Dealing with Deception
1 John 2:21-24
“I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.”
When you are tempted to sin, do you feel like you’re being lead to a trap? Do you feel like it is not a coincidence that certain factors work together to tempt you, as if there’s underlying forces acting against you? Well there is! And that force is Satan, and his objective in the world is to deceive and ultimately destroy us. The entire book of Revelation illuminates the efforts of Satan to deceive the world. So let today learn from Scriptures about deception and how to deal with it.
1. The source of deception
a. The Devil. Satan is the author of all deception. In Genesis 3, he used the serpent to deceive Eve. The apostle John reminds us that the last days will be characterized by deception:
i. “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” 1 John 2:18-19
ii. The apostle Paul also confirms the source of deceit when he says, “And you he made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.” Ephesians 2:2
iii. Satan as the author of deception seeks to seduce, snare, and subdue every human being. Scripture tells us that Satan seeks to steal, kill, and destroy. He seeks to:
1. Steal your joy in Christ
2. Kill your heaven bound spirit
3. Destroy your chances of being with the Heavenly Father
b. The Devil’s Disciples and Demons. Now please note that there are both human beings who willingly align themselves with Satan and his demons who were the angels that aligned themselves with Satan. In either case, John describes these deceivers who go into the world not acknowledging Christ as having come in the flesh. He calls these people antichrists, disciples of the devil. Paul’s letter to Timothy describes the deception of demons clearly.
i. “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.” 1 Timothy 4:1
ii. Why do Satan and his demons deceive? Let us look at Matthew 8:28-29 for an answer to this question.
1. “And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?”
iii. Because they know their fate and that fate is the pit of eternal torment. And we know this because the demons ask Jesus “What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?” So they are saying, why do you bother us now, we know that we are doomed but it is not that time yet. It is an interesting note about demons: that they have gone against God and no where in the Bible do we read that they have a chance at repentance. Their fate is sealed and all they want to do now is take down as many of human kind as they possible can. And the best weapon they have is deception. And we fall prey to this because of the next source of deception.
c. The Depravity of the Human Heart. The devil uses the world and the flesh to carry out his seductive activity:
i. Scripture tells us in Jeremiah 17:9 that we possess a wicked heart, a wicked heart that the devil tries to use for the purpose of taking down the world.
ii. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
iii. And he does so by the lusts of this world, the lust of our own vanity, just as he did to Eve back in the garden when he presented her with the idea that she and Adam could be as gods.
iv. “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” Genesis 3:5-6
2. The Scope of Deception. Deception effects the entire human race as Paul explains in 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12:
i. “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
ii. So Paul is saying that one day the wicked one will be revealed to all people and he will be destroyed by the Word of God. And all of us, who refuse to accept the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, will be allowed by God to believe the lies they have wanted to hear. And in so following the deception will receive the same punishment that the wicked one will receive.
b. It reaches out in three specific ways:
i. Deceitful Use of the Tongue. We can deceive with our talk, our teaching, and our testimony.
1. In the book of James 3 we learn that although the tongue is a small part of our body, it is able to alter the course of your life as well as others. And we do so: by saying things we should not be saying, by teaching things that are contrary to the Word of God, and by saying one thing and doing another.
ii. Deceitful Use of the Truth. The truth is used deceitfully when it is distorted, diluted, diminished, and denied.
1. “Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:1-2.
2. A lot of us are lost this very day because we have either perverted the Word of God to fit the kind of life we want to live, or are listening to someone who has perverted the Word of God, telling us the things we like to hear.
iii. Deceitful Use of Our Treasures. We practice deception when we pretend to give more than we really give, and when we pretend to care more than we really care. In other words when act in a hypocritical manner regarding the use and giving of our resources.
1. In Matthew 6:1-8 Jesus gives us a warning that we should not give in a manner to impress others or to show off how much money you have.
2. In Acts 5:1-11 we are told of the story of Ananias and Sapphira, a husband and wife who were killed by God because they tried to deceive the Holy Spirit of what they had promised to give to the church.
3. The Sinfulness of Deception. Deception and hypocrisy are destructive sins. Jesus addresses these issues in Matthew 23 when pronounced eight woes on the scribes and Pharisees, starting with this one: “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” Matthew 23:13. Jesus denounced hypocrisy with severe and strong language. Hypocrisy and deceit are unacceptable with God. God will bring swift, sure, and severe judgment on deceivers and hypocrites.
4. The Specifies of Deception. Matthew 6:1-34 provides some specific areas where deception and hypocrisy may be found. In each of the following areas, Jesus preaches against hypocrisy and deceitful treatment of spiritual based actions.
a. Almsgiving: Tithing (Matthew 6:1-4)
i. "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly."
b. Asking: Prayer
c. Abstinence: Fasting
d. Accumulation: Stewardship
e. Allegiance: Faithfulness
f. Anxiety: Trust
Conclusion: The devil uses the wickedness of the human heart as the seed for deception. And he uses our pride and envy as the water to grow it. When he accomplishes his purpose, he produces hypocrisy: people who pretend to be what they are not, those who put on a “spiritual show.” Being deceitful and deceptive is wrong wicked sin. We should examine our hearts to root out areas in our own lives where deception has taken hold.
