Do Not Be Deceived
Scripture Reading: Luke 21:7-15
7 So they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, but when will these things be?
And what sign will there be when these things are about to take place?”
8 And He said: “Take heed that you not be deceived. For many will come
in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time has drawn near.’ Therefore
do not go after them. 9 But when you hear of wars and commotions, do
not be terrified; for these things must come to pass first, but the end will
not come immediately.”
10 Then He said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom. 11 And there will be great earthquakes in various
places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and
great signs from heaven. 12 But before all these things, they will lay their
hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues
and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s
sake. 13 But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. 14
Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you
will answer; 15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your
adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.
The last couple of weeks I’ve been really stressing again how important it is for
a disciple of Yeshua to read the Bible. With what we talk about today you will
see why it is so important to know the truth. Yeshua tells us in the passage
above that we need to be careful that we are not deceived. That tells us that
there is going to be deception that we’ll need to watch out for.
Mark 13:5-6
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.
In the book of Mark it records that Yeshua said ‘many’ are going to be
deceived. That means that the deception is going to be a counterfeit of the
truth since many are going to fall for it. These deceivers are not going to be
coming and saying, “Hey, I’m evil,” or “I’m sent by satan.” They’re going to be
saying that they’re sent by Jesus, and some even that they are Messiah. But
we’re not going to be looking at the extremes today but rather those who say
they are following Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:3-4
3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness,
so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For
if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached,
or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a
different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with
it!
You see that Paul was concerned about the Corinthians being deceived by
those who would come preaching a different Jesus and a different gospel.
We are told that it will be by their fruit that we will know them. Well, what about
your neighbors who may be mormon or Jehovahs witnesses or even Muslim
and they are really nice and they’re generous and the treat people the way
they would like to be treated? Those are good fruit, right? Well, there are
different types of fruit and how we act is just one; many are deceived by that
one. Which is why Paul gave us more to go on than just that. What about this
different Jesus thing, what about that? If you ask your mormon friend if they
believe in Jesus they will say yes. But then ask them who Jesus is. You will
find out that their Jesus was not born of a virgin, is not God incarnate but
rather has become a god just like they believe you will become a god and get
your own planet if you follow their teachings. You’ll also find out that they
believe the cross is foolishness and you will never find a cross at a mormon
temple but on every mormon temple you will find a statue of the angel that was
supposed to have come to Joseph Smith to give him a new revelation.
If you have a Jehovahs witness come to the door, they’ll be holding a Bible.
And when you open it you will see that it has the books Genesis to Revelation
and you ask them if they believe Jesus and they say yes. And you ask if He is
the Messiah and they say yes. But then you ask if their Jesus is God and they
say yes he is a god (little g). Then you look more carefully at their Bible and
realize that there are places where there are some pretty significant changes.
Here’s just one.
John 1:1 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
John makes it abundantly clear from the very start that Yeshua was from the
beginning, was with God and WAS God. Yet, the JWs bible says mere that He
was ‘a’ god. Then you look at their gospel and realize that they have to work
really hard and they ‘may’ be a part of 144,000 but they really can’t be sure.
That doesn’t seem like good news to me.
If you ask your muslim neighbor if they believe in Jesus, they will say yes.
Then if you ask them who their Jesus is they will tell you that he was just a
prophet, one of 28 that their god allah sent. They will tell you that he was not
born of a virgin and did not die on the cross. You see, there are many who
will say they believe in Yeshua, and that they follow His teachings but because
they have been deceived, all they would do would be to lead you astray into
death. How will you know that they have been deceived? By knowing the
truth, and the truth is in God’s word; the Bible.
Jim Jones began preaching as a Baptist minister. He taught from the Bible for
many, many years. When he felt led to begin his own church he sold things
door to door to raise the money. He was very driven to build his church. After
he did so he was well respected in California by politicians and religious
leaders alike. He had what appeared to be good fruit. But slowly it became
less and less about the true Yeshua and more and more about the special
revelation God was giving though him. Those that followed him believed that
he was hearing from God so they followed him, even to the point where he
claimed to be Jesus himself. By the end he was able to convince hundreds of
people to not only drink poison themselves, but to give it to their children. But
here’s the piece of information that should be most telling. When the camp at
Jonestown, Guyana was searched after the mass suicide, no Bibles were
found. You see, the only way to fall for a lie is to not know the truth.
Matthew 24:23-27
23 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do
not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show
great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I
have told you beforehand.
26 “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out;
or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. 27 For as the
lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the
coming of the Son of Man be.
He warns us beforehand that there will be many that will come and claim to be
him but tells us not to believe it. He makes it crystal clear that the coming of
the Son of Man will not be something people will miss. Like a lightning strike in
the sky that everyone sees so will be His coming. Anyone that comes
teaching something different from the Bible is a thief and a liar no matter who
they say they are.
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12
9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan,
with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous
deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the
love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God
will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that
they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had
pleasure in unrighteousness.
The only way a counterfeit can get away with passing phony bills is if those
bills look like the real thing. If a counterfeiter came with $20 bills with a picture
of Sponge Bob on them, he wouldn’t get away with it. Well satan is a
counterfeiter and his counterfeit is going to look real. Here as Paul wrote to
the Thessalonians, the lawless ones will have power, signs, and lying
wonders. There may be a preacher that you listen to for quite a while and
then all of a sudden you hear something that makes you go..hmmm.
1 Corinthians 6:7-10
7 Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law
against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you
not rather let yourselves be cheated? 8 No, you yourselves do wrong and
cheat, and you do these things to your brethren! 9 Do you not know that
the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.
Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor
sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor
extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: July 27, 2008
Scripture Reading: Luke 21:7-15
7 So they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, but when will these things be?
And what sign will there be when these things are about to take place?”
8 And He said: “Take heed that you not be deceived. For many will come
in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time has drawn near.’ Therefore
do not go after them. 9 But when you hear of wars and commotions, do
not be terrified; for these things must come to pass first, but the end will
not come immediately.”
10 Then He said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom. 11 And there will be great earthquakes in various
places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and
great signs from heaven. 12 But before all these things, they will lay their
hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues
and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s
sake. 13 But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. 14
Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you
will answer; 15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your
adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.
The last couple of weeks I’ve been really stressing again how important it is for
a disciple of Yeshua to read the Bible. With what we talk about today you will
see why it is so important to know the truth. Yeshua tells us in the passage
above that we need to be careful that we are not deceived. That tells us that
there is going to be deception that we’ll need to watch out for.
Mark 13:5-6
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.
In the book of Mark it records that Yeshua said ‘many’ are going to be
deceived. That means that the deception is going to be a counterfeit of the
truth since many are going to fall for it. These deceivers are not going to be
coming and saying, “Hey, I’m evil,” or “I’m sent by satan.” They’re going to be
saying that they’re sent by Jesus, and some even that they are Messiah. But
we’re not going to be looking at the extremes today but rather those who say
they are following Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:3-4
3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness,
so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For
if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached,
or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a
different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with
it!
You see that Paul was concerned about the Corinthians being deceived by
those who would come preaching a different Jesus and a different gospel.
We are told that it will be by their fruit that we will know them. Well, what about
your neighbors who may be mormon or Jehovahs witnesses or even Muslim
and they are really nice and they’re generous and the treat people the way
they would like to be treated? Those are good fruit, right? Well, there are
different types of fruit and how we act is just one; many are deceived by that
one. Which is why Paul gave us more to go on than just that. What about this
different Jesus thing, what about that? If you ask your mormon friend if they
believe in Jesus they will say yes. But then ask them who Jesus is. You will
find out that their Jesus was not born of a virgin, is not God incarnate but
rather has become a god just like they believe you will become a god and get
your own planet if you follow their teachings. You’ll also find out that they
believe the cross is foolishness and you will never find a cross at a mormon
temple but on every mormon temple you will find a statue of the angel that was
supposed to have come to Joseph Smith to give him a new revelation.
If you have a Jehovahs witness come to the door, they’ll be holding a Bible.
And when you open it you will see that it has the books Genesis to Revelation
and you ask them if they believe Jesus and they say yes. And you ask if He is
the Messiah and they say yes. But then you ask if their Jesus is God and they
say yes he is a god (little g). Then you look more carefully at their Bible and
realize that there are places where there are some pretty significant changes.
Here’s just one.
John 1:1 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
John makes it abundantly clear from the very start that Yeshua was from the
beginning, was with God and WAS God. Yet, the JWs bible says mere that He
was ‘a’ god. Then you look at their gospel and realize that they have to work
really hard and they ‘may’ be a part of 144,000 but they really can’t be sure.
That doesn’t seem like good news to me.
If you ask your muslim neighbor if they believe in Jesus, they will say yes.
Then if you ask them who their Jesus is they will tell you that he was just a
prophet, one of 28 that their god allah sent. They will tell you that he was not
born of a virgin and did not die on the cross. You see, there are many who
will say they believe in Yeshua, and that they follow His teachings but because
they have been deceived, all they would do would be to lead you astray into
death. How will you know that they have been deceived? By knowing the
truth, and the truth is in God’s word; the Bible.
Jim Jones began preaching as a Baptist minister. He taught from the Bible for
many, many years. When he felt led to begin his own church he sold things
door to door to raise the money. He was very driven to build his church. After
he did so he was well respected in California by politicians and religious
leaders alike. He had what appeared to be good fruit. But slowly it became
less and less about the true Yeshua and more and more about the special
revelation God was giving though him. Those that followed him believed that
he was hearing from God so they followed him, even to the point where he
claimed to be Jesus himself. By the end he was able to convince hundreds of
people to not only drink poison themselves, but to give it to their children. But
here’s the piece of information that should be most telling. When the camp at
Jonestown, Guyana was searched after the mass suicide, no Bibles were
found. You see, the only way to fall for a lie is to not know the truth.
Matthew 24:23-27
23 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do
not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show
great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I
have told you beforehand.
26 “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out;
or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. 27 For as the
lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the
coming of the Son of Man be.
He warns us beforehand that there will be many that will come and claim to be
him but tells us not to believe it. He makes it crystal clear that the coming of
the Son of Man will not be something people will miss. Like a lightning strike in
the sky that everyone sees so will be His coming. Anyone that comes
teaching something different from the Bible is a thief and a liar no matter who
they say they are.
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12
9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan,
with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous
deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the
love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God
will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that
they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had
pleasure in unrighteousness.
The only way a counterfeit can get away with passing phony bills is if those
bills look like the real thing. If a counterfeiter came with $20 bills with a picture
of Sponge Bob on them, he wouldn’t get away with it. Well satan is a
counterfeiter and his counterfeit is going to look real. Here as Paul wrote to
the Thessalonians, the lawless ones will have power, signs, and lying
wonders. There may be a preacher that you listen to for quite a while and
then all of a sudden you hear something that makes you go..hmmm.
1 Corinthians 6:7-10
7 Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law
against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you
not rather let yourselves be cheated? 8 No, you yourselves do wrong and
cheat, and you do these things to your brethren! 9 Do you not know that
the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.
Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor
sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor
extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: July 27, 2008