Articles
Do Not Be Deceived
Do Not Be Deceived
9Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9–11 (ESV))
Deception is the great weapon of Satan. He is called the ‘deceiver of the word in Rev. 12:9. He was a liar from the beginning and when he speaks he lies (John 8: ). The various temptations that are set before us are just more of such deception. "It won’t hurt you." "It won’t cause you to be condemned." "It will give great pleasure." "It will make you wise as God." And so it goes.
There is no reason to allow ourselves to be deceived about such things for God has told us ahead of time. God will not surprise us on the day of judgment with some unknown law. That which God condemned in the first century is still condemned. The only thing about the temptation that has changed is that it is now US and not them.
Having warned us and instructed us concerning godliness and the judgment to come, God continually warned us about being deceived (see list below). The biggest problem most of us face with this is self-deception. WE are dealing with ourselves and we simply over-estimate our abilities and intuitions while underestimating the wrong. We end up judging ourselves by ourselves. We must have a better rule to judge by! We need to learn to judge ourselves in line with God’s Word.
Brethren - be not deceived! Hugh DeLong
