Deception is the act of deceiving or being deceived, of misleading or being misled. An exception is something other than what's generally true, something other than what's normal. Deception that's not the exception is beguilement, that, has in fact, become the normal state of being. Deception itself is intangible, it cannot be seen with the eye, but the result of deception is a misapplication of truth, meaning a failure to apply truth altogether or to apply it incorrectly. I am saying this deception is the general rule today, it's the norm, not the exception.
We are going to look at some passages of scripture that, I believe, give us an accurate picture of the deception I have described and also contain the result and the remedy. The first step to revival will always be recognizing there's a need for it, not in others or the world, but in yourself. God needs to do something new in us if we're going to reach this generation.
Matt 11:1-6 And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, and said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
This is familiar to us, it's a passage generally used to show how someone can have great faith, then leave that faith and move to doubt. I'm asking you today to consider it could show us something else as well.
The entire passage, I believe, can be correctly understood by the last thing Jesus says to John's disciples before they return to him, “blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me”. Offended here means to put a stumbling block or impediment in the way, upon which another may trip and fall. So an offense can be an impediment or cause of stumbling. Offended also means to see in another something you disapprove of that would cause you to fail to acknowledge their authority.
John had been faithful to his calling, preparing the way of Jesus to begin His earthly ministry. At the time of John sending men to Jesus, that ministry was in full swing. The blind were receiving their sight, the lame were walking, the lepers were being cleansed, and the deaf were having their hearing restored, the dead were being raised up and the poor were having the gospel preached to them. Jesus was in fact who He claimed to be and who John proclaimed He was, but now John was offended, that's what Jesus said, not me. Why should John who was faithful in every way not be at Jesus' side as His right hand. John was perhaps thinking of himself and that self-interest became a stumbling block. If John was doubting who Jesus was it happened because he was stumbling over himself. Self-seeking is an instant path to deception. I believe among Christians today that's the rule, not the exception.
Let's look at another passage occurring right after Jesus proclaims John the greatest of all prophets. It too shows us a great deception.
Matt 11:16-19 But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.
It's interesting that Jesus uses children as the example here, it speaks of the immaturity of their actions. Notice also Jesus uses these children to describe what's happening within a generation, I believe it's still happening today. The children say, “We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented”. This is my paraphrase, “You won't do what we want you to do when we want you to do it”. Again, self-seeking is an instant path to deception. How is it that people could believe God should do what they want, when and how they want it? The truth is most don't, they are deceived into believing God wants the same things they do. Notice the rest of what Jesus says, “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners”. The self-seeking are never satisfied. You can go from one extreme to the other, it makes no difference, the deception of the self-seeker is complete. Only what they want, when and how they want it will suffice.
Jesus ends by saying, “But wisdom is justified of her children.” Wisdom is the correct use of knowledge. Justified means shown to be righteous. Children speaks of offspring. The correct use of knowledge is shown righteous by what it produces. John the Baptist and Jesus were largely rejected, but the results of the truth they preached was evidence they were of God. Let's look at the result of deception in some other parables of Jesus.
Matt 13:24-30 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
From Jesus' own declaration we know that the sower represents the Son of God, the good seeds are the children of the kingdom, the field is the world and the tares are the children of the wicked one. The tares look like wheat, but they bring forth no fruit. The tares were sowed by the wicked one, meaning the devil. The self-seeker is an easy target for the devil. The best way to deceive someone is get them self-interested, the devil is a master at that. Dennis Kinlaw said, “Satan disguises submission to himself under the ruse of personal autonomy. He never asks us to become his servants. Never once did the serpent say to Eve, “I want to be your master”. The shift in commitment is never from Christ to evil; it's always from Christ to self. And instead of God's will, self-interest now rules and what I want reigns. And that is the essence of sin.” What's most disturbing to me in this parable is what Jesus says at the end, “Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn”. Trying to uproot the tares would damage the wheat. When you have a deception that's so deep and widespread that attacking it directly would damage faithful believers you have an impossible situation. The only recourse is to get God involved.
Matt 13:47-50 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
In this parable the casting of the net is the preaching of the word of God, the fish caught are people responding to the preaching. From the context the preaching must include both good and bad preaching. I say that because God is not the only one who has preachers, the devil has them too, even if they don't know it, and the net is gathering all who respond. The net gathers fish of every kind and when it's full they draw it to shore and proceed to gather in the good and cast the bad away. Many are in danger of being cast away because of the great deception I've been speaking of. How many are actually concerned about that?
We are going to look at some passages of scripture that, I believe, give us an accurate picture of the deception I have described and also contain the result and the remedy. The first step to revival will always be recognizing there's a need for it, not in others or the world, but in yourself. God needs to do something new in us if we're going to reach this generation.
Matt 11:1-6 And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, and said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
This is familiar to us, it's a passage generally used to show how someone can have great faith, then leave that faith and move to doubt. I'm asking you today to consider it could show us something else as well.
The entire passage, I believe, can be correctly understood by the last thing Jesus says to John's disciples before they return to him, “blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me”. Offended here means to put a stumbling block or impediment in the way, upon which another may trip and fall. So an offense can be an impediment or cause of stumbling. Offended also means to see in another something you disapprove of that would cause you to fail to acknowledge their authority.
John had been faithful to his calling, preparing the way of Jesus to begin His earthly ministry. At the time of John sending men to Jesus, that ministry was in full swing. The blind were receiving their sight, the lame were walking, the lepers were being cleansed, and the deaf were having their hearing restored, the dead were being raised up and the poor were having the gospel preached to them. Jesus was in fact who He claimed to be and who John proclaimed He was, but now John was offended, that's what Jesus said, not me. Why should John who was faithful in every way not be at Jesus' side as His right hand. John was perhaps thinking of himself and that self-interest became a stumbling block. If John was doubting who Jesus was it happened because he was stumbling over himself. Self-seeking is an instant path to deception. I believe among Christians today that's the rule, not the exception.
Let's look at another passage occurring right after Jesus proclaims John the greatest of all prophets. It too shows us a great deception.
Matt 11:16-19 But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.
It's interesting that Jesus uses children as the example here, it speaks of the immaturity of their actions. Notice also Jesus uses these children to describe what's happening within a generation, I believe it's still happening today. The children say, “We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented”. This is my paraphrase, “You won't do what we want you to do when we want you to do it”. Again, self-seeking is an instant path to deception. How is it that people could believe God should do what they want, when and how they want it? The truth is most don't, they are deceived into believing God wants the same things they do. Notice the rest of what Jesus says, “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners”. The self-seeking are never satisfied. You can go from one extreme to the other, it makes no difference, the deception of the self-seeker is complete. Only what they want, when and how they want it will suffice.
Jesus ends by saying, “But wisdom is justified of her children.” Wisdom is the correct use of knowledge. Justified means shown to be righteous. Children speaks of offspring. The correct use of knowledge is shown righteous by what it produces. John the Baptist and Jesus were largely rejected, but the results of the truth they preached was evidence they were of God. Let's look at the result of deception in some other parables of Jesus.
Matt 13:24-30 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
From Jesus' own declaration we know that the sower represents the Son of God, the good seeds are the children of the kingdom, the field is the world and the tares are the children of the wicked one. The tares look like wheat, but they bring forth no fruit. The tares were sowed by the wicked one, meaning the devil. The self-seeker is an easy target for the devil. The best way to deceive someone is get them self-interested, the devil is a master at that. Dennis Kinlaw said, “Satan disguises submission to himself under the ruse of personal autonomy. He never asks us to become his servants. Never once did the serpent say to Eve, “I want to be your master”. The shift in commitment is never from Christ to evil; it's always from Christ to self. And instead of God's will, self-interest now rules and what I want reigns. And that is the essence of sin.” What's most disturbing to me in this parable is what Jesus says at the end, “Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn”. Trying to uproot the tares would damage the wheat. When you have a deception that's so deep and widespread that attacking it directly would damage faithful believers you have an impossible situation. The only recourse is to get God involved.
Matt 13:47-50 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
In this parable the casting of the net is the preaching of the word of God, the fish caught are people responding to the preaching. From the context the preaching must include both good and bad preaching. I say that because God is not the only one who has preachers, the devil has them too, even if they don't know it, and the net is gathering all who respond. The net gathers fish of every kind and when it's full they draw it to shore and proceed to gather in the good and cast the bad away. Many are in danger of being cast away because of the great deception I've been speaking of. How many are actually concerned about that?
