I have an anonymous quote for you to commence our service. It's a bit of an introduction. It leads us into the issues that we're going to be looking at here tonight, and it is on deception. Oh, listen, my friend. Satan is a beautiful liar. The devil's business is sin, and he's an expert at destroying people's lives. Sin always costs you more than you intended to pay, it will take you further than you intended to go, and it will keep you longer than you ever intended to stay. The devil always shows young people the neon lights, the glamour and the good times, but he never shows them where sin leads—death, destruction and damnation. So many young people have learned the hard way that all of Satan's apples have worms. You cannot eat at the devil's table without getting food poisoning. You cannot warm yourself at the devil's fire without getting burned. Satan shows us the neon lights of Sin City, but he doesn't show us the graveyard. Satan shows us the booze the women and the good times, but he doesn't show us the deadly auto accidents, the incurable venereal diseases, and the lifetime of shame and regret that often accompany sin. You can see that the devil himself is an artist of deception, and those that he sends as false teachers, that is their art also. There can be no debate on the fact of the appearance of false teachers in the last times. Peter is very clear on it here in this chapter that we read. Look at the book of Jude, and you'll find that it's hard to know who borrowed the language from whom. Was it Peter who wrote it first, or was it Jude who wrote it first? They are saying precisely the same thing. And then the apostle Paul said in 1 Timothy 4, seducing spirits and doctrines of devils will appear. And so we do not write Peter off here in his second epistle as a scaremonger. We do not say, well, he's just beating to his own little drum, and this is the thing he feels he has to say. No, wherever the church has failed to heed the warnings and has gone to sleep, the enemy always comes in to sow his tears. Harm is done, and the truth of the gospel is spoiled. I have a very simple outline tonight, and I hope I will have time to preach it. Number one, the self-deception of these deceivers. If you look at verse 13, you'll notice near the end that it talks about them that they are with their own deceivings, with their own deceivings. Then we're going to look at the sinful strategies they use. In verse 14, talks about beguiling unstable souls. And then as time permits, we'll look at the certain destruction of those who peddle these lies and false doctrines. We're told in verse 13, they shall receive the reward of their own unrighteousness. And so we're looking at the self-deception of these deceivers. Now, this is very difficult to understand. It's really beyond our minds. How can it possibly be that you have these people who are working hard at religion, And yet all the while they are peddling the false, the erroneous, the message that is hellish and that destroys souls. And I have a question. Are these people knowingly peddling deception? or are they themselves deceived? Are they themselves in blindness and darkness? This is a difficult question because there are some, and we're told here at the end of the passage about it is better for those who have known the way of the righteousness than for them to have turned from it. Better for them not to have known. And so, some of these at least, have been introduced to the truth. They may have been in the church. They may have been worshiping with God's people. Some may even have been in the pulpit. Charles Templeton comes to my mind. He was a colleague of Billy Graham. He was in the big league evangelistic preaching. And If you know the history, he has turned totally atheist, denied that there is a God, and denied that the Bible is God's Word. And so the question comes, are these people willfully deceived, or are they caught up in error that they're so blinded in? As I say, this is a very hard question. And so I want to look at this word deceivings, and you know my format. You know exactly what I'm going to do. This word is found seven times in the New Testament, and I'm going to take you to each one of them. I'm going to make you to decide what is the answer to this. And I want you to follow with me as we go through these—well, there actually will be six passages, because two of them, one's in Mark's gospel, one's in Matthew's gospel, and it's the exact same account, one by Matthew, one by Mark. So we're going to Matthew 13 and to verse 22, and we're going to look at this word. Now, the Greek word for this is called pate. Now, we're going to have refreshments tonight, and I don't want you to be thinking food here, pate, but it is P-A-T-E in the Greek language, translated in our Bible to the word deceivings. these deceivings of men. And we're trying to find out and discover, does that mean that these people are willfully deceiving others, knowing the truth themselves, or that they themselves are blind and deceived, and therefore they just can't help themselves? They're peddling what they believe to be the truth, and all the while it's a lie, and they themselves are destroyed by their own thinking and along the way they're destroying others. So let's come then to Matthew chapter 13 and to verse 22. This word, translated deceivings, is found here in this passage, and it talks about the deceitfulness of riches. deceitfulness of riches. Now, you know the parable. The sower goes forth to sow, and among the thorns the seed falls. And the Lord says that the seed among the thorns is like the deceitfulness of riches. What do the thorns do? They choke the seed. They deny it light and nutrition. They steal everything away from it, that it cannot develop and grow. And so this deceitfulness of riches, you can see that it is doing great harm. What does money do? Money blinds. In Exodus 23.8, it says, Thou shalt take no gift, for the gift blindeth the wise. There is a famous quote that says, gold dust blinds all eyes. And we know what a bribe does. We know how it changes people's moral values, and it can corrupt And so these people are under the influence of money, and that's their deceivings and deceitfulness. They're under the influence. And we hear of people that when money corrupts them, they act out of character. They do things that they would normally do because of the power of money. They're lost after it, and it changes their minds. So that's the first passage. The second passage is Ephesians 4, verse 19. And as we get into this passage, we see that it comes even closer home. Ephesians 4, verse 19, who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness. And we're going right down to verse 22 here. that you put off concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. Now, I started at verse 19 deliberately because you'll notice what it says, who are past feeling. Here's the hardening of the heart. Here is the colossing of the conscience. Here is the effect that lust has upon the human heart. And verse 22 says, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. And so these people, they do what they do because of corruption. And they do what they do because of lust. And it becomes a deceit. And they've put the program to it, if it feels good, do it. There never was a darker, more subtle lie from hell than for men, women, or young people to follow the idea, if it feels good, just do it. And alongside that sometimes is maybe the more subtle statement, follow your conscience. Well, if you look at verse 19, you'll notice that these people are past feeling, and their conscience is seared. Their conscience is not talking to them. It is no longer a warning compass to them. And men who have sold themselves to sin, to lust, to pleasure, to their own ways, they are hardened in heart, they are past feeling, and they are corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. That's the old sinful nature at work. Could you trust that person? Could you say to your children, follow in their footsteps? Could you say they will be a good guide? No, they are following deceit. Colossians 2.8 is the next passage, and just over a little bit. Colossians 2 and verse 8. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and thee in deceit. Here's the word we're looking for now. Deceit, thee in deceit, empty deceit, empty arguments. You'll notice the reference to philosophy, the wisdom of men. And this, verse 8, "...lest any man spoil you through philosophy, and thee in deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world." So there's worldly thinking, worldly principles, humanism, if you will, and it is applied to philosophy, thee in deceit, thee in argument, empty argument. Now, those who are drinking at that fountain are definitely deceived. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 10 is our next passage. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 10, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth. Now, I want to point out in this text that it's not just a matter of the head. You could say in Colossians 2.8 it was a matter of the head, not thinking right, empty arguments, philosophy. But in this passage, it's not just the head, it's the heart. Because it says, "...all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive not..." It doesn't just say the truth. "...they receive not the love of the truth." They are prejudiced, biased. The state of their heart doesn't allow them to receive the truth. The truth cannot get into their hearts. The truth cannot be received because they are filled with, what does it say here in verse 10, all deceivableness of unrighteousness. And so the seed of God's word hasn't a chance. We might say that's like the seed falling on the rocky ground, the ground where the earth is shallow. There's no entrance. There's no love of the truth. And so it's not just a matter of the head. It's a matter of the heart. Our last text is Hebrews 3.13. Chapter 3.13. But exhort one another daily, while it is cold today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Now, all sin has some bait. All sin has some apparent good, some expectation of pleasure and profit. But how difference the experience before and after. Before the devil leers you to taste of sin, it seems sweet. This is the deceitfulness of sin. Before you partake, it looks sweet. It looks like it's enjoyable. It looks like it will even do you good. But afterward, afterward, It is hateful and disgusting. It makes you sick. It's poisonous. It's going to do you harm. Someone said the devil's apple has a bitter core, and the first bite might seem very tasty and juicy. When you get to the core, it's rotten. In fact, I had an apple this week that I had to throw in the garbage. One bite was enough. And sin is deceitful just like that. And before you sin, you advertise it. You tell others, great, what we're going to do. And then afterwards, you have to defend it. And you have to claim that it's good. One commentator said, in all sin, the mind is under a delusive influence. The attention of the mind is taken off the right thing to see only the temporary gain. And the Bible teaches us that there is a subtle progress with sin. Think of the warning in Psalm 1. And it talks about the blessed man who standeth not in the ways of the wicked, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. And you will see that there is the standing, the sitting, and then the walking, standing, sitting. And the Bible says, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. He doesn't begin the process. But if you stop walking and you start standing and you start listening to the counsel, you're going to sit among them and you're going to be taken in. And so what are we going to say then about these deceivers in 2 Peter 2? What is our conclusion? When we read here of the deceivings of these men, well, I conclude that they themselves are deceived. I conclude that they are so hardened, so past feeling, that they are so deluded by the lust of sin that they themselves don't even realize that they're in error. And that is what makes them so fervent evangelists for the wrong. That is what makes them to be so strong in what they do and so emphatic. that they're right, and by that means they become ministers of darkness. Now, my final proof of that, and I must say I've wrestled with this one. I don't want to get on the wrong side of this issue. And I have wrestled with it, I've asked myself this question, and I've labored hard how to answer this. And my final proof is the book of Jude, chapter 1, verse 19. And this is what totally convinces me, that these deceivers, that they're not only deceiving others, but they're deceiving themselves. And they themselves are blind and past feeling. We're told here in Jude, verse 19, These be they who separate themselves sensual. So you can see that they're following lust. We're talking here about sexual deviation. We're talking about men who are living for the pleasures of the flesh. Having not the Spirit. That's my final answer. Having not the Spirit. These are not regenerate men. These are not men who are born again. Whatever interest they have in religion, whatever it moves them to peddle their doctrines and their dogmas, they are without the Holy Ghost. They are not born again. Their interest is not love for the Savior and His truth. They are led into a whole realm of deception. Now, the Bible tells us very clearly that the carnal man receiveth not the things of God, and they are foolishness unto him. which things we speak not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, but the natural man receiveth not the things of God." That's 1 Corinthians 2. And so that's a big statement here tonight, and I'm sticking to it. These men who are peddling false doctrines and another message are not only deceiving others, they're deceiving themselves, and therefore they themselves are headed for destruction. We'll get to that in point three. Point two is the sinful strategies that they use. Now we're going to look at verse 13 again. here in 2 Peter 2, verse 13. "...and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime, spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings." Now, what is their strategy? Sporting their lifestyle. reveling in it, and they have no shame. They think they're right. They think this is good. They're sold a bill of goods where they're convinced that there's nothing wrong with this. And so they parade their life, they parade their sin, they parade their evil with a certain pride. Hence, we have such things as pride parades and pride day, with those things that we know are contrary to the will of God. And they will come into education systems, and they will come even into churches, and they will parade their lifestyle without seeming embarrassment. Indeed, they're on a mission to promote it, sporting themselves, reveling. They are on a mission. They must do this, and they feel they're right, and their zeal is unquestionable. In verse 14, another strategy is beguiling souls, having eyes full of adultery. You can see what's in their minds. You can see how they think. You can see what their passion is. And they cannot cease from sin. Beguiling unstable souls. The word beguiling means to entrap. And it's the unstable soul, the soul that doesn't know truth from error, has no doctrine, no understanding of God's Word. And that vulnerable soul, unstable, is lured in and sucked into the agenda. Beguiling souls. What zeal they have. And whether it is the cult, or it is the ungodly gay agenda, you know the zeal by which they operate. I wish that we as Christians, Bible-believing Christians, had the same zeal that some of the cults have. Now they're misguided, they are in error, but they have a zeal for the error that I'm afraid many of us don't have for the truth. I remember reading of how much paper the Jehovah's Witnesses use in a day in their Watchtower productions. It's phenomenal. I tried to Google it to get the figure out, but I couldn't find it. It's phenomenal. This is a worldwide literature ministry, and they use tons and tons of literature to promote their organization. What zeal, what organization they have. All the more reason for us to preach the Bible and to be earnest in promoting the truth. Now, as to the Lost Stain lifestyle, I began to think about that night when the two visitors came to the home of Lot, and how they were going to remain in the street, and Lot said, no, no, no, no, don't stay in the street. It won't be safe for you. And he insisted that they come into his home. And that led to a mob gathering around the home in a violent manner, claiming, send out these men to us, that we may know them. What a vile request. And there was no shame. It was public. There was a crowd. It wasn't just an individual. And it seemed that the whole city was sodden with lust. This is a zeal to entrap the unstable souls. All the more reason for us to be strong in the Word of God and to resist the evil. Strategy number three is in verse 15. who loved the wages of unrighteousness." We would say, follow the money. And the big example here in verse 15 is this man, Balaam, who is a most contradictory character. I'm not sure if I've ever got my head around what he was up to, but he was motivated by money, and he was hired by a heathen king to curse Israel. And you remember how he rode on the donkey, and the donkey stopped, and the donkey talked to him, and the donkey saw the angel that he didn't see. And we're told here that Balaam, the son of Bozor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, I can't think of any dirtier money than money that is sucked in by religionists peddling false doctrine and devilish ideas. And here is a man, he's using religious claims to make money, and he perished. And that's the kind of thing that's around us today. I think the Judgment Day will be a day of terror to those that have used religion for their own filthy lucre, their own gain, and their own promotion, and all the while peddling lies. There's a double damnation to that. And these are ways of unrighteousness. Strategy number four, down in verse 19, is they promise them liberty while they themselves are the servants of corruption. This is a very titillating and very attractive proposition. Come with us and we'll do you good. Our organization will set you free. We will be there for you. We'll support you. We will deliver you from your troubles. That's how cults operate. That's how many organizations operate. we will see you and strengthen you, and you'll be a better person," and so on. Now, the gospel does set people free. That's the gospel we preach. John 8, 36, whom the Son sets free is free indeed. That's the truth of the gospel. And I think you and I are here tonight because it is true that the Lord sets us free, free from sin, free from lust, free from being slaves and servants of this world. And our hearts are now interested in serving the Lord Jesus and being His sleeve, which is gospel liberty to us. But these false teachers, they promise liberty that only leads into bondage. They themselves, of course, are entrapped and ensnared in this bondage. And if you go back to verse 14, you remember what it says of them, "...and cannot cease from sin." Now, how in the world are these people going to promise deliverance and liberty when they themselves can't stop sinning? It's a lie. It's a deception. It's a bondage that many fall into. And the illustration of men who cannot stop sinning is really in the very last verse of the chapter. The two very vivid pictures, the dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow or the pig that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. Now, this is not a very pretty sight that I'm going to draw, but you know what dogs do? They regurgitate their food. Sometimes they do it for themselves. And sometimes they do it for their puppies. And so they eat the food, and they vomit it up. They expel it from their stomach. It doesn't look very good. To us, it doesn't smell very good. But to a dog, it's like birthday cake. It's the sweetest thing ever, because that's the nature of the dog. And he can't help it. And those puppies, when The mother does that for them. All their little teals are wagging with joy. Great stuff. They're dogs. The sow, well, her nature is to wallow. And you can imagine the trouble that a farmer may go to on show day to wash the sow, the pig, for show. If you've ever been to an agricultural fair, you will see the effort that people go to. Even the white talcum powder comes out. to make that pig shine. But if you turn your back, it will find the dirtiest pothole possible, and it will show up its filthy nature. Cannot cease. That's its nature. And these false teachers, these who work by deception, promise liberty. and all the while bring people into the bondage of sins that are, humanly speaking, inescapable, cannot break their powers. And I know we get the statistics and we look at the news and we hear about these things being introduced to the schools and programs in the school. You just think of the bondage that this is going to bring to young men and women. and the life that they're going to enter if they follow the lie and the deception that this is the better way. This is fearful stuff. This is why I think parents have great distress about sending their children to schools. This is why we as a church ought to be crying out to God to spare this nation from plummeting to the very depths of iniquity. What a terrible tragedy. And what is a greater tragedy that has not only happened in the secular world, but it's happened in the mainline churches of our country. This week, I hopped upon a little leaflet on missionary efforts by Methodists up and down the West Coast 100 years ago, back to 1870s. That's when the Methodist Church of Canada was a gospel-preaching church. That's when they had missionary zeal. And the sacrifices that were made to canoe and boat up and down the coastline and visit the islands and the native peoples, and the stories of conversion, people who knew nothing but paganism, who were delivered from that way of wretched lifestyles. They lived very short lives in those times. The life expectancy was somewhere in the late 40s. Health was poor. They lived mainly on fish, and they had very few resources in times of want. And in poor weather, they suffered greatly. And then the gold rush, led by the alcohol epidemics, and many of these people were reduced to want. And these church missionaries arrived with the gospel. Sometimes they built schools, and sometimes they built churches. But God saved many of those people. There's a great story of an Indian tribe chief's son who came down into Victoria on a dugout canoe. A huge log that was dug out and it could carry several tons. And what he had come to pick up in Victoria was alcohol. He was going to bring it back to his tribe. And when he arrived, he discovered many of his past friends were converted. And he wanted to prove them, and he ended up getting converted too. And instead of taking alcohol back, he pleaded with the missionary, will you come? Tell my people this good news. Well, the missionary said, I can't go, I'm committed to here. And the missionary said, you go, you tell them the story. And he went back to his own people to preach the gospel. That was Methodist missionaries. The days that we're living in today, mainline churches are apologizing because they destroyed their culture. Now, I know they made many mistakes and they entered into the compulsory school system that was just so wrong and so ruinous. And the legacy of it now has just left missionary work very much at a standstill. But you can see how we need to pray that God will visit this land again and deliver us by the power of the gospel. And that's why Peter's writing these things. That's why he's giving us this word, that we might be warned and that we might not be entrapped by these deceivers. Now, I finish tonight very quickly with the certain destruction that these men will face. In verse 12, you will see here that it says at the end of verse 12, "...and shall utterly perish in their own corruption." Verse 13 talks about, "...they shall receive the reward of unrighteousness." So God is going to give them their due rewards. What a terrible thing to stand on the judgment day and to receive the reward of lies and deception. In verse 17 it says, these are wells without water, clouds they are carried within a tempest, to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever. And verse 20, their latter end is worse than before. It would be better for these false teachers to be road builders, fishermen, carpenters, or doorkeepers than to get into the business of preaching a false gospel. They're entangled and overcome by the very pollutions of the world. And just as a drunkard, who for a time may be delivered from his alcohol, and then when he gets back to it, he goes into it all the worse, such are these deceivers. What then is the way of righteousness? Well, there are two boundaries for the believer. Repentance and obedience. That's the Christian way. Repentance from all sin and obedience to the will of God. Those are the ways that God blesses. And by those way, you can have assurance of salvation. I heard of a young lady who came to her minister and said to him, I have still professed faith in Christ, but I have no longer an interest in keeping up repentance, and I want to go back to the world and enjoy the old things I enjoyed before. Well, her minister very wisely didn't berate her, but he said, well, my dear, If that is true of you, the only thing that I can say that I can give you, no assurance or to any soul who does not repent of sin in the world. You can have no assurance of eternal salvation. The only assurance, the only guarantee of your eternal life is that God has given you repentance, has given you a new heart, a new attitude to turn away from all sin and to turn unto God for mercy. That's the basis of assurance. We cannot reduce gospel preaching and church ministry to accommodate every possible lifestyle of the world. And whether it is perversity, whether it's pride, whether it's materialism, whether it's men who trust in their heritage or whatever form of self-righteousness, we must call all men to repent of every way of self-righteousness, to abandon it. As Paul said, he counted it as dung that he might win Christ. That's the gospel. And when you plead Christ, and you put your life in His hands to obey Him, then you can have sweet assurance. Then you can have liberty. And it's not the liberty of deception, it's the liberty of the Son of God, whom the Son sets free. It's free indeed. Now, if I remember the story rightly, that minister's answer to that young lady really shook her. because she was among people who had the idea that you can make a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus and live as you like. But that answer shook her, and she decided and recognized that there's no way she could go back to the world and enjoy the Lord. And it's true. And we cannot offer any man, woman, or young person peace with God, assurance of eternal life. if you want to enjoy the world as well as make a profession of faith. Now, I'm not going to be your final judge, but I'll take my stand with that minister, and I'll say to you tonight, if you want the world, I can give you no assurance of eternal life. I cannot say to you that you have a new heart, a new nature, that you're right with God. The Bible insists repent. Turn. Obey. Seek the Lord. That's the gospel. And that's the battle that we're in tonight. If I had time, we could talk about modern ministries that want people to have it whatever way they want it. Just profess faith in Jesus and bring the world with you. That's not the gospel. That's a sham. And mothers and fathers, don't you settle for that with your children. Don't you raise your children on that lie. drill into your heart of your children that the Lord loveth righteousness and hates evil, and he will save us from it when we plead the gospel and plead for mercy.