Hello beloved, it's good to be with you and to have again for us to look at deception as a topical Bible study. There's a mouthful today, a lot of things I want to share with you from God's Word, so let's get to it. Before we do that, by the way, let's have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you very much that we can come to you in Jesus' precious name. Thank you for your love and kindness towards us. We pray, Father, that as we study this passage, all the different passages on deception, I pray, Father, will you please open up our hearts to receive, our minds to understand, and enable me as your servant to teach your people, I pray, Father, in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Okay, so what we've already seen up to now is we see that the tongue is the instrument of deception. That's something we looked at already. And the fact that God obhers deception, that deception is forbidden by God and that the unsaved are actually characterized by God. I mean, they're full of deception. They devise deception. But then we also see that the unsaved are characterized by deception. Yeah, that's what we're looking at. The unsaved characterized by deception when they speak, they utter deception. The unsaved works deception. They increase in deception and they use deception basically on each other. And then also the unsaved uses deception on themselves. These are all things that the scripture clearly teaches us. The unsaved also delights in deception by the way. But when we look at false teachers, for example, and false prophets, those who creep into the church and then bring in these deceptive heresies, doctrines of demons, when they bring in falsehoods about Christ and all these things, Jude speaks about it in detail. Then we know that these false teachers, these false prophets, basically, or these, you can also call them false apostles, that they are all characterized by deception. you see because they are workers of deception now 2nd Corinthians 11 verse 13 says for such are false apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into apostles of Christ okay so they are workers of deception they what they do is they they change themselves into Apostles of Christ, workers of Christ, when in fact their mouths and their hearts are full of deceit. Remember these are the people that Paul warned the Corinthian believers against and said to them what they're going to do is they're going to come in, they're going to present another Jesus to you. What they're going to do is they're going to bring in another gospel and they're going to want you to accept in a different spirit. So Paul says don't put up with them. Unfortunately the Corinthian church did. But Paul says very clearly, don't put up with these people. All right, you've got to be able to discern whether they are true apostles, whether they are true prophets, whether they are true teachers of God. Because these false ones will come in with all kinds of deception because they want to take people captive and they want to control people through their false doctrines that they teach. Beloved, there is truth. Okay. There's no such thing as we find in this modern world that we live in that truth is relative. No, there is such a thing as ultimate truth. Jesus said, Thy word is truth. And that's what it is. God's word is truth. And we need to seek God's word to make sure that whatever we believe, whatever doctrine we embrace, that it's a biblical doctrine. Otherwise, we've been deceived. Okay, so everything has to line up with God's Word. Now false teachers and false prophets, they actually preach deception. So whenever they open up their mouths, what flows from their mouths is basically deception. Jeremiah 14, 14 says, the prophets prophesize lies in my name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them. They prophesy to you a false vision. divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their hearts. So this is what the Old Testament tells us that the prophets, these false prophets that came in and prophesied even to the people of Israel, what they were doing is they were prophesying the deceit of their own hearts. They were prophesying deceitful things and divination and false visions. But God never sent them. But you see God doesn't send false teachers. There is a place in scripture where God sent a prophet to a young prophet. God sent this young prophet to go and speak to a certain household and this young prophet went and on his way back he was not supposed to go around the same route and God sent an old prophet to test this young prophet. So the young prophet listened to the old prophet and he followed exactly the same route and God then discipline him. God judged him because he did not obey the word of God. Beloved, we should not be playing around with things. Now, when it comes to the deceit of these false teachers, these false prophets, the things that they teach, because they teach it from their heart. It's something that is in their heart. And the way they deceit is they mislead basically by distorting the truth. So what they do is they take the truth and then they distort that truth. or they just withhold the truth altogether. It is so sad to see but that's what happens whenever you see a false teacher or false prophet or false apostle you will see what they do is they will share the deceit of their own heart because they have been misled by false truths or they've been distorting the truth or they just withhold the truth altogether. Now Jeremiah 23 verse 26 tells us, How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart. Beloved, there's nothing more deceitful than a person's own heart. Who can know it? It's only God who can know the heart. It's God who searches the heart. It is God who knows what's going on in the heart. But we can know that all false prophets, all false apostles, all false teachers, they prophesy, they teach and they preach from their own deceitful hearts. They have decided to distort the truth. They are withholding the truth because of the corruption and the deceit of their own hearts. Oh, it's so heartbreaking, but that's the reality. But what these false teachers and false prophets and false apostles also do is they impose deception on others. They just impose it because that's what they want to do is they want to get others to follow their deception. So how do they do it? The first place, the way they do it is they cause division. And what I want you to do now is to put up your thinking caps and kind of Apply this to the world that we're living today. What is happening worldwide? If you listen to the news in every country, you will see that what is happening is the world is being divided. There are people that are propagating, that are pushing very hard for a divided world. We are seeing it in South Africa and the division is based on race. Now, I've preached on this. that the Bible teaches there's only one race, the human race, but there are different ethnicities or different nationalities, different groups of people that has a common heritage or a common, how can I say, traditions and a common culture, common language. That's what brings them together. But what's been happening lately is there is this massive push to get the world divided on different things. In the day and age that we're living in, you can see there's a heavy push to get division among people on racial basis. That's the one thing. The other one is now with the vaccinated and the unvaccinated. Right, so it is, and more and more and more narratives are being pushed so that the vision can come in. Now, let me tell you, and I want to say it straight out, but those who deceive, those who are deceivers, those who have deceitful hearts, who are speaking from their deceitful hearts, and it's whether they are politicians or whether they are leaders in public or whatever, it doesn't matter because they are unsaved. The same thing with a false teacher, a false apostle or a false prophet. They are all unsaved. They are speaking from their deceitful hearts. That's why we see the same tendency in the church where you have false prophets or false teachers or false apostles. You will see the same thing happening because those people who creep into the church, they are not saved. So what are they going to do? What are they going to bring into the church? Deception, beloved. That's what they're going to do. They're going to bring in deception. That's the means, how can I say, through which they impose their own deception on people. They creep in and they start teaching and bringing the vision. And when they bring the division, then they can implement their deception because there's always going to be a group of people that follow them. Remember that everybody in the church are not saved. That's a fact. You get professing believers, people that profess to be believers in Jesus Christ, they are not saved at all. They profess to know Jesus Christ, they profess to be saved, but they're not saved. And how do you know it? You look at their fruit. So these false teachers and false apostles and false prophets, they will come into the church and they will lead these people behind them and after them. And new believers that hasn't been exposed to these false things and do not know the truth that well yet will kind of be deceived for a while, even though God will bring them out of that deception. And that's the amazing, awesome, wonderful thing. about God and His Spirit that He will always lead us out of deception into the full truth because that's what the Spirit does. He leads us into all truth. All right, but the deceivers, the false teachers, false prophets, false apostles, they will impose deception through causing division. So wherever you see division, beloved, let me say this as plain and as simple as I can. Wherever you see division, it is of the devil. Okay? It is of the devil. It is not of God. It is not the way Christians function. It's not the way that Christians act. It's not the way that we do things. When there is the vision, the scripture teaches very clearly that people that causes the vision should be removed from the church and the reason they should be removed from the church is because God is a God of unity. We have one spirit indwelling us that brings us into a unity in Christ and the Holy Spirit that keeps us in unity is the one who will always, how can I say, lead us towards unity in Christ. But false teachers, false apostles, false prophets, they will always cause division. So whenever you see division, whether it's in the world or whether it's in the church, you know it is not of God. Okay, so please understand that. But these false teachers, apostles, prophets, what they will do is they will impose the deception on others through division, by causing division. All right. And obviously, when they cause division, they will bring in false doctrine. That's the way they do it. They will bring in false things. Remember, deceit is basically to mislead people by distorting the truth, or to withhold the truth altogether, or to lie. So what these false people will do, is they will bring in false doctrine within the church. In the world out there, you will see a lot of false things come through, or half-truths. I am amazed to listen to the mainstream media and just listen to how they lie. They plain out lie. Or they distort the truth or they mislead by withholding the truth. They just do not report on things that need to be reported on. Okay, so it is just one of those things that you realize. You know what? These false teachers and apostles and prophets they are unsaved. So they will come into the church, they will creep into the church and they will try to destroy the church from within because they are actually ambassadors of Satan's kingdom. their father is the devil because satan is the father of lies and because satan is the father of lies they follow their father who is the devil and whether it's in the church or whether it's in the world you're going to see the same thing happen but in the church we're going to see false doctrine in the world we're going to see misleading through half-truths and just misinformation all right But one of the other ways that they impose the deception on others is by tricking people. I love watching people, you know, do what they call magic, which is not magic at all. It's sleight of hand and it's deception. It's basically, it is tricking people. It's sleight of hand. While you focusing on one thing, they are doing something else. But I like watching these people when they do their tricks to try and figure out how they do it. Because I know all they're doing is they're tricking us. But that's exactly what false teachers and false prophets and false apostles do is they trick people. That's how they impose their deception on people. Another thing about false teachers is that they dirty themselves with their deceit. The more and more and more they continue to preach and to teach and to share from their own hearts that are full of deceit, they just dirty themselves. I don't know if you can get more dirty than having sin. Just by having original sin you dirty enough to to be cast into the lake of fire at the end of the day you will be cast into hell because you have the sinful nature and Then you just add on to that sinful nature sin after sin after sin after sin after sin that we commit and But the problem is these dirty false teachers who basically speak from the deceit of their own heart because their own hearts are full of deceit. What these people do is, and this is the heartbreaking thing is, they just dirty themselves more and more. And what happens is, I think they get to a point where they cannot understand the truth anymore. They just cannot accept the truth anymore. I listen to politicians and I listen to different people speak different things and I think to myself, whoa, whoa, whoa, you know what? It is so clear that they actually believe their own lies now. They are so convinced of what they are saying that they believe what they say is truth. That it's the truth of God's Word. Oh, not God's Word, sorry. But the truth. But it's not. These false doctrines that are being preached by these false teachers and preachers and apostles. They are so convinced that it's the truth that they speak with boldness because they believe it with all of their hearts. But the reality is that these false teachers and apostles and prophets, they dirty themselves with their own deceit. Remember that Jude told us about these false teachers who spread, how can I say, like they are spots in our love feasts. They are like spots of dirt in our love feasts. Peter kind of also speaks about it in his second letter. They are filthy spots in our love feasts where we celebrate the death and burial and resurrection of Christ and where we are excited about the gospel and we're excited about what Christ does. These false teachers and preachers and apostles just join us and they are with us but what they are doing is they dirty that That meal that is supposed to be this beautiful beautiful meal that we partake of they just make it They just fill it with dirt just by their presence You see because they are dirty inside and they give their full off in our love feasts and And what happens is, because they are not discerning the body of Christ, for example, in the Love Feast, and because they do not observe the Love Feast in the way that they are supposed to, biblically speaking, what happens is, they just accumulate more and more and more dirt in themselves. And their conscience just gets seared more and more and more. And I think there comes a time when they're just so indulged in their deceit that they cannot see the truth any longer. But we know by God's grace that God is the one who illuminates the heart and shows the person what the person actually looks like so they can turn to Christ by faith. Let me just touch on one more. The Bible teaches us very clearly that hypocrites, they devise deceit, and they practice deceit. People who are hypocritical, who actually play the role, and it's interesting that people who say that they are believers, but in fact they are not, they are just professors to be saved, but they are not. They profess to know Christ, they profess to be saved, but they are not, they are hypocrites. Because a hypocrite is normally wrong in his or her conduct. And because they are wrong in their conduct, they are sinful in their conduct. They are role players. They're not the real thing. It's like an actor on a stage that plays the role of somebody else. That person is not really that other person. They're just playing that role. So hypocrites are exactly the same. So what they do is, and this is the heartbreaking thing, for them to be able to look like the real thing, they come up with deceitful ways to hide their hypocrisy, to hide their true identity. So they come up with all kinds of deceitful ways to try to hide their actual identity. You see, hypocrites have to lie and they have to deceive to hide their true identity. That's why you will find lies and people just lying openly, people who are hypocritical. Especially when they're caught, they will cover up their true identity because they don't want people to really realize that they are actually unsaved while sitting in the church. A false teacher doesn't want to be exposed. A false prophet or a false apostle doesn't want to be exposed. So they will lie and they will deceive and they will do all kinds of things to hide their true identity. Beloved, that's unfortunately the reality. So what am I saying? I'm saying, and I think what we are learning from scripture, not what I'm saying but more what we learn from scripture is that deceit and to be deceived and to have a heart of deceit is a bad, bad place to be. So may the Lord really help us if we have been deceived in any way. If we are harboring deceit in our own hearts, may the Lord illuminate our hearts to see our true state that we can repent and turn to Jesus Christ by faith in Him alone. Oh may the Lord have mercy on us. May the Lord have mercy on everyone who causes division and may the Lord have mercy on everybody that is being caught up in deceit. Because at the end of the day we need to be faithful to Christ, faithful to the truth, follow the truth, live in the truth and obey Him in all things. And if we've been deceived, may the Lord show us the truth and may we be set free from the deceit that we've been in. Alright, thank you very much for listening. Let's close up in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you so much that we can come to you in Jesus' name. Thank you for your love and kindness towards us. And thank you so much, Father, that we can learn from your word what deception looks like, so that we may be able to discern, and Father, so that we may be able to be set free. If there's anybody listening now who has been caught in deception father I pray please may be this day this day be the day may this moment be the moment where that person is set free so that we can walk in the truth understand the truth live in the light as you are in the light this we pray in Jesus precious name amen. May the Lord Keep you, and may the Lord bless you, may His face shine upon you, and may He give you His peace. God willing, until next time, bye bye.