August 21, 2005

Cawson St. Church of Christ

Hopewell, Virginia

Mural Worthey

 

“Be Not Deceived” Passages

 

Introduction

 

   There is an important warning in Scripture about deception.  Two groups are addressed by Jesus and inspired writers.  One group is the deceivers, who purposefully and with malice, seek to guide innocent people away from God, away from truth, and eternal life.  They are under severe judgment from God because of their evil deeds.  They are like Satan; this is one of his main traits.  He deceives man with a goal and plan in mind.  The second group is those being deceived.  The “Be Not Deceived” passages are addressed to this second group.  The writers are saying, Do not allow this to happen to you.

 

References

 

   “Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?  Be not deceived: neither fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”  (1 Cor. 6:9-10.)

 

   “Be not deceived: evil companions corrupt good morals.”  (1 Cor. 15:33.)

 

   “Be not deceived: God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.  For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”  (Gal. 6:7-8.)

 

   “But be you doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.  For if any man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man beholding his natural face in a glass.  For he beholds himself and goes his way and forgets what manner of man he was.”  (James 1:22-23.)

 

   “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.”  (Prov. 20:1.)  The entirety of wisdom literature is for the purpose of helping man not to fall to deception, but to be wise by embracing the wisdom of God.  All Scripture helps us to avoid being deceived.

 

   “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  (1 John 1:8-9.)

 

   “Let no man deceive himself.  If any man among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.  For it is written, He takes the wise in their own craftiness.”  (1 Cor. 3:18-19.)

 

Examples of Deception

 

   In the Garden of Eden.  The seriousness of this subject is noted by biblical writers by their explanation of what happened to man in the Garden.  Here are Paul’s words:

 

   “But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.  For Adam was first formed, then Eve.  Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.”  (1 Tim. 2:12-14.)

 

   These words clearly reveal something that we did not know beforehand.  We did not know that Adam was fully aware of what he did, but that Eve was the one deceived.  This is not necessarily to be taken as something against Eve.  If Adam was not deceived, then it means that he disobeyed being fully aware of what he was doing.  He allowed the evil act of disobedience to continue with that full understanding.  Paul wrote that by one man sin entered the world.  (Rom. 5:12.)  The deception of Eve may reveal that there was an innocence about the woman due to her nature, that the man did not, and does not, possess.

 

   The serpent misled Eve by saying to her that eating of the forbidden fruit would not cause her to die, but rather that it would make her wise.  He argued his case by saying, Look at the fruit.  It is harmless; how can it kill you.  You will be like God, discerning good and evil.  The Bible reveals how these words deceived Eve by giving this explanation: “When Eve saw that the fruit was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and that it would make her wise, she took of the fruit, ate it, and gave it to her husband.”  (Gen. 3:6.)

 

   Here is the first example of deception in Scripture.  All other examples follow the same pattern as this one.  Deception (planao) means to cause to wander from safety, from truth, from God, or from virtue.  There is usually a deceiver.  Satan is called the old serpent, the devil and adversary which deceived the whole world.  (Rev. 12:9.)  John wrote that many deceivers are gone out into the world.  Those who do not confess that Jesus is the Christ; this is a deceiver and antichrist.  (2 John 7.)  Satan deceives man; man deceives his fellow man; and we deceive ourselves!  “Be not deceived” is passive; that is, do not allow this to happen to you, regardless of the source.  Secondly, there is truth and the good way that man should follow.  That way has been revealed by the God of heaven.  Man is the one being deceived and led away from the good way of the Lord.  The result is deadly to man.  Think of the awful devastation that man has suffered since the deception in the Garden.  It all started by deception.

 

   Deceived by sin and law.  Paul wrote about his own religious experiences.  He was an extremely devout Pharisee among the Jews of his day.  That means that he followed the strictest interpretation of the Law.  In addition, Saul of Tarsus even exceeded his teachers and mentors.  But this is what he said about what misled him.  What would cause Saul to pursue Christians and kill them like a mad man?

 

   “And the commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.  For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me and by it slew me.  Wherefore the law is holy, the commandment is holy, just and good.  Was then that which is good made death unto me?”  (Rom. 7:10-13.)

 

   Paul was not alone in this deception.  Many of his fellow Jews fell into the same trap.  Remember that anytime serious deceptions of man are occurring, Satan will be right in the midst of it.  He is the deceiver of the world; he uses wicked men to mislead others.  He will even use something that is holy and good, like the Law, to mislead people and cause death to come to them.  Paul revealed that the Jews were misled because they stumbled over the stumblingstone, which is Jesus Christ.  They could not see the role of the Messiah, even though the Law and prophets constantly pointed to Him.  What happened to cause this blindness?  Satan deceived the Jewish nation so that they would reject the Christ.  This is a continuous theme in Scripture.  The antichrist and deceiver’s goal is to lead men away from Jesus Christ.

 

   The Law of Moses was given from God to Israel to slowly teach man about his need of redemption and the coming Savior.  Satan used the Law against man.  The very thing that God ordained to be a guide, a tutor, a schoolmaster, and a blessing, Satan used it to turn it against the Jews.  But how?  Well, he told the Jews, through their teachers, that the Law was the only thing that they ever would need.  They did not need the Messiah, the Savior.  You can be saved by strict adherence to the Law.  After all, God gave you the Law; you are his people; the Gentiles are dogs.  You cannot ever accept the culture of the Gentiles.  You are better than they are.  You have the law and the prophets, the Word of God.  Those who do not have the law are accursed, but you are blessed forever.

 

   This was a slick deception.  Trust in what you are doing in keeping the law for your salvation; do not trust in the Christ.  Paul wrote that this is the reason that they stumbled.  They sought justification as it were by the deeds of the Law, instead of by faith.  (Rom. 9:30-33.)

 

   This is probably the meaning of “the principalities and powers” that Jesus defeated at the cross when he spoiled them and made a public show over them, triumphing over them.  (Col. 2:14-15.)  The Law is mentioned in verse 14, and the principalities and powers in the very next verse, 15.  The Law was contrary to man only in the sense in which the Deceiver misused it and deceived man by it, causing him not to trust the Messiah.

 

   Gentiles deceived about God.  The three big deceptions of the Bible must be these: the deception of Eve in the Garden, the Jewish deception concerning the place of the Law, and the Gentile deception about the nature of God.  All the other deceptions to which we fall in life are parts of these three.  The Jews succumbed, in part, to idolatry, but the Gentiles reveal the fullness of that deception.  Paul described that deception in this way:

 

   “So that they are without excuse. . . because when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, to birds, and four-footed beasts and creeping things.”  (Rom. 1:21-23.)

 

   How did Satan go about deceiving the Gentiles?  He did so, according to Paul by suggesting to the Gentiles, if they wanted to worship God that was fine, but they could have their own gods.  They glorified Him not as God.  They redefined who God is and made Him over into man’s image.  One of the sly ways in which Satan deceives sinful man is to put something else in the place of God and encourage man to worship that thing.  The problem with that deception is that if man worships anyone or anything less than the true God, that god will not demand godliness. The worship is vain.  The new god is not pure, holy, divine, and righteous.  He has no power to change lives.  We continue on in sin, while professing to honor God.

 

   But the major “Be Not Deceived “ passages of the New Testament all warn us about thinking that we can continue in sin and be around sinners without it affecting us.  1 Cor. 3:18-20, 1 Cor. 6:9, 1 Cor. 15:33, Gal. 6:7,

1 John 1:8-9, and James 1:22 all say that one is deceived if one thinks that one can continue in sin and inherit the kingdom of God.  The Deceiver has deceived us if we so believe.

 

   The three major ways in which man has been deceived about God are: disobedience (thinking one can disobey with impunity, like Eve), idolatry (Gentiles) and unbelief (Jews).  Idolatry is worshipping one’s own god of his own making.  Unbelief is the bold rejection of faith. Note that all deceptions deal with leading people away from reality, or truth about life and God. 

 

   I saw the recent broadcast titled, “From Ape to Man.”  I was amazed that the scientists could sit there with a straight face and tell viewers about prehistoric beings, about “Lucy”, and how man made the amazing journey from ape to his present state.  And he did all of that without God; from nothing something came into being; or from inanimate matter, animate matter arose by some driving force.  Still further, that intelligence arose out of non-intelligence.  There is serious deception going on here.

 

   In 1974, a musical group began calling themselves D-E-V-O.  The letters stand for d-evolution.  The founder wanted to d-evolution modern music.  They wrote and sang these words:  “They tell us that we lost our tails, evolving up from little snails; I say it’s all wind in the sails, Are we not men?  God made man, but he used the monkey to do it; apes in the plan; we’re here to prove it; I can walk like an ape, talk like an ape.  I can do what a monkey can do.  God made man, but a monkey supplied the glue!”

 

   Did you notice what was said in Galatians 6:7—“Be not deceived; God is not mocked.”

 

   One of major reasons for the modern claim that man shares his ancestry with chimpanzees is the claim that human DNA is 98% identical to chimpanzee DNA.  Yet few evolutionists would allow themselves to receive organ transplants from them.  In the 1960s, doctors tried transplanting their organs into humans, but in all cases the organs wee totally unsuitable.  Why?

 

   Today, scientists are finding increasing numbers of differences in chimpanzee and human DNA.  The researchers are finding that there is more to the whole story than just DNA similarity.  The 5% difference in DNA represents about 200 million differences in the human body compared to a ape!  The head of the researchers, Dr. Sakaki, who studied chromosome 22 in chimpanzees and humans wrote, “The differences are much more complicated than we first imagined or speculated.”  He also noted that 83% of the genes have changed between the human and the chimpanzee.  Only 17% of the genes were identical.  (See Reason and Revelation, April 2005, “The Molecular Evidence of Human Origins (Part I),” Bert Thompson and Brad Harrub. Evolutionists cannot explain why humans have 46 chromosomes, while chimpanzees have 48.  If we evolved from the chimp, why would be lost two chromosomes?  The number of chromosomes in living things (animals, man and plants) do not relate to the complexity of the organisms.  Some plants have more chromosomes than insects and worms.

 

   After the massive Human Genome Project (1990-2003), which finished two years ahead of schedule, scientists are now admitting that they have not really finished their work.  There appears to be a second code, a code within a code, with the second one infinitely more complex.

 

   Be not deceived about evolution, God is not mocked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part II: “Be Not Deceived”

Sunday PM, Aug. 21, 2005

 

   This morning, we noted some of the “Be-Not-Deceived-Passages” of the NT and three examples of deception by Satan, the adversary and deceiver.

 

   It is evident that man is easily deceived about many things in life.  Man can be deceived into believing and doing most anything.  Think about some of the most extreme: 1) To blow oneself up for the cause of Islam, 2) To believe that there is no God, 3) To believe that a spaceship from outer space is going to come down and carry you away, 4) To believe that one’s life can be made secure and happy with money and material possessions, 5) To send one’s back account number to a person that one does not know, so that that stranger can deposit large sums of money into one’s account, 6) that it is a good thing to have a trans-sexual operation, 7) practice snake-handling as a means of worship, and 8) believe that a traveling preacher coming to town can work miracles.

 

   Several questions come to my mind concerning deception: 1) Why is man so easily deceived, 2) What can help us not to be deceived? and 3) What is man deceived about?  These questions are related.  We might be tempted to say that man is easily deceived due to the fall.  But Eve was tempted in the Garden of Eden while living in the presence of God.  Why was she so easily deceived?  Perhaps, the biblical references on “be not deceived” might help.

 

 

Be Not Deceived Passages

 

 

   1 Corinthians 6:9.  “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”

 

   Some confusion surely exists in the minds of those who are not Christians.  They hear us talk about living like Jesus Christ.  They know that sinners do not please God.  The Bible teaches that we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world.  (Titus 2:11-13.)  The church of God at Corinth still struggled with sin.  Some might conclude that there is really little difference between Christians and sinners in their manner of life.  Some explanation must be made to clarify.  What shall we say?  We usually explain it in two ways: 1) Yes, we should be peculiar and different if we have chosen to follow the Lord.  2) However, in our best efforts and with the Spirit of God, yet we are subject to human failings and sin. (1 John 1:8-9.)

 

   I think that the world is generally deceived in regard to sin.  The world has been led to think that God will save them regardless of their sinful, indifferent behavior.  Members of churches openly disregard God’s will concerning any number of matters and conclude that they are doing about the same as other members.  After all, God is going to grade on the curve, some think, like a teacher in a tough course where no one makes a high score.  That is deception.  It comes from Satan because it makes man think that he can continue in sin and still go to heaven.  According to polls and studies, most people in America think that they are going to heaven—even though they do not participate in any way in the Church or Kingdom our Lord established.

 

   1 Corinthians 15:32-34.  “If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.  Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.  Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.” (KJV)

 

   “Bad company ruins good morals.” (ESV, RSV)  “Bad company corrupts good character.”  (NIV)  This is a quotation from a familiar epigram that Paul learned from Menander’s Thais.

 

   This chapter is concerning the resurrection of the dead.  Some at Corinth were questioning and even denying the resurrection of the dead.  (15:12.)  Some questioned about how the dead will be raised to life again and with what kind of body?  Perhaps, they were mocking the idea of a spiritual body.  (15:35.)

 

   Paul wrote that if the resurrection is false, the dead will not arise, then we should just eat, drink and be merry while we have the opportunity.  But we should beware that evil communications, or company, corrupt good morals.  Why do we have difference translations that speak of communications (words) and others that speak of company or companions.  The word here, homilia, does refer to speeches, a homily, or words.  Perhaps, the meaning is that Paul is warning about Christians associating with those who speak against or doubt the resurrection from the dead.

 

   Why are people so easily deceived?  Because we live in a world full of deception and they influence the Christian minority.  The whole world is living under the deceptive influence of Satan.  We must be careful lest we begin to reflect their way of thinking and living.  Paul wrote, Awake to righteousness and sin not; some do not have the knowledge of God.  Indeed, the majority do not possess it.  If we do not believe that we shall be raised from the dead, then we probably will live just for this life.

 

   Galatians 6:6-8.  “Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”

 

   These words come at the end of Paul’s letter to the churches of Galatia.  Using a simple principle so that everyone could understand it, Paul applied the principle of sowing and reaping.  Farmers, gardeners and everyone would understand the truth, the universal principle of sowing and reaping.  Here are the simple rules.  No one should ever be deceived about how it works.  The same principles apply in the spiritual kingdom as in the physical world.  This is the power behind the parables of Jesus.  This is why we ought to be deceived.  It is not complex.  1) If a farmer does not sow any seed, then there is no harvest in the Fall.  2) If a farmer sows corn seed, then corn plants will come forth bearing that grain.  Each produces after its own kind.  Evolutionists err in regard to this simple truth.  3) If you sow weeds, you get weeds.  4) Spiritually, there are only two options: sowing to the flesh or to the Spirit.  If you live only for this present life and its rewards, then that is what you will reap.  If you sow to the Spirit, spiritual things, eternal things of God, then you will reap a spiritual harvest.

 

   How could anyone be deceived about that?  Some hope that they can sow to the flesh and not reap its harvest.  They have been convinced that there is no spiritual kingdom where the principle of sowing and reaping applies.  The evidence of the reality of the spiritual kingdom is: 1) the existence of evil, 2) the conscience of man that is troubled when he does wrong, 3) the teaching from God that man has received (6:6).  Christians do not need to prove the existence of God, God has revealed himself to man in many different ways.  He has even come down to man and lived among men.  Can we prove the reality of God without God’s initiative in the matter?  No, but we have the evidence provided by God himself.  Hearing that evidence produces faith.  Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God.  (Rom. 10:17.)

 

   James 1:21-25.  “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass.  For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”

 

   Hearing the Word is easy and delightful, even inspiring.  The more difficult part is doing what you hear.  Many religious people have deceived themselves by thinking that hearing alone is sufficient.  James used the analogy of a man looking at himself in a mirror and after leaving the sight going away and forgetting what he saw.  You look into a mirror for a purpose.  You look so that you can see yourself more fully.  We can only partially see ourselves without a mirror and without the Word of God.  The purpose of God’s Word is not just to come and take a look and walk away.  The real reason is so that we can see what we  need to do to change our lives.  James wrote that we should lay aside all filthiness and excess of naughtiness and receive with meekness the engrafted word of God.  Then the Word is able to save your souls.  Do not think that you can be saved in any other way!

 

Three Causes of Deception

 

   Lying.  All deception has lying within it.  Satan (John 8:44) lied to Eve about the command of God and the fruit of the forbidden tree.  False prophets, Christs, apostles, and teachers lied about who they were.  “False” means that they pretended to be the Messiah, or a prophet, or an apostle.  They crept in unawares.  They pretended to be a disciple of Jesus Christ so that they might gain an advantage over the innocent Christians.

 

   John wrote plainly, “Beloved, believe not, every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”  (1 John 4:1.)

 

   Being deceived means that you are being led away from reality, from truth, and from God.  One bold way to accomplish that is simply to lie to you.  Satan does not mind doing that; wicked men do not mind doing it.  Sometimes men are just as deceived as those they are deceiving.  They are not doing it with full knowledge.  They are blinded by sin and Satan.

 

   Lack of wisdom.  It is easy to deceive a person who does not possess the wisdom of God.  The wisdom of the world is in direct opposition to the wisdom of God.  See 1 Corinthians 3:18-20 and James 3:14-18.

 

   Adam and Eve were not wise listening to the lies of Satan.  Why did they believe Satan and doubt God?  Why do we?  Because of a lack of wisdom and due to lies that we listen to. (1 John 2:15-17.)

 

   Leaning Toward the Deception.  What causes deception?  Lies, lack of wisdom from God, and man’s own leaning toward deception.  Man often knows, at least in part, that what he is being told is wrong.  But man has a leaning toward sin and wrong doing.  Augustine said that man and his deeds could be compared to a pair of scales, with evil on one side and good on the other.  Man does not begin with the scales balanced evenly.  The evil side is weighted already.  There is a disposition to the wrong, instead of the right. I believe that is accurate.  Paul found that there was something else working in his members that caused him to do the wrong that he did not want to do.  Three times Paul wrote that it was “sin that dwelt in him.”  (Rom. 7:17, 18, 20.)  In his flesh dwelt no good thing.  (7:20.)

 

   Man closes his eyes and his ears, so that he cannot see or hear. (Isaiah 6:9-10 and Matthew 13:14-16.)