DELUDED AND FOOLED
2 Thessalonians 2:7-12, "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."
There has never been a time that is more confusing than the time in which we are living right now. Nations and governments are perplexed because they are unable to solve their problems. Crises after crises come so very quickly that there is no time to recover from one before the next strikes and each one brings the world closer and closer to the brink of economic meltdown and military confrontation.
The spirit of the Antichrist is working overtime to destroy and deceive the hearts of people at an unprecedented rate. Yet, this deception will grow much worse before Jesus returns to set up his kingdom of peace.
Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians pointed to the spirit of the Antichrist that was already at work in the early church to deceive God’s people. Indeed, that same spirit of the Antichrist has been at work in the hearts of men since the fall of Adam in the garden and has continued to increase in power and influence as the population of men, women and children, created in the image of God, also increased.
Oh how easily the heart and mind of man is deceived. We are so quick to believe a lie and so quick to accept Satan’s lies. It is not only those who live in the world of sin who are easily taken in by the god of this present world whose goal is their eternal destruction. There are multitudes of people who claim to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior who are also caught up in this trap of deception.
Do you believe that you can be deceived even as you sit in church this morning? Is it possible that the spirit of the Antichrist has been at work to cloud your judgment and to pollute your heart and spirit and to engulf you in the delusion that all is well with Christ? Is your salvation assured this morning, or are you living in a world of delusion?
The greatest power of deception that Satan has is to compromise the convictions of the heart of a Christian. I’m not sure if I know anyone whose convictions are not compromised from time to time and there are some who live under this deception and have been in that place for so long that they don’t even realize how far they have come.
There was a time when righteousness and holiness was the rule in the church but now it is the exception.
We are all like Lot, Abraham’s nephew, who chose to live in Sodom. He was a righteous man who lived in a degraded society.
2 Peter 2:8, "(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds)"
Lot lived in that sinful place and was bothered by they sin all around him. His heart was affected every time he walked out the door. Living in the midst of such a compromising situation clouded Lot’s judgment because we find that he even comes to the place where he offers his daughters to the mob who stood at the door to protect his angelic guests.
Let me ask you, was it necessary for Lot to protect the angels – of course not. But Lot had been compromised in his faith to the point that he didn’t remember the power of God over sin anymore. He took matters into his own hands and did that which was evil in an attempt to protect them.
Lest we condemn Lot, let me also ask this question – how many Christians are willing to let Satan destroy their children because they lack the faith in God to deliver them from the clutches of sin? How many cast their children into the streets of this world, leaving them at the mercy of the spirit of the Antichrist, simply because they don’t want to be bothered by them or they are tired of fighting against the powers of hell in order to reclaim their children from the stronghold of sin?
Satan’s power of deception, through daily compromise and living amid such horrible sin, had clouded Lot’s judgment. That same power of deception clouds our judgment too, unless we stay buried in God’s Word and daily fall before God in repentance, and we very diligent to follow the paths of righteousness and holiness.
I know that it is only by the grace of God and through the Blood of Jesus and his sacrifice upon the cross that we can be saved. It will not be as a result of our righteousness or our own holiness.
Isaiah 64:6, "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."
But there is another side to salvation too. It’s the side of remaining sanctified, living a daily, sanctified life of righteousness and holy conviction of sin, for we do not have the right to live after the manner of others who do not know Jesus.
Romans 6:1-2, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"
Paul says that we are justified by our faith in Jesus when we accept him as our savior but we are not given that justification by faith so that we can continue to live in sin. We are given a new life, a new man; one that is no longer under the power of sin. We are set free from the bonds of compromise to live a sanctified and holy life unto the Lord.
I see too many people who claim to know Jesus and yet they are convinced that they can continue to live like the world, to act like the world, and still be saved. Darkness and light cannot exist in the same place. We can’t be serving God and Satan at the same time.
How can we say that we are born again, spirit filled, saved, sanctified and on fire for God when we partake of the sin of this world? It is no surprise that the church is sometimes so bound up when its members are living lives of deception and compromise!
How can we come to church on Sunday and act as though we love the Lord and we are on our way to Heaven, and ready for the rapture of the saints when we use profanity every time we get angry; we don’t care what we watch on TV or in the movies, after all we are adults. The things that pour into our living rooms such as pornography, murder, witchcraft, occultism, idolatry, and anything else you want to name are considered as something that won’t affect us anymore and we will sit and watch it for 2 or 3 hours without feeling that conviction of the Holy Spirit anymore because our conscience has become seared through continued compromise.
My kids used to make fun of me because I would speed the tape through the cursing and immodest scenes of a movie. In the first place that movie should not have been there, but none of us is immune to compromise and so we allow it to go on and on until finally we don’t speed up the tape anymore.
There was a time when we would hear profanity and it would bother us. Now we laugh at it and even repeat it. There was a time when we would turn our heads when someone walked on the screen naked, now we stare and admire the work of art that man parades before us and call it artistic freedom. God still calls it sin, even if we don’t.
There was a time when we preached against mixed swimming in public places. Now we take the whole church to the beaches and when “Christians” walk out on the beaches in their swimsuits you can’t tell them from the models on Sports Illustrated magazine. And how do I know about the models of Sports Illustrated? It’s because of the compromise that has entered into our home and into my life also. None of us are innocent. We are all guilty. We are all living like Lot in the midst of a sinful world and that sin seems to cling to us like mud.
There are a lot of holiness doctrines that were created from the laws of men. I am convinced that none of us can obey the holiness regulations, or do’s and don’ts, of any preacher, anymore than we can obey all of the Law of Moses. Those laws of men, just like the Law of Moses, are only useful in pointing out to us just how much of a compromised and sinful life we lead. Obeying those laws can’t save you anymore than obeying the Law of Moses can save you. Does that make those laws ineffective? NO! We are still commanded to live a holy, sanctified life unto God! But we cannot depend upon our own holiness to save us for that only comes through the grace of God and the power of the Blood of Christ.
I know that it is impossible to live in this world without being tempted. It is impossible to drive down the highway, read a book, go to work or anything else without being affected by the power of sin. The billboards on the highways are more pornographic today than the movies were ten years ago. The Disney shows that once were the most clean, family oriented films of all, have become little more than faucets that pour out occultism and witchcraft. Even the children’s cartoons have become purveyors of Satanic doctrines and black magic.
We are living in a sinful world and we will all be tempted. We will all be vexed, as was Lot, with these daily invasions of our heart and mind.
1 Corinthians 10:13, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."
God knows that we are flesh and subject to temptation. He was also tempted in the wilderness by Satan. God knows that we have our weaknesses so that’s why he also promised us that with every temptation we would be given the power to overcome that temptation if we will use it.
Therein lies our problem. When we are living a life of compromise with sin, and when we have a conscience that has become seared through repeated surrender to temptation, then we can no longer see the way out that God will give to us.
Let me ask you a question. If a prisoner is locked away in a maximum security prison, under the sentence of death, for a crime that they committed, and somehow the door was left open with no one around to stop them, do you think that they would just hang around and wait for someone to close the door? No, they would run just as far and as fast as they could from that prison.
If we would only learn to run from temptation, that can destroy our soul if we yield to it, as quickly as that condemned prisoner will run from his cell, how much better off would we be?
The point is that if we are truly born again; if we are truly in love with Jesus; if we are truly desirous of pleasing the Lord and obeying His Word; then our lives will bear the fruit of those convictions.
We will not be comfortable with sin. We will not compromise the standards of righteousness. We will not compromise the convictions of the Holy Ghost in the areas of dressing modestly. We will not compromise the convictions of being ethical on the job. We will not compromise by using the same language as the world in communicating with worldly people. We will not allow the deceptive power of the spirit of the Antichrist to compromise our convictions to the point that we no longer know what our convictions are.
I’m not telling you to live according to my standards or the standards of any other preacher. I’m telling you that you need to listen to the voice of the Holy Ghost as he brings conviction in your life for the sin in your life and stop ignoring and hardening your heart.
He will lead you into the paths of righteousness. He will lead you into paths of holiness. He will lead you into paths of obedience to God’s Word. He will lead you into a place in God where you will have strong convictions and true repentance for sin.
The longer this world exists in this sinful state, the more powerful that spirit of the Antichrist will become. Every day, his power to deceive grows stronger and everyday more people fall under his delusion.
John 3:19-21, "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God."
The deception of the spirit of the Antichrist grows greater each day because the heart of man in inherently evil. All of mankind searches after sin that is born of darkness. They will not allow the light of the gospel, the Word of God, to shine upon their hearts and bring conviction through the power of the Holy Ghost because they love sin more than they love God.
Sadly, there are a lot of self-proclaimed Christians who live a life of compromise with sin who will not allow the Holy Spirit to shine his convicting power upon their hearts because they love the things of this world more than they love God.
It is not my place to set a bunch of laws for you to follow. It is not my place to bring you under condemnation and legislate you into living holy unto the Lord. It is my place to warn you of the powers of deception that Satan has and to warn you not to allow Satan to fool you into believing that your heart is right with God when it isn’t.
The Holy Spirit knows how to get your attention if you will only hear him speak to you. When you compromise the standards of holiness he will speak to you and warn you. Just listen and obey what the Holy Ghost speaks to you.
John 16:7-8, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:"
It is the Comforter, the Holy Spirit that comes to live inside of you that will convict you of sin and unrighteousness and will give you the power to judge righteously.
Don’t ignore him when he pricks your heart. Every time you do, your heart gets a little harder and your conscience a little more seared until finally you can’t hear him anymore.
That’s a dangerous place to be because that’s called backsliding. No backslider who continues to follow after sin and not after God will enter Heaven’s gates. You will be left behind when Jesus comes for his bride. Left behind to face the onslaught of all the powers of hell that will be released after the rapture of the church. Left behind to face not only the deception of the spirit of the Antichrist but the strong delusion that God will send upon this sinful world so that all who would not accept him will be easily fooled by the devil’s lies.
Don’t allow Satan to deceive you and drag you back into a life of sin. Don’t let him make a fool out of you!
Listen to that still, quiet, small voice of the Holy Spirit as he gently and surely convicts you of the sin in your heart and life. Repent of it before it destroys you. Stay on you face before God. Don’t let one day go by without asking God to cleanse you from all sin.
Has Satan gained a foothold in your life? Have you already compromised the standards of holiness in your own heart? Have you allowed sin to hang around? Have you allowed temptation to linger near?
Listen to voice of the Holy Ghost right now and make it right with God. You have God’s permission to go to the Father in Heaven in repentance and ask him for forgiveness. He says that He will be faithful and will forgive you.
