Proverbs 7 - review from last week
Text: 2 Corinthians 2:11; James 1:19-22
Deception: The practice of deceiving; the fact or condition of being deceived; something that
deceives, whether by design or illusion;
Deceive - to ensnare, deceive, to make a person believe what is not true; delude; mislead; to
false to betray, to while away; misrepresentation of facts by words, actions; to mislead is to
cause to follow the wrong course or to err in conduct or action, use of wiles and enticing words
to deceive or mislead
Deception is believing a lie. It’s being blind sided with false information. It keeps you from
walking in the fullness of the light and the will of God. It is a major weapon of Satan.
The objective of this message today is to unmask deception in the lives of God’s people. To
reveal the deceiver’s deception.
Satan is a master deceiver. He deceived one third of the angels to follow him. He deceived
Eve in the perfect environment. He deceived Judas to betray the Son of God.
What is he deceiving you with today?
- Has he deceived in believing that you don’t need to attend church on a regular basis.
- Has he deceived you into not honoring the Lord with the full tithe and giving offerings.
- Has he deceived you into a sin that you are entangled in.
- Has he deceived you into legalism. Legalism is dependence on moral law than faith in Christ.
- Believing your works make you righteous before God.
- Has he deceived you into hyper-grace?
The term hyper-grace has been used to describe a new wave of teaching that emphasizes the grace of God to the exclusion of other vital teachings such as repentance and confession of sin. Hyper-grace teachers maintain that all sin, past, present, and future, has already been forgiven, so there is no need for a believer to ever confess it. Hyper-grace teaching says that, when God looks at us, He sees only a holy and righteous people. The conclusion of hyper-grace teaching is that we are not bound by
Jesus’ teaching, even as we are not under the Law; that believers are not responsible for
their sin; and that anyone who disagrees is a pharisaical legalist. In short, hyper-grace
teachers “pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality” (Jude 1:4) and flirt with
antinomianism. Preachers of hyper-grace doctrine discount the Old Testament and the Ten
Commandments as irrelevant to New Testament believers. They even teach that Jesus’
words spoken before His resurrection are part of the Old Covenant and no longer applicable
to born-again believers.
- Has he deceived you with the hellish theology that some are chosen for heaven and others
are chosen for eternal punishment.
- Has he deceived you that you can’t forfeit your salvation and miss heaven.
- Has he deceived you that activities on Sundays that take you away from worship are ok with
God.
- Has he deceived you to be ok not to speak in tongues. That God doesn’t have that as a gift
for you. Or tongues aren’t for today or they are of the devil.
- Has he deceived you to be ok with not reading your bible daily. Convincing you that you are
too busy with work, school, kids, singleness to spend 30 minutes in the Word.
- Has he deceived you that it’s ok to be a Christian without being a member of any church
where you are accountable for your walk and life.
- Has he deceived you into believing that the Holy Spirit has spoken to you when it was one of
his spirits.
- Has he deceived you that you don’t need a church, a pastor.
James 1:19-27
James 1:19 - Your mouth will deceive your heart if you are not careful. You are snared with
the words of your mouth
Proverbs 6:2 Your ears are the gates to your heart. Notice the word
ear in heart. It is the core of your heart. What you hear.
Mark 4:23-24(Take heed to what you hear. With the value you put on what you hear, it will be measured back to you and you will grow in your hearing
Proverbs 1:5 - Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance ; Luke 8:18 (Take care how you hear -How you hear is just importance as you what you hear)
What you hear - content
How you hear - attitude - do you listen with the intention to obey God’s Word
James 1:19 - Be slow to speak and quick to hear - slow to anger - Don’t allow anger to be what
the enemy uses you to deceive you into hating or getting offended. - Don’t allow anger to
control your life - Be self-controlled - Evil spirits will get you mad and anger you where you can’t
hear God and obey Him - The Holy Spirit will produce self-control in your life - Evil spirits will
make you uncontrollable - The Holy Spirit will produce controlled Christians who are governed
by their faith and not their feelings.
James 1:20 - The anger of man produces ungodliness.
It’s important that we not miss what James is saying here: an unwillingness to listen, a sinful
tongue, and unrighteous anger are moral evils.
James 1:21 - Put away all filthiness - moral filth - not listening to God - ungodly tongue - Get
rid of sin - do what you must to get rid of sin. Rampant wickedness - That which is wicked -
morally bad or wrong - done with evil intent; depraved; no restraint - all out - beast mode -
void of God consciousness.
Instead receive with humility the implanted Word of God - Let the Word grab hold of your heart
and mind and your mouth. It’s able to save your soul.
James 1:22 - Be doers of that Word and not hears only - Deceiving yourself - The deceived
Christian is the one who hears the Word but doesn’t do it. Self-deceived - self destructed - the
sand - we’ll talk about that next week.
Just because you hear the Word does not mean you are doing it. Just because you read, study
it - doesn’t mean you are living it. Just because you are teaching it doesn’t mean you are living
it.
One major deception is everything that has and will happen in your life God is doing it. God is
behind everything. Blame God for everything in life.
You had an accident - it’s God. You got pregnant - it’s God. You lost your job - it’s God. You
prayed and the answer showed up - it’s God.
Just because you prayed a prayer and it seems like God answered it doesn’t mean it was him.
This deception runs deep in the church.
Deception takes a truth and mixes it with lies.
Poison - mix something attractive to the poison.
How not to be deceived
-Stay with familiar biblically sound doctrine - stay with that which is not weird or
strange
-Be reminded of truths you already know
-Be willing to admit when you are wrong
-Don't think all you know is all there is to know
-Be willing to give up your doctrine for bible doctrine
-Resist pride
-Be willing to hear what you don't want to hear
-Examine everything you believe in light of the Word - NT
-Rely upon the anointing inside
-Don’t hold on to traditions - it makes the word ineffective
-Receive the Word of God no matter what
-Put the Word first place
-Receive the Word as the final authority in your life even if you don't like
-Allow that transforming Word to transform you
-Seek the kingdom of God through prayer, fasting and giving
-Hide the Word in your heart and keep it on your lips and meditate in your mind.