done many great things and has given so much of her time and money to help those less fortunate. She has been involved in many things that has endeared her to the general public and has a very high approval rating, especially among women.

Oprah’s show is on in over 120 countries and it is said that she reaches more of an audience than any evangelical preacher could ever hope to reach. Now in the past, she has confessed her belief in God, but recently has begun to espouse a different approach and teaching…and it is a very dangerous one at that…

Oprah’s book club has been probably the most popular book club in the history of book clubs and one of the books she reviewed has ‘changed’ her completely. She has begun to read, follow and adhere to the teachings of Eckhart Tolle a new age mystic/guru whose book “A New Earth” has struck a chord with Oprah.

Likewise her comments and direction and leadership has led many people to begin to follow the teachings of Tolle and the new age ramblings within his books.

In Tolle’s book, that Oprah called the most exciting thing I have ever read, he teaches how we should ‘awaken’ to the reality that we are god. He uses Jesus’ quote in John 14:6, “I am the Way the Truth and the Life…” and teaches that Jesus is saying this from the ‘every man’ perspective…as if EVERY man and woman could apply this statement to themselves…

Tolle’s book is nothing more than a rehashing of old, new age dogma… in fact it is nothing more than the promise of Satan to Eve in the Garden of Eden when he promises her that she will become like god when she eats of the fruit! It is an appeal and a teaching that can be exposed when held up to the truth of Scripture and when we view its teaching on humanity, Jesus and the Bible.