The Holy Spirit #6 – By Pastor George Lehman
John 16:7(Amp) – However, I am telling you nothing but the truth when I say it is profitable (good, expedient, advantageous) for you that I go away. Because if I do not go away, the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you [into close fellowship with you]; but if I go away, I will send Him to you [to be in close fellowship with you].
There is no worse screen to block out the Spirit than confidence in
our own intelligence. (John Calvin)
Reasoning spiritual things with a natural mind, Will only bring confusion.
Spiritual blindness births deception. You can have a lot of Bible knowledge and yet be spiritually blind.
Nearly every passage in the New Testament that has to do with ‘end of the age’ includes some kind of warning about being deceived.
Matthew 24:4-6 (NIV) – Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
Matthew 24:24 (NIV) – For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
The ‘elect’ or God’s chosen ones are not immune to deception.
To avoid being deceived, you must be able to identify the truth.
Pontius Pilate interrogated Jesus before His crucifixion.
Jesus told him…
John 18:37 (Amp) – Pilate said to Him, Then You are a King? Jesus answered, you say it! [you speak correctly!] For I am a King. [Certainly, I am a King!] This is why I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the Truth. Everyone who is of the Truth [who is a friend of the Truth, who belongs to the Truth] hears and listens to My voice.
Not the deceivers voice – God’s voice.
Pilate and philosophers have asked this question for 2500 years…
John 18:38a (NIV) – “What is truth?”
The co-ordinates of truth, like a GPS, you put in the co-ordinates, and you’ll get to your destination.
John 14:6 (Amp) – Jesus said to him, I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me.
Jesus is the TRUTH.
God’s word, the Bible is also TRUTH.
John 17:17 (Amp) – Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth.
The Spirit is also TRUTH.
1 John 5:6 (Amp) – It is the Spirit who bears witness [to Jesus Christ], because the Spirit is truth.
The truth is Jesus.
The truth is the Bible.
The truth is the Spirit.
To be sure you’re dealing with the truth therefore, you must ask three questions…
Is it true to Jesus?
Is it true to the Bible?
Does it have the witness of the Holy Spirit.
If these questions are answered in the affirmative[bevestigend], you may be confident that you have the truth.
How deception displaces the truth.
Paul’s warning about deception…
2 Corinthians 11:3-4 (NIV) – But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
How quickly we can lose our grasp on the truth – letting go to “put up with” false doctrine, lies, our own suitable interpretations.
Paul’s warning to the church in Colossae…
Colossians 2:8 (NIV) – See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.
Never forget this… To win worshippers to himself, Satan uses deception.
Revelation 12:9 (Amp) – And the huge dragon was cast down and out—that age-old serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, he who is the seducer (deceiver) of all humanity the world over; he was forced out and down to the earth, and his angels were flung out along with him.
Deception is something to which all of us are susceptible *(Vatbaar); no one should assume they are immune to it.
Galatians 6:3 (NIV) – If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves.
Satan uses pride and deception to win people’s worship.
I believe pride is the primary door through which deception takes hold of our lives and misleads us.
Proverbs 11:2 (NIV) – When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.
A proud person is not teachable. They become a ‘know it all’.
They become prime target no.1 to the enemy.
The result…
Psalm 59:12 (NIV) – For the sins of their mouths, for the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride.
Pride will cause you to be deceived in the way you serve God. It will be mixed good and evil.
God’s view on pride because He knows how it can lead us away from truth into deception.
James 4:6 (Amp) – But He gives us more and more grace (power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this evil tendency and all others fully). That is why He says, God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace [continually] to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it).
If we are walking the pathway of truth and humility our light should grow brighter daily as we grow closer to God.
If your light is not getting brighter then you are in danger of backsliding, of relying on self-made methods of deception.
Proverbs 4:18 (Amp) – But the path of the [uncompromisingly] just and righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines more and more (brighter and clearer) until [it reaches its full strength and glory in] the perfect day [to be prepared].
