False Teachers - Part 2

Temple Baptist Church - 8-13-2008

2 Corinthians 11:1-4

Introduction:

A. Last week, we saw the fulfillment of 2 Thessalonians 2 and other portions of Scripture dealing with the “falling away” of these last times.

B. The deception is strong! Wolves have “crept in unawares” and are now in prominent positions in pulpits, seminaries, television, and radio. Ignorant people listen to ignorant preacher and cleave to ignorant, damnable doctrines. Our pulpits are seemingly silent because “name calling” is no longer politically correct. People become offended when their idols are attacked. The Bible still says to identify these “wolves” and “mark” them for avoidance. These false brethren must be identified to our people. That is a vital part of the work of the under shepherd!
C. Yes, this “name calling” makes us “narrow minded.” A man once said that he was so narrow minded that a gnat could light on the bridge of his nose and kick out both eye balls at the same time. Narrow mindedness may be a problem in some areas of life but, spiritually, it is of necessity. Our minds should be as narrow as the Word of God is narrow! There is still:

Ephesians 4:4-6 [There is] one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. (Notice the repetitive use of the word “one!” The worldly religion and false prophets teach “many.”)

D. There is still only one Bible, one way of salvation, one correct doctrine, one Heaven, one hell, and one correct interpretation of Scripture!

E. I want to continue looking into this satanic deception that has taken both the world and most churches by storm in the last few decades. The deception is growing strong, the delusion is widespread, and the destruction is serious.

1. The Period Of Deception. – Once again, when you have a 2nd of two books in the New Testament, this 2nd book always deals with apostasy and the last days. Satanic deception has been from the beginning and will continue to the end of time as we know it.

a. There Was Deception In Heaven - Isaiah 14:12-15 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. (Satan was self-deceived and took down innumerable angels with him in the deception. How powerful must that deception have been to deceive these created beings who lived in the very presence of God!)

b. There Was Deception In Adam’s Day - Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? (Satan questioned God’s Word.)

Genesis 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: (Satan called God a liar! He attacked the veracity of God’s Word to the “weaker vessel.”)

c. There Was Deception In Moses’ Day - Deuteronomy 13:1-5 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; 3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. 5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn [you] away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee. (Though they may even perform miracles the end of their path shows the director of their dreams and the performer of their powers. Satan!)

d. There was Deception In Israel’s Day - 1 Kings 13:18 He said unto him, I [am] a prophet also as thou [art]; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. [But] he lied unto him. (Decietful and wicked men who knowingly speak lies with seared consciences! Hell must have a special place for these reprobates.)

e. There Was Deception In Elijah’s Day - 1 Kings 18:19 Now therefore send, [and] gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table. (Lying prophets tied to the political system through Roman Catholicism!)

f. There Was Deception In The Apostle’s Day - John 16:1 These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. 2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. 3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. 4 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. (The Apostles and preachers of this day were not at all popular. These false prophets and religionists hated God’s men and tried to defame and destroy them!)

g. There Will Be Deception In The Tribulation Period - Daniel 9:26-27 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof [shall be] with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. 27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make [it] desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Revelation 6:2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. (The “good guys” wear the white hats! He is the antitype of the coming Christ in Revelation 19.)

h. There Will Be Deception In The Millennium - Revelation 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. (The delusion has always been strong and continually strengthening. As long as there is a devil, there is a deception! Deception has been from the beginning and we are now seeing the fruit of 6,000 years of “fine tuning.”)

i. There Is Deception In These Last Days - 2 Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people (past tense), even as there shall be false teachers among you (future tense), who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and [by] our gathering together unto him, 2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; (Here we are in 2008! In the midst of the deception and “falling away” in the midst of the local churches. As the worldly song once said, “There is a whole lot of shaking going on.”)

j. Here are some portions of the Bible that well define our day of deception.

1) 1 Timothy 4:1-2

2) 1 Thessalonians 5:1-8

3) 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

4) 2 Timothy 3:1-9

5) 2 Timothy 4:1-4

6) 2 Peter 3:1-10

7) 1 John 2:18-29

8) 2 John 7-10

9) Jude 3-19

Conclusion:

Isaiah 21:11-12 The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? 12 The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come.

Another song once said, “Heavenly shades of night are falling, it’s twilight time.” It is now getting spiritually “dark” outside. We have watched—in our generation—the fulfilling of John 9:4, which states, “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” The “night” is the coming Tribulation period when our work day is done and we will be home. “I’ll be home before dark!”