Introduction
My Bible tells me as we approach the end times, there will be one major event that will occur that the church is silent about for the most part, and therefore, the church is not teaching its members to be aware.
But this event must occur, and we must be prepared for it because God said it in going to occur. If God says something is going to happen, it is going to happen. Let me read you one verse from 2 Thessalonians 2:3 (NKJV) to tell you what that that event is.3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition.
Before the end can come, there must be a time of deception and a great falling away from the true church of Jesus Christ. This deception can occur in one of two ways. Certainly, in can come from without. Those around me, those I come in contact me, those I listen to can deceive me from the outside. The devil is a master at trying to deceive me from the outside since he cannot get into the heart of a Christian.
But there is another way that I can be deceived and that is I can deceive myself. This attack comes from within. Have you ever told yourself a lie, and talked yourself into believing it? That is self-deception. Have you ever seen your friends doing something, and you know it is wrong, but you still talked yourself into doing that exact same thing? That is self-deception.
Well, as we approach this great falling away that must occur before Christ returns, I am afraid that so many Christians will be self-deceived. Today, we are going to look at one of those ways that we can deceive ourselves.
So, if you have your Bible or if you prefer to look on the video screen, I will be reading two verses from 1 Corinthians 3. Please stand.
Scripture Reading
1 Corinthians 3:18-19 (NKJV) 18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their own craftiness".
Point #1
Let's make sure everybody understands this important truth. You can deceive yourself spiritually.
1 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV) 18 Let no one deceive himself.
Paul is clear here. He didn't say that you might be able to deceive yourself. Or that there is the possibility you could deceive yourself. You definitely can deceive yourself spiritually. Every one of us in this room can deceive ourselves spiritually. How is that possible? It is our heart that will turn on us.
Jeremiah 17:9 (NKJV) 9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?
Do you hear what Jeremiah just said? Above all things in this world, the number #1 thing that is most deceitful is our heart. I know what you are thinking: "Is our heart more deceitful than the devil since the Bible says that he is the father of lies?" I go back to Jeremiah's words- above all things. Our heart can get us to do things, the devil may not be able to get us to do. Let me explain why.
We may be on guard against the devil and his attacks. Bro Greg, on Wednesday nights, has been teaching us about guarding ourselves against the schemes of the devil by putting on our spiritual armor. We are hypervigilant that the devil is going to attack us, so we guard against it. But very seldom, are we are on guard against our own heart, something within us, turning against us, and leading us astray. But unfortunately, our heart does that all the time.
Let me give you a couple of examples to illustrate. You commit some terrible sin, and your mind starts telling you God will never forgive me. As a preacher, I hear often, when talking about salvation with someone, God cannot forgive me, I have done too many terrible things in my life. That is self-deception because Jesus will forgive every sin.
And there is the self-deception that somehow, I am protected from the punishment of hell because my parents are Christian, and I was raised up in a Christian home. The deception is that you must decide yourself for Christ. Another self-deception is that I am saved because I belong to a certain denomination. No denomination will save you. If you believe that because you are associated with some church organization that you are saved, that is self-deception. You must make an individual decision for Christ.
So, self-deception is real. And it will be in abundant supply as we approach the end time and the return of Jesus. So, Paul continues telling us one of those ways we will be deceived in the end times.
Point #2
Do not be deceived, the more mankind becomes educated in the things of this world, there is a tendency to neglect the Word of God.
1 Corinthians 3:18(NKJV) 18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.
The more man discovers new things about his self, about this world we live in and about the world beyond this world, the more mankind becomes self-sufficient. I wanted to give you some examples of these discoveries in recent history and so I Googled them, but those discovers were so over my head I can tell you only tell you two of them I understood- the hybrid car and water on Mars.
Think back with me to the start of the public school system in American in the 1700's. The Bible was the primary textbook to teach children to read. Now fast forward to the year 2021. Mankind has become more educated in the things of this world. No question about it; mankind is smarter today than they were in the 1700's. And now the Bible cannot be brought on the school grounds. Teachers will flat out tell you that God does not exist. Even when I was in Seminary, I had a professor tell the class that the Bible contains errors. There is indeed a relationship between becoming more educated in the things of this world and neglecting the Word of God.
And as we approach the last days, the discoveries of mankind, I believe will exponentially multiply making us increasingly self-sufficient. And so there will be even a greater neglect of God's Word. And do you know what our hearts are is going to tell us. Do you really believe that Noah was swallowed by a great fish? Do you really believe that Jesus came to earth to die for my sins? Do you really believe that Jesus rose from the dead? Do you really believe that He is coming back again?
Corinthians 8:1 (NKJV) 1 ...Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.
We will have to fight with everything in us, to hang on to our Biblically believes as this world increasingly neglects the things of God and that will become the way of the world. Are you going to side with the world or with Jesus?
Point #3
Do not be deceived, God wins in the end. And no matter what my heart tells me, I want to be on God's winning team.
1 Corinthians 3:19
19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their own craftiness".
When I read verse nineteen (19), I cannot help thinking of some type of sports competition where there is a winner and a loser. And God says, "I win" and the other team they lose because they out thought themselves into defeat. Have you ever out thought yourself into making the wrong decision? I can remember doing that all the time on a test when I was in school. Instead of going with my first answer which was right, I outsmarted myself to selecting the wrong answer. And I am afraid that is going to happen concerning people's relationship with Jesus. People are going to outsmart themselves from the right answer of Jesus and go with the wrong answer that the world is right. Our hearts are going to tell us everyone else is going with the world's answer, why don't you go with it too. And at that point, you just outsmarted yourself.
In real life, people get on the bandwagon of the winning team, and really talk up the winning team. The church is on the winning team, we ought to be talking up Jesus to everyone we know. We should not want anyone to outsmart themselves from the right answer Jesus to the wrong answer the world.
Let us pray!
