Truth or Deception
Psalm 32:2 (ESV) Blessed is the man against
whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in
whose spirit there is no deceit.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a
new creation. The old has passed away;
behold, the new has come.
2 Corinthians 10:3–6 (ESV)
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war
according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not
of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We
destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the
knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey
Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your
obedience is complete.
Counterfeit versus Real in the
Christian life
Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive by
philosophy and empty deceit, according to human
tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world,
and not according to Christ. ESV
Deception versus Truth
Psalm 32:2 (ESV) Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts
no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
Prayer
• Psalm 139:23–24 (NLT) — 23 Search me, O God, and know
my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point
out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the
path of everlasting life.
I. Deception
WHY DID ISRAEL WANT TO
WORSHIP IDOLS
The temptation to follow false gods because of
short-term benefits, good feelings, easy "rules," or
convenience was always present. But the benefits were
deceptive because the gods were false. We worship God
because he is the one and only God. Life
Application Bible - Judge 3
Ways you can be deceived by
the world
Believing that acquiring money and things
will bring lasing happiness
• 1 Timothy 6:10 (ESV) For the love of money is a root of all
kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have
wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with
many pangs.
Believing that excessive food and alcohol can
relieve your stress and make you happy
• Proverbs 23:19–21 (ESV) — 19 Hear, my son, and be wise,
and direct your heart in the way. 20 Be not among drunkards
or among gluttonous eaters of meat, 21 for the drunkard and
the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe
them with rags.
Believing that gratifying sexual lust
will bring lasing satisfaction
• 1 Peter 2:11 (ESV) Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and
exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage
war against your soul.
Believing you can sin and get away with
it without any negative consequences
• Hebrews 3:12–13 (ESV) — 12 Take care, brothers, lest there
be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall
away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every
day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be
hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Believing you need more than God has
given you in Christ
• 2 Corinthians 11:3–4 (ESV) — 3 But I am afraid that as the serpent
deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a
sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes and
proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a
different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different
gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.
Believing that the unrighteous people who refuse to
accept Christ will go to heaven anyway.
• 1 Corinthians 6:9–11 (ESV) — 9 Or 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, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor
revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And 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.
Believing . . .
What is truth?
Truth Defined?
• John 14:6 (ESV) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth,
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
• John 17:17 (ESV) Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
Truth lived
• John 16:13 (ESV) When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide
you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority,
but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you
the things that are to come.
• Ephesians 4:15 (ESV) Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are
to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
Truth results
• Result of Truth is Faith
• Joy and Freedom come from walking in truth
• 1 John 1:7 (ESV) But if we walk in the light, as he is in
the light, we have fellowship with one another, and
the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
• Will you be deceived or live in truth?
• We have a choice
• Choices have Consequences