Some Truths about Deception Joshua 9:
Two major issues in Scripture: 1.The issue of Deliverance, Redemption; and 2. The issue of Deception; Deception is a danger to us all and this danger is personified throughout the Bible;
WHY IS IT SUCH A MAJOR ISSUE? THREE REASONS;
The Minister of deception: Satan; the master deceiver; if we as believers fall victim to a deception, you can take it to the bank he is behind the plan; Eph. 6; the wiles of the devil, the strategies of the devil; his schemes, and his schemes are pregnant with deception;
His mission: to get us to fall from our steadfastness, to fall into traps that are disastrous or detrimental to ourselves or to the Kingdom; he has been on this mission since he fell, and he will be on it until he is thrown into the lake of fire;
His message: to make truth appear or sound like a lie; and or to make a lie to appear or sound like the truth:
ON YOUR HANDOUT LET’S TRACE HIS WORK, AND SEE IF THIS IS NOT TRUE;
Paul’s letters are filled with warnings about being deceived; much of his material in the letters address issues of deception ranging from righteousness, resurrection, suffering, sanctification, legalism, grace, second coming, the structure of the church, the family, false teachers and the false circumcision, this is just a few of the issues in his letters. John address deception very heavily in all he wrote, Peter devotes much of his letters to the issues of deception;
I ask you SHOULD IT BE A MAJOR ISSUE WITH US?
It is surprising that here I am 55 years old and I don’t ever remember hearing a message on deception; On salvation, on suffering, on the second coming, on marriage and the family, but no message I can ever remember has ever been preached by me, or one that I have heard that was on deception. But there is always a first time and today is it.
From Joshua chapter 9, I learned some truths on deception; I hope you are interested in this issue, since we are all subject to deception. I realized this week that every day I get up I have the possibility to be a victim of deception, this frightens me, and I hope it will perk your interest.
There were five things I learned about deception from Joshua 9;
1. TWO WAYS: From this passage I learned Satan has two major ways of defeating me; One is in the first verse, Overt, and Covert deception; V3 AND FOLLOWING; Both are meant to do us in; note the scripture; we are going to concern ourselves with the latter; both are dangerous to us and both are designed to keep us from walking in the newness of life, (dependence) on God; they come at different times, one is in chapter 9 and the other is in 10;
2. THE TIMMING OF DECEPTION V1-2 WHEN did the deception come? Right after the victory; right after the blessing comes the battle, don’t ever let us forget that; since our marriage retreat and its blessings some of you have been targeted for his deception; this is a pattern in scripture; It is usually always in the middle of, or after a great deliverance or battle; it is when we are feeling our strengths; when we think we have it all together; we slack off kick our feet back; the moment we drop our shied of faith the fiery darts fly;
3. THE TECHNIQUES; V3-13; THESE GIBEONITES CHANGED THEIR APPERANCE; they appeared harmless; honorable; and honest; the leaders, and Joshua would not have fallen for this deception had this not been the case; they knew how to deceive; Satan used these techniques through them to stop the progress of the taking of the land; application; every time I have been deceived and found it out, these three thing would be taking place; and it always kept me from experiencing God’s best; It kept me from exchanging my life for His; Some applications; marriages, affairs;
4. The fourth lesson I learned about this issue; WHY THEY WERE TAKEN IN; v14 they did not ask council of the Lord;
5. The fifth lesson I learned; once they were taken in they were tied to them; v15 made peace and made a covenant; swore an oath; it is awful hard to disregard this verse; some of us are suffering today because of our being taking in by deception; we are locked in to debts, relationships, dependencies, and many other hard places to walk because we were taken in; we did not ask God about the issue;
6. The sixth lesson TRUSTING GOD after the deception is the answer; what do you do after you have blown it? Look what they did; ADMIT IT V16-119; , ACCEPT IT;V20-21; AND ALLOWED GOD TO COME ON LINE; V22-27; REF ROMANS 8:28-29;
ALL OF US HAVE BEEN DECEIVED, HERE AGAIN WHAT WILL BE OUR RESPONSE? ARE YOU GOING TO LET THE DECEPTION STOP YOU FROM ALLOWING GOD’S GRACE TO COME TO YOU OR ARE YOU GOING TO ADMIT IT, ACCECT IT AND LET HIM WORK GOOD; I HOPE AFTER TODAY I WON’T BE QUITE AS SUCCEPTABLE TO DECEPTION;
