Hello beloved, good to be with you. This is our study number five on deception. Very interesting topic to look at. We can learn so much and also we can learn a lot about what is happening in the world today because there are deception all over the place. There are so many that are living with deceit, with the purpose of deceiving others. Before we continue though, let's have a word of prayer father. Thank you so much that we can come to you again It's such a privilege to to speak to you to know that we can come boldly to your throne of grace To speak to you is the Living Almighty God. I pray father. Please in Jesus name Will you open up your word to us so that we can understand? What deception is all about enable me to teach your people I pray in Jesus precious name Amen Okay, last week we looked at false witnesses who uses deceit. That was the one thing. We saw that the Antichrist are actually, or Antichrists are characterized by deceit. And we also looked at those who fall away from the faith are characterized by deceit. And then we looked at some results of deception. Those are the things that we looked at last week. Now this week, we are going to look at a few other things. One of the things we look at is that scripture teaches us that deception is often accompanied by fraud and injustice. Many times that's what happens. Deception is accompanied by fraud and injustice. You will see that people who are involved in deceit, those who, how can I say, who withhold the truth, who uses half-truths, who distorts the truth, what they normally do is they are the people who are involved in corruption, in fraud, in injustice. Oh, and I don't have to tell you how governments are guilty of this, eh? Yeah, you see it all over because you are listening to people speaking half-truths. You hear them distort the truth. You hear them withhold the truth. And when the truth comes out, it is as if nobody cares. they can speak half-truths and then the next moment the truth can come out and it's as if nobody cares to correct the wrong that has been said. In the media it is so clear that the media will concoct a story, they will tell a bunch of nonsense and at the end of the day when they are called on it to say, listen, this is wrong. They don't correct their story except if you put a lot of pressure on them because they've created the narrative and they're happy with the narrative because they want to push a narrative. All right, so you will find deception. It accompanies people who are evil, people who are ungodly, people who are, how can I say, they're not in Christ, all right? And it normally accompanies corruption and fraud and injustice. Psalm 10, verse 7 says, the mouth of the wicked is full of cursing and deceit and oppression. listen to this this is important because this is what the psalmist says the mouth of the wicked is full of cursing that means profanity you can listen to the wicked and you will hear that their mouths what comes out of their mouth is profanity and what you will also find in the mouths of the wicked is you will find blasphemy will also be in the mouth of the wicked Beloved, don't be caught off guard. If somebody uses God's name in vain, they will not go unpunished. That's what God says in His Word. Those who blaspheme the name of God will not go unpunished. We cannot play around with it. The same with profanity. Scripture says a bad word should not come from the believer's mouth. But when you listen to the wicked, you will find that it just flows out of them. This cursing, this profanity just comes out of their mouths. Just listen to what a person has to say and you will see the heart of that person. Now remember, The wicked what they do is they are brilliant with regards to deception. They can deceive so many people for a long time. But just listen very carefully and you will hear the cursing and profanity come from them. Then also Psalm 10 verse 7 says that the mouth of the wicked is full of cursing but also deceit. Which means you will hear half-truths from them. You will hear a distortion of the truth. You will hear them withhold the truth. Listen to what people has to say. Because that tells us that the person speaking is either wicked or that person is righteous. It doesn't mean that people who are saved are perfect in what they say. Not at all. I'm not saying that. It doesn't mean that a Christian can't use white lies and will speak things that are not 100% correct. It's one of those things. We are still fallen, broken people. But we have been redeemed. We have been changed. We are new creatures in Christ Jesus. If we do it and we are shown that we have done it, then we normally confess our sin. We confess it to God in the first place, but we also confess it to those that we've wronged. Because that's who we are in Christ now. But the wicked, they are full of profanity and cursing. They are full of half-truths and distortion of the truth and they withhold the truth. And then, not only that, they are also full of oppression. What they demand from people. is unjust. It's unreasonable. It just adds to the oppression that is upon people. That's what the wicked does. You can always look at the wicked. When they speak, when they make decisions, it will be oppressive decisions that is being made. It is unreasonable decisions that are made. For example, in the beginning of the pandemic, you can remember that we were not allowed to go into pick and pay and buy a chicken that was roasted. You're not allowed to buy hot food. That was unreasonable. It was oppressive. You're not allowed to buy shoes that are open. You're not allowed to do certain things. All kinds of stuff that was just imposed on people. And who were they imposed by? By a bunch of people who have been proven to be corrupt. that have been proven to be full of fraud that have been proven that their mouths just flows profanity flows out of it Why do I say that? Because in the legislation, in what they believe in and what they stand for, they stand for, they are anti-God, pro-abortion, pro-LGBTQ, and these are the people that are ruling the country. These are the people that sit in the highest positions that makes decisions. I believe they are wicked. If you kill babies and you give permission for people to kill babies, you are wicked. It is a wicked thing to do. We are supposed to stand up for the life of newborn children. But these people that make the decisions and make, how can I say, and then just carry it through, they are wicked. And if they killed babies and they make legislation to kill babies, why will they not oppress other people? That's what they do. It's because it's in their hearts. Alright, so don't ever think that deception will not be accompanied by fraud and injustice and corruption and all that kind of thing. You will always hear the wicked be unreasonable in what they demand from us, from people. For example, you're not allowed to get together and worship the Almighty God, the creator of heaven and earth, even though God commanded us to do so. That's unreasonable. It is unreasonable to expect people, everybody, to fall under exactly the same umbrella. It's unreasonable. People are different. People's lives are different. Their livelihoods are different. People have different ways of living. it's unreasonable yet that's exactly what what happens because scripture teaches us that deception is often accompanied by fraud and corruption and injustice that's how it works but now the psalmist says in psalm 10 verse 7 he says the mouth of the wicked is full of profanity full of it It's just because it comes from the heart, because we speak from the heart. What is in the heart comes out of the mouth. If our hearts have been changed by the Almighty God and we have love and we have the love of God in us, what will come out of our mouths? And if we have been changed in our hearts, what happens? That which comes out will glorify God. But with the wicked, no, their tongues are full of cursing and their tongues are full of half-truths and distortion of the truth and withholding the truth and their tongues are full of unreasonable things that they expect from others but they don't even follow their own things that they expect from others they are unjust they are oppressive when it comes to things the psalmist continues to say under his tongue is trouble and iniquity Under his tongue is trouble and iniquity. Let me first handle the issue of iniquity. When it speaks about under his tongue is iniquity, it speaks about the old sinful nature. It talks about the person's own sin that's under that person's tongue. Because why? The sin comes from the heart. It comes from a wicked heart. So what comes out of that person's mouth is what is in that person's heart. The sin that is already there. The person's own sin. The person's own evil. It comes from within. The poison that is in that person's heart just comes out of their mouth. It is impossible not to come out because it's under their tongue because it comes from the heart. But it also says that under his tongue is trouble. Because that's what it does. It just causes trouble wherever it goes. The wicked causes trouble. The wicked causes distress to others. There is just wrongdoing and injustice under that person's tongue. So whenever you listen to lawyers, when you listen to prosecutors, when you listen to government officials, when you listen to politicians, when you listen to people in places of authority, when you empower, if you listen to people who are in leadership, if you listen to anybody who is wicked, you will find these things will just overflow from those people. Because the mouth of the wicked is full of profanity and cursing and speaking half-truths and distorting the truth and withholding the truth. And their mouths are full of oppression. They demand things that are unjust and unreasonable and oppressive. They add oppression to people. That's what they do. And under their tongue is distress to others. All right, because there's wrongdoing under their tongue. They are unjust. And the persons, obviously what is under their tongue is you will find their own sin just lurking there waiting for it to come out. They are evil. It's poison that comes from their mouth. Oh, beloved, what a warning. Because scripture clearly teaches that. All right, so don't ever expect that deception stands by itself. No, it doesn't. It's most often accompanied by fraud and injustice. all right that's the that's the one thing that we need to understand about deception now i've spent a little bit of time on that because i do believe it's important for us to understand that because we're living in a time of great deception beloved jesus warned us from the beginning do not be deceived beloved do not be deceived watch out because deception is going to be rampant before the return of christ it was always there But it's going to grow in intensity. It's going to get stronger and stronger and worse and worse all the time. Because evil and wicked people are increasing in their power that they are getting in institutions where power is given. There are more and more wicked people getting into places of power. And they are voted in by ignorant people who have been deceived. Right. But scripture also teaches us that the hate one person has towards another person is often concealed by deception. So you will find one person who really, really hates someone else, but the way that they kind of cover it up is through deception. Listen to Proverbs 26. This is just amazing. If you listen to Proverbs 26 verse 24 to 28. Now this is Solomon speaking as a, most probably as a younger person who is pursuing, I nearly said wickedness, who is pursuing wisdom. Someone who has received amazing wisdom from God and he writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Solomon writes the following in Proverbs 26 verse 24 says, He who hates, disguises it with his lips and lays up deceit within himself. So how does people disguise their hate towards somebody else? They disguise it with their lips. all right so what they do is there is that they will cover it up with deceit because it says in the lays up and lays up the seat within himself so what he does is a person that hates somebody else will start deceiving they disguise their their hatred with deception verse 25 says when he speaks kindly do not believe him why because he's a deceiver He's got deception laid up in his heart, within himself. He disguises the fact that he hates somebody else with his lips. And the writer of Proverbs, Solomon says, when he speaks kindly, do not believe him. because he's going to speak kindly in front of you but behind your back oh he's going to rip you to pieces he is going to speak evil of you he is going to to do all kinds of things to give you as much trouble as he can because that's what it what happens that the hate that one person has towards another it's often often concealed by deceit by deception verse 26 of proverbs 26 says though his hatred is covered by deceit his wickedness will be revealed before the assembly oh and what a promise what a promise i i always say you know what There are people who hate others, but it's going to come out some other time. You can't keep that hatred within yourself. It's this whole racist thing. It's been said that certain people cannot be racist because of the color of their skin, which is a lot of nonsense. Anybody can be racist towards somebody else. One race can think that they're superior to another race. It doesn't matter who it is. It doesn't matter what the color of that or the pigmentation of that of that race is or that group of people because I believe we have one human race now with different nations in this one human race one human race and it's the human race mankind human beings and then we have different nationalities And people with different pigmentation can think because they have less pigmentation or more pigmentation. They believe that they are more superior than others because of maybe what they accomplished in life or whatever. But you find it in all different nations. For me, as an Afrikaner, among the Afrikaners, you will find people that believe that they are better than anybody else because of their accomplishments, because of the fact that maybe they've got a degree, or two degrees, or three degrees, or a stack of degrees, or because they've got a lot of money. They believe that they are superior to somebody else. You will always find that. Pride is a problem in every single nation, in every single culture. You have people that are full of pride, and you have people that are humble. All right, we as believers are supposed to be humble. So all that happens is if somebody thinks that they are superior to somebody else, whether it's the color of their skin or their accomplishments in life or what they possess or whatever, the reality is, beloved, that it's pride. That's all it is. right so but verse 26 of Proverbs 26 says it so beautifully and I love this though his hatred is covered by deceit his wickedness will be revealed before the assembly which means that God will reveal the pride of that person God will reveal the deception of that person God will bring it to the assembly that means whatever is done in hiding will be announced from the housetops. Whatever is done in dark places will be cried out on the hilltops for everybody to know about it. And that's the wonderful thing. At some other stage, if somebody has got hatred towards somebody else and they disguise it with their lips and they have deceit in their hearts and they deceive through their lips saying to somebody, you know what, you are so nice and so cool but in their heart they actually hate that person where they are kind outwardly but inwardly they are they they hate that person it will be revealed that's the beautiful thing about it and then verse 27 says whoever dig a pit will fall into it yeah don't dig a pit for somebody else because you're going to fall into it yourself and then he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him. Now this refers to the wartime when they would take stones and roll it up like a heel or something like that, like a heel. And then when the enemy would come, they would release these stones to basically roll down onto the enemy and crush the enemy as the enemy is coming towards them. But what the writer of Proverbs says, what Solomon says is, what happens is, he says, whoever digs a pit will fall into it, because whenever you have deceit in your heart, it will come into the open. You're going to deceive people for a while, but it's going to come into the open. You're going to fall into your own pit. And if you roll up a stone up the hill to crush somebody else, that stone is going to crush you. Your own deceit is going to crush you yourself. The deceit that you've created and dug this pit, you're going to fall into your own pit. It's actually an excellent warning for anybody. Not just the unsaved, but also for the saved. Because, I mean, we should not play around with the seed, beloved. The seed is dangerous. It's not a good thing to be involved in, and we should stay away from it as far as we can. And if we have been involved in the seed, if we have spoken kind words in front of somebody where the person is actually, I hate that person, stop. Stop doing it. Start doing what is right. right we're going to end there for today I've actually thought I was going to get a little bit further than this but anyway I believe it's important for us to be able to to do this so let's close with a with a word of prayer Heavenly Father thank you so much so we can come to you in Jesus name thank you that we can look at deception and can see how practical it is I want to pray, Father, please, in Jesus' name, make this word alive in us, what you have said in your word, through the psalmist and through Solomon who wrote the Proverbs. Father, I pray, please, in Jesus' name, make it alive in us so that we will not fall into this trap. And if we've been involved in deception in whatever way, please forgive us and allow us to live in truth all the time. This I pray in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Beloved, thank you very much for just listening to this Bible study. I believe it's important for us to understand deception because the warnings in Scripture are so clear. So may the Lord hold you and keep you. May the Lord bless you. May His face shine upon you. May He give you His peace. God willing, until next time, bye-bye. so