Deceived
Scripture Reading: Genesis 3:1-6
1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the
LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You
shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the
garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God
has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows
that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,
knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant
to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.
She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
This morning we’re going to look at deception. We’ll start here in the garden with the
first deception. The serpent is cunning. He starts off with a clever question that’s
meant to see what she knows. “Has God indeed said…” He wants to make her
question what God said. “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden.” Have you
ever heard it said that some people look at the glass as half empty while others see it
as half full? Do you see what the serpent has done? He’s turned God’s awesome
gift around and instead of saying, “God gave you all these trees that you CAN eat
from?” He focuses on the negative and says you shall not. It’s important to keep a
positive attitude. Don’t focus on the negative.
Philippians 4:8 - Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are
noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are
lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is
anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
Can you imagine how differently this story may have turned out if she had kept her
focus on all the good things she had instead of the one thing the enemy convinced
her that she was supposed to have?
Now, when she answers his clever question she lets him in on some very important
information. She doesn’t really know the word of God. She begins on a positive note
by saying that they can eat of all the trees except one, and then she messes up by
misquoting the word of God. God never said that they could not touch the fruit or
they would die. This is something that either Adam or Eve added onto His words. It’s
very dangerous to either add to or take away from God’s word. Many are being
deceived in religious factions right now because they’ve either added to or taken
away from the word, that’s obvious deception. There are those whose deception is
much more subtle. Some people just look at certain scriptures and don’t bother read
the ones around it or other biblical passages that relate to it. That’s the same as
taking away from it.
I was having a discussion with other Christians yesterday on the topic of whether we
are seeing the beginning stages of the persecution of Christians in the United
States. Their position was no while mine was yes. I put forth three instances of what
I felt was clear persecution. The first is a case concerning some students in a
Washington state public school who got together to form a Bible club. They got all
the paperwork together to start and took them to the school but were denied school
club status. The next case I mentioned was that of a Navy chaplain that was court-
martialed for praying ‘in Jesus’ name’. And the last thing I mentioned was the law
says that if a minister preaches certain things concerning homosexuality from the
Bible, he could be arrested and his churches tax exempt status could be revoked.
The thing I found most ironic was that these other believers felt that the authorities
had been or would be justified in each case.
Though the school does support the gay club, they felt that if the Bible club was
allowed it would be wrong to support religion. Tax dollars to support kids reading the
Bible was bad but tax dollars for kids to gather based on sex seemed to be no
problem for them. In the case of the Navy chaplain who was court-martialed they said
that he had disobeyed orders because he was told to stop praying ‘in Jesus’ name’.
We are supposed to submit to authority except in cases where it goes against God,
and telling a preacher not to pray in the name of Jesus certainly qualifies as against
the Bible. And lastly they said that it would be bad to preach that homosexuality is an
abomination because someone might go out and hang a homosexual. I, of course,
reminded them that the Bible says it’s a sin to lie so if a preacher says that and then
someone goes out and shoots a politician would he be liable for that too. But
seriously the Bible also preaches that it is a sin to murder so the logic behind it
makes no sense to me.
The point is simply that not only have many laws already been put into place to allow
for the legal persecution of believers, but also the cultural attitude is being
engineered to accept it. Even within the Christian community. This is why Paul
exhorts us in 2 Timothy 2:15 to, Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a
worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
We need to take our study of God’s word very seriously. We are being bombarded
on every front with sin being acceptable. Sure you might recognize that more and
more television shows are show gay couples and kisses on primetime television, but
what about the commercial that shows a woman lying over and over as if it’s merely
funny. How long have you been watching movies and television shows that not only
present it as acceptable to commit adultery, but also portray people as abnormal who
don’t engage in premarital sex? Just about every commercial on television
encourages us to covet everything from our neighbor’s clothes or his car to our
neighbor’s spouse. There have been countless movies made about people stealing
everything from cars to millions of dollars where the thieves are portrayed as the
good guys. And in just the last couple of years there are those who are making
murderers the good guys. There’s the show on cable called ‘Dexter’ where the hero
of the show is a serial killer, and a show I liked to watch called ‘Bones’ that had one
the main characters turn out to be a serial killer’s assistant. This season, though he’
s in an insane asylum, they are beginning to show him as if he is a good guy. The
enemy has done way more than remove prayer from schools and tear down the Ten
Commandments from our walls. He has made a full on assault to remove them from
our hearts.
So, now back in the garden the serpent knows that the woman doesn’t really know
God’s word because she added to it, so now he knows he can challenge His word.
He first nullifies God’s word by saying you shall not surely die, then he calls God’s
character into question by making it appear that He has impure motives for telling
them not to eat the fruit. So Eve looked and the fruit looked good and she desired
the knowledge the serpent spoke of, and she ate. The serpent has successfully
challenged both God’s word and His character in Eve’s mind. Eve is swayed by
feelings and appearances. Jesus warns us about this.
Mark 13:4-7 & 21-23
4 “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign when all these
things will be fulfilled?”
5 And Jesus, answering them, began to say: “Take heed that no one deceives
you. 6 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and will deceive many.
7 But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled; for such
things must happen, but the end is not yet.
21 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘Look, He is there!’
do not believe it. 22 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs
and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 23 But take heed; see, I
have told you all things beforehand.
First He tells us to be careful that we are not deceived. Then He tells us why.
Because many are going to come in His name and attempt to deceive, even the
elect. The elect would be God’s people… us! How will they be able to deceive us? It
says they will rise and show signs and wonders. In Matthew’s account it says they’ll
show great signs and wonders. We cannot be swayed by what we feel or what we
see or how things may appear. There are entirely to many believers trying very hard
to be politically correct and giving no concern to being biblically correct. We have got
to, especially in these latter days, test everything with the word of God. Man may
preach the gospel mixed with untruths, but God’s word will remain true. This is why it
is so important that we have a good personal Bible study. It’s good for us to
fellowship and share ideas, testimonies, and edify each other, but when we go our
separate ways we should all pick up the word to first verify anything we’ve heard but
also to dig deep into God’s truth for ourselves.
In John 14:26 Jesus says, But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will
send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance
all things that I said to you.
He has sent the Holy Spirit to teach all things, but we have to remember that there
are other familiar spirits out there that we need to be cautious about. That’s why we
must test all things with the word. If we believe the Holy Spirit has given us a word, it
will never disagree with the word of God. That’s how we know that it’s from the Spirit
of God. We can’t just say that it feels like it’s from God or it seems to be from God.
That just doesn’t cut it. Scripture is clear that the enemy appears as an angel of
light, but it’s still the enemy. The Bereans tested everything in scripture and Paul
commends them for doing it (Acts 17:11). It says they received the word with all
readiness and searched the scriptures daily to see if it was so. They didn’t just
accept it because it sounded true, they accept it because when they searched it out
they found it was true. Now lets see how Jesus deals with deception.
Luke 4:1-4
1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and
was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 being tempted for forty days by the
devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended,
He was hungry.
3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to
become bread.”
4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word of God.’”
First the enemy tries to tempt Him with His weakness at the time; His hunger. He
hadn’t eaten for 40 days. He also tries to use His pride by saying IF you are the Son
of God. It’s almost like when people dare us to do something. But Jesus answers by
speaking the true word of God.
Luke 4:5-8
5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the
kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, “All this
authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I
give it to whomever I wish. 7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be
Yours.”
8 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written,
‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”
Next the enemy attempts to use His desire for glory and honor. He uses this one on
us all the time. How many people have sold their soul for glory and honor and
power? Unfortunately, many have. See how Jesus handles it by first telling the
enemy where he should go, then once again by quoting God’s word from scripture.
We can do the same thing today. When something or someone wants us to
challenge what God has said. For instance, Gods tells us not to steal or cheat or lie
or commit adultery, but the world wants us to believe it’s ok to take something that’s
not ours if it’s from a rich company or from someone who can afford the loss, we can
cheat on our taxes because everybody is doing it, if we have a good reason to lie it’s
ok, and whatever two consenting adults do in private is not a problem because no
one’s getting hurt. Those are the kinds of things the world tells us all the time. If we
choose to believe the world and participate in these things, it’s just like when Eve
chose to believe the serpent that God had impure motives for forbidding the fruit.
When we are tempted we need to first recognize the enemy as Jesus did, then quote
something from God’s word that will show us and also shows our enemy that we know
he is a liar.
Luke 4:9-13
9 Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and
said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. 10 For it
is written:
‘ He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you,’ 11 and, ‘ In their
hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”
12 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt
the LORD your God.’” 13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he
departed from Him until an opportune time.
You see in this section the enemy starts trying to use God’s word in a twisted way to
tempt Him. First he uses the pride thing again, IF you are the Son of God. Then he
tells him to do something stupid because, and he pulls out some scripture to show
that God said He would protect Him. Jesus saw right through him because He knew
the proper use of these scriptures so He could tell they were being perverted. He
uses the word of God once more and the enemy leaves. Scripture tells us that when
we resist the devil he must flee (James 4:7).
The main difference between the enemy deceiving Eve and his attempt to deceive
Jesus is that Eve didn’t know the word of God and Jesus did. See how differently
each of their temptations ended up. All because of their knowledge or lack thereof.
God says My people perish for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). This (Bible) is
knowledge. Will you perish or will you thrive? It’s all based on this (Bible).
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: November 9, 2008
Scripture Reading: Genesis 3:1-6
1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the
LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You
shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the
garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God
has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows
that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,
knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant
to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.
She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
This morning we’re going to look at deception. We’ll start here in the garden with the
first deception. The serpent is cunning. He starts off with a clever question that’s
meant to see what she knows. “Has God indeed said…” He wants to make her
question what God said. “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden.” Have you
ever heard it said that some people look at the glass as half empty while others see it
as half full? Do you see what the serpent has done? He’s turned God’s awesome
gift around and instead of saying, “God gave you all these trees that you CAN eat
from?” He focuses on the negative and says you shall not. It’s important to keep a
positive attitude. Don’t focus on the negative.
Philippians 4:8 - Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are
noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are
lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is
anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
Can you imagine how differently this story may have turned out if she had kept her
focus on all the good things she had instead of the one thing the enemy convinced
her that she was supposed to have?
Now, when she answers his clever question she lets him in on some very important
information. She doesn’t really know the word of God. She begins on a positive note
by saying that they can eat of all the trees except one, and then she messes up by
misquoting the word of God. God never said that they could not touch the fruit or
they would die. This is something that either Adam or Eve added onto His words. It’s
very dangerous to either add to or take away from God’s word. Many are being
deceived in religious factions right now because they’ve either added to or taken
away from the word, that’s obvious deception. There are those whose deception is
much more subtle. Some people just look at certain scriptures and don’t bother read
the ones around it or other biblical passages that relate to it. That’s the same as
taking away from it.
I was having a discussion with other Christians yesterday on the topic of whether we
are seeing the beginning stages of the persecution of Christians in the United
States. Their position was no while mine was yes. I put forth three instances of what
I felt was clear persecution. The first is a case concerning some students in a
Washington state public school who got together to form a Bible club. They got all
the paperwork together to start and took them to the school but were denied school
club status. The next case I mentioned was that of a Navy chaplain that was court-
martialed for praying ‘in Jesus’ name’. And the last thing I mentioned was the law
says that if a minister preaches certain things concerning homosexuality from the
Bible, he could be arrested and his churches tax exempt status could be revoked.
The thing I found most ironic was that these other believers felt that the authorities
had been or would be justified in each case.
Though the school does support the gay club, they felt that if the Bible club was
allowed it would be wrong to support religion. Tax dollars to support kids reading the
Bible was bad but tax dollars for kids to gather based on sex seemed to be no
problem for them. In the case of the Navy chaplain who was court-martialed they said
that he had disobeyed orders because he was told to stop praying ‘in Jesus’ name’.
We are supposed to submit to authority except in cases where it goes against God,
and telling a preacher not to pray in the name of Jesus certainly qualifies as against
the Bible. And lastly they said that it would be bad to preach that homosexuality is an
abomination because someone might go out and hang a homosexual. I, of course,
reminded them that the Bible says it’s a sin to lie so if a preacher says that and then
someone goes out and shoots a politician would he be liable for that too. But
seriously the Bible also preaches that it is a sin to murder so the logic behind it
makes no sense to me.
The point is simply that not only have many laws already been put into place to allow
for the legal persecution of believers, but also the cultural attitude is being
engineered to accept it. Even within the Christian community. This is why Paul
exhorts us in 2 Timothy 2:15 to, Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a
worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
We need to take our study of God’s word very seriously. We are being bombarded
on every front with sin being acceptable. Sure you might recognize that more and
more television shows are show gay couples and kisses on primetime television, but
what about the commercial that shows a woman lying over and over as if it’s merely
funny. How long have you been watching movies and television shows that not only
present it as acceptable to commit adultery, but also portray people as abnormal who
don’t engage in premarital sex? Just about every commercial on television
encourages us to covet everything from our neighbor’s clothes or his car to our
neighbor’s spouse. There have been countless movies made about people stealing
everything from cars to millions of dollars where the thieves are portrayed as the
good guys. And in just the last couple of years there are those who are making
murderers the good guys. There’s the show on cable called ‘Dexter’ where the hero
of the show is a serial killer, and a show I liked to watch called ‘Bones’ that had one
the main characters turn out to be a serial killer’s assistant. This season, though he’
s in an insane asylum, they are beginning to show him as if he is a good guy. The
enemy has done way more than remove prayer from schools and tear down the Ten
Commandments from our walls. He has made a full on assault to remove them from
our hearts.
So, now back in the garden the serpent knows that the woman doesn’t really know
God’s word because she added to it, so now he knows he can challenge His word.
He first nullifies God’s word by saying you shall not surely die, then he calls God’s
character into question by making it appear that He has impure motives for telling
them not to eat the fruit. So Eve looked and the fruit looked good and she desired
the knowledge the serpent spoke of, and she ate. The serpent has successfully
challenged both God’s word and His character in Eve’s mind. Eve is swayed by
feelings and appearances. Jesus warns us about this.
Mark 13:4-7 & 21-23
4 “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign when all these
things will be fulfilled?”
5 And Jesus, answering them, began to say: “Take heed that no one deceives
you. 6 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and will deceive many.
7 But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled; for such
things must happen, but the end is not yet.
21 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘Look, He is there!’
do not believe it. 22 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs
and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 23 But take heed; see, I
have told you all things beforehand.
First He tells us to be careful that we are not deceived. Then He tells us why.
Because many are going to come in His name and attempt to deceive, even the
elect. The elect would be God’s people… us! How will they be able to deceive us? It
says they will rise and show signs and wonders. In Matthew’s account it says they’ll
show great signs and wonders. We cannot be swayed by what we feel or what we
see or how things may appear. There are entirely to many believers trying very hard
to be politically correct and giving no concern to being biblically correct. We have got
to, especially in these latter days, test everything with the word of God. Man may
preach the gospel mixed with untruths, but God’s word will remain true. This is why it
is so important that we have a good personal Bible study. It’s good for us to
fellowship and share ideas, testimonies, and edify each other, but when we go our
separate ways we should all pick up the word to first verify anything we’ve heard but
also to dig deep into God’s truth for ourselves.
In John 14:26 Jesus says, But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will
send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance
all things that I said to you.
He has sent the Holy Spirit to teach all things, but we have to remember that there
are other familiar spirits out there that we need to be cautious about. That’s why we
must test all things with the word. If we believe the Holy Spirit has given us a word, it
will never disagree with the word of God. That’s how we know that it’s from the Spirit
of God. We can’t just say that it feels like it’s from God or it seems to be from God.
That just doesn’t cut it. Scripture is clear that the enemy appears as an angel of
light, but it’s still the enemy. The Bereans tested everything in scripture and Paul
commends them for doing it (Acts 17:11). It says they received the word with all
readiness and searched the scriptures daily to see if it was so. They didn’t just
accept it because it sounded true, they accept it because when they searched it out
they found it was true. Now lets see how Jesus deals with deception.
Luke 4:1-4
1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and
was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 being tempted for forty days by the
devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended,
He was hungry.
3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to
become bread.”
4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word of God.’”
First the enemy tries to tempt Him with His weakness at the time; His hunger. He
hadn’t eaten for 40 days. He also tries to use His pride by saying IF you are the Son
of God. It’s almost like when people dare us to do something. But Jesus answers by
speaking the true word of God.
Luke 4:5-8
5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the
kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, “All this
authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I
give it to whomever I wish. 7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be
Yours.”
8 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written,
‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”
Next the enemy attempts to use His desire for glory and honor. He uses this one on
us all the time. How many people have sold their soul for glory and honor and
power? Unfortunately, many have. See how Jesus handles it by first telling the
enemy where he should go, then once again by quoting God’s word from scripture.
We can do the same thing today. When something or someone wants us to
challenge what God has said. For instance, Gods tells us not to steal or cheat or lie
or commit adultery, but the world wants us to believe it’s ok to take something that’s
not ours if it’s from a rich company or from someone who can afford the loss, we can
cheat on our taxes because everybody is doing it, if we have a good reason to lie it’s
ok, and whatever two consenting adults do in private is not a problem because no
one’s getting hurt. Those are the kinds of things the world tells us all the time. If we
choose to believe the world and participate in these things, it’s just like when Eve
chose to believe the serpent that God had impure motives for forbidding the fruit.
When we are tempted we need to first recognize the enemy as Jesus did, then quote
something from God’s word that will show us and also shows our enemy that we know
he is a liar.
Luke 4:9-13
9 Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and
said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. 10 For it
is written:
‘ He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you,’ 11 and, ‘ In their
hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”
12 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt
the LORD your God.’” 13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he
departed from Him until an opportune time.
You see in this section the enemy starts trying to use God’s word in a twisted way to
tempt Him. First he uses the pride thing again, IF you are the Son of God. Then he
tells him to do something stupid because, and he pulls out some scripture to show
that God said He would protect Him. Jesus saw right through him because He knew
the proper use of these scriptures so He could tell they were being perverted. He
uses the word of God once more and the enemy leaves. Scripture tells us that when
we resist the devil he must flee (James 4:7).
The main difference between the enemy deceiving Eve and his attempt to deceive
Jesus is that Eve didn’t know the word of God and Jesus did. See how differently
each of their temptations ended up. All because of their knowledge or lack thereof.
God says My people perish for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). This (Bible) is
knowledge. Will you perish or will you thrive? It’s all based on this (Bible).
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: November 9, 2008