Everyday Church
Don't Be Deceived
(upbeat music) - Hello, friend. Welcome to today's podcast, Everyday Church, with Pastor Jason Kiefer. Everyday Church is the daily podcast where believers learn together, grow together, and serve together. - Hey, my friend. What's great to be with you today on the Everyday Church podcast, and I hope you're having a great day today in the Lord. And as always, it's good to be able to get together in God's Word. And I hope this is encouragement to you. Always just ever want someone I like to remind people that this is a great tool to kind of get you engaged in God's Word. It's not real exhaustive, it's more devotional. And it just helps us kind of find a starting place in the day. Maybe you're on your way to work, and maybe you're watching this, or listening to this later in the day. But whatever the case may be, I hope that you'll spend some time later after you listen to this, and maybe even through our time together, there's just some thoughts that come to mind, or maybe some scriptures or verses, you can follow up with those verses, and there'll be a help and encouragement to you. But as always, again, it's good to be together in God's Word. And last time we were together in John, in first John, we were talking about the love of the world, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, and all these things. Jesus said, he said, John said, if we love the world, the love of the Father is not in us. So he's been dealing a lot with what we love, what our passions are, one of the things in our church we've been talking about lately is serving Christ passionately. And certainly when we serve Christ passionately, it's going to, one of the ways that's gonna be seen is by our love, what we love, what do we desire, what are the things that we desire? Do we desire the things of Christ? Do we desire to walk in holiness? What does our time schedule look like, right? That kinda is a great picture of what we're passionate about. And so, but as we move on today, we're gonna be dealing with another issue, and this is the issue of deception. So, as was common, and John, remember he's writing to reassure them that they can know that they have salvation because these false teachers have come in, and they begin to teach things that are not true. They've crept in, and so we're gonna deal with that today in first John two and verse 18. The scriptures say this, little children, it is the last time as you have heard that antichrist shall come. Even now are there many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. I think today, and certainly as John's speaking here, before I get ahead of myself, as John's speaking here, it makes a statement in verse eight, and he says, little children, it is the last time. So, there's a time reference there, right? And what is John talking about when he talks about this is the last time? Well, he's speaking of the last days in which he would have been writing, and which we're part of as well. And so, there's a couple of questions when we see that, you know, the last time, what time is he speaking of? And when does that time begin? Why is that time so important? Well, the time that he's speaking over the last days, which began there, if you remember, on the day of Pentecost, you remember in Acts chapter two, when they begin, and the first part of Acts, when they begin to speak in tongues, and the Holy Spirit fell, and the people were saved and prophesied, and everyone in their own language heard, I mean, all these different languages were together, and everyone heard the gospel message, everyone heard what was being said in one common language. This was the Holy Spirit that was prophesied in the book of Joel, and you remember specifically in that prophecy, it said that in the last days that your sons and your daughters would prophesy. And so in Acts, when that happened, the reference was made and said this was that, which was prophesied by the prophet, Joel, that in the last days, your sons and daughters would prophesy. So I think we see the beginning there in the book of Acts, but it's referenced several other times throughout the scriptures, 2 Timothy 3. Paul makes a reference there about the perilous times that would come in the last days, it would be perilous times, and certainly, we continue to see those times falling upon us even now. Hebrews and Hebrews, the reference to the last days, is made that in these last days, he has spoken to us by his sons. Remember, in previous times, he spoke as the Holy Spirit moved upon prophets, but in these last days, he spoke to us through his son, Jesus Christ. And so I think John is referencing this to be specific that in the last days, first he says, you've heard that the Antichrist will come. Well, the Antichrist is someone who deceives people, he's anti-Christ, he's against Christ, but he deceives people by making people believe that he is Christ. Remember, Jesus spoke of this in the book of Matthew. He said, "Many will come in my name." There'll be many that profess they'll come in my name and that I'm the Christ. And that's not true. We know how Christ is going to come and how he's going to return and present himself. And so throughout the scriptures, we're told that this Antichrist would appear. Paul referred to him as the man of sin, right? That he would be revealed in Thessalonians. He talked about a great falling away. In this great falling away, the son of man will be revealed. And ultimately, the Antichrist will be revealed after the rapture, after the rapture. But what John's trying to get, the point John is trying to get to is he says, "But now there's many Antichrists." And what identifies that spirit of Antichrist is the spirit of deception. Because that's the whole premise on which the Antichrist will come in so that he can deceive many, and lead many away from the truth. And so the spirit of Antichrist was working in John's day. And certainly the spirit of Antichrist is working in our day, right? And we know there is a spirit of deception. The man is on our country, it's on the world. I'm just amazed at the disinformation that people will just latch onto. I used to think that how can people, how will people be deceived into believing a lie? You know, I used to think like, how can people be deceived into walking away from truth? And I think, man, more than ever, people believe anything, right? I mean, they believe anything, that you can have facts in front of them and show them that this is not the truth, what you're believing is not the truth. And they don't care. They don't care. And they're willingly, if I will talk about that being willingly ignorant, willingly not knowing. And so this spirit of deception was creeping into the church there. And so as Rhenon, he said, whereby we know that it is the last time, we know it's the end time because of the spirit of Antichrist that is creeping into the church. And he says, in verse 19, they went out from us, these people that were under the influence of this Antichrist spirit, this spirit of deception that they had been deceived. And also that they were deceiving others, this spirit is going to lead them out from among us, is what John's saying. Look, there's people they got in the church, they were embedded in the church and now people will wanna mend it, they quit. Why are they, they're just walking away from the faith. And I said, they were never part of us, right? For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. So what's the identifier of someone who is truly following Christ is that they continue in Christ, right? And I think that many people deceive themselves into thinking they're following Christ, but they're not continuing. Remember John 15 where Jesus talked about, I am the vine, you're the branches. And he says, abide in me and I am you. And abide in me and I am you, continue in me and let my word let truth continue in you. That's the mark of someone who's truly been born again. That's the mark of someone who is under the right spirit, the influence of the right spirit, the Holy Spirit. They're not deceived. And so he said if they had been of us, they would have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not of us. So it's when they come out, right? Or when they seemingly just abandon the faith or the spirit of deception leads them away from the church. The scriptures is telling us that here's the deal, this things of God and he's making manifests that they're really not of Christ. And how many times have you seen people that man, you thought they were the real deal, right? You thought through and through, they were genuine. Living in the faith, walking in the faith. You gotta be very careful. And I think that the Holy Spirit will help us and guides us into discerning truth so that we ourselves are not deceived. And he says, but you have an unction, you have an unction from the Holy One and you know all things and you know all things. So the key to being deception to not being deceived and John tells them is this. He says, hey, you have the Holy Spirit. You have the Holy Spirit living in you, right? We're sealed by the Holy Spirit by that spirit of promise unto the day of redemption. Be he filled with the Spirit, walk in the Spirit. And so the key to not being deceived is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will guide us in truth is what Jesus told us disciples in John chapter 16 is that the Holy Spirit would guide us into all truth. And I think there's a lot of believers today that are deceived into maybe thinking that you know, well, you know, I can kind of live this life that's kind of comfortable with the world. And yet, you know, I'm a Christian, I'm a believer. There's no sacrifice, there's no effort given to my walk with Christ. I think that's probably the biggest deception that's fallen upon the church today. In fact, you see that in the church of Laodicea where in Revelation the church of Laodicea just they thought they had a going on. And the reality is they didn't, right? They were lukewarm. And I think that's the spirit of deception that's fallen on the church today is that we are lulled to sleep. We're in this complacent way of thinking that, man, we're good. The Lord's coming back for us one day and, you know, just because we are who we are. He's gonna say, well done, I'm a good and faithful servant. And I think there's a danger in that. I think that we could learn from the scripture and understanding that the Holy Spirit is, if I'm in tune with the Holy Spirit, He's going to guide my heart away from deception and into truth, away from deception and into truth. And so don't be deceived, right? We hear that phrase several times about the New Testament, be not deceived. And so it's up to you and me to know truth, to be in tune with the Holy Spirit, to walk in truth. And so I would just say today that there's a great spirit of deception, but there is this, there is the Holy Spirit that is a great spirit of truth. And so we don't have to fall into deception. We don't have to be, fall prey to deception. We don't have to fall, we don't have to give way to deception. And why is that because we're standing on the truth? We're filled with the Holy Spirit that guides us in truth and that enables us to live and to walk in the truth. And so I would say that the key to not being deceived is to walk in the spirit and live in the spirit. I hope that's a help to you, encouragement to you today. And listen, don't be, you don't have to be afraid of what's coming, but I think we should be aware. I think we should be aware and realize that there's an enemy trying to deceive us. And I hope that's a help to you today. Listen, stay on guard today, walk in the spirit. And I know that God will guide you into great things. I love you praying for you. If I can be a help to you, please let me know. And let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, thank you for your mercies, for your goodness to us, for your love for us. We just ask Lord that you would be with us throughout the remainder of the day, Father. I pray God that you would go with us and guide our steps, guide us in truth. Father is what will pray it. God that you would do some great things in the lives of your people today. We love you, thank you, and your name we pray. Amen. (upbeat music) - Thank you for listening to Every Day Church, a daily podcast where believers learn together, grow together, and serve together. If this episode was an encouragement to you, be sure to hit like, share it, and subscribe for future content. (upbeat music)