Don't Fall Prey

00:00 - Announcer (Announcement) Real Life presents the Jack Hibbs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. 00:09 - Jack Hibbs (Host) Hey you guys, I'm going to be talking to you just very, very personally about deception and I'm just going to pick up a few elements out of the latest book, Living in the Days of Deception. But I'm going to be reading from Scripture and I'm wondering if you're falling prey to Satan's tactics of deceiving you. Let's jump into this. 00:32 - Announcer (Announcement) You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com Today. If this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us that's like saying Amen or yes. Then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now open your hearts to what God's Word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. 01:01 - Jack Hibbs (Host) Hey everybody, we're going to be talking about deception and, yes, it's elements taken out of the book Living in the Days of Deception and, as you guys have well heard by now, you can get this wherever books are sold. You can get it at jackhibbs.com but there's a chapter in this book that deals with the issue. In fact, several chapters deal with the issue of specific deceptions that are prevailing not only prevailing, but prevailing based upon listen, based upon the very prophetic word of Jesus. So deception is not something that we are being victims of or victimized by. The fact is Jesus Christ himself, the Old Testament bears witness and the epistles of the apostles all speak about deception. Now here's the thing, and this is very sobering and it's something that I hesitate because you might be tempted to not take yourself down this road, and yet it's a road that I must take myself down several times a week. When I say several times a week, I say this because I studied the Bible for teaching several times a week, because I preach and teach two different sermons from two different books of the Bible each week. And, having said that, this is what I mean, that I am constantly concerned with my sword. I trust up and my shield of faith up, sword the word, shield the faith up, looking for and watching out for how I could be deceived. 02:55 Now you might say, oh, that's ridiculous. That's too. What a depressing thought. I never think like that. Yeah, you need to stop writing that off, because all of us need to be extremely careful regarding deception and the number one element of deception that we can figure out. And I say that as someone who joins the ranks of Christians for 2,000 years, where we do our best to figure out and search for and watch out for deception. Because if Eve and Adam can be deceived by Satan's work and if great people throughout history can be deceived by Satan's plots and plans If Jesus said, if it were possible, even my very elect would be deceived then please do not assume that you cannot be deceived. The moment you assume that you cannot, that you're somehow what super Christian or that you are somehow galvanized against it because you don't think it's going to happen. That's one of the tall tale signs that you are slipping into. Deception is that you would say that can't happen to you. Thank God, paul the Apostle didn't have that attitude. 04:24 Paul the Apostle was always on guard regarding the deception that Satan would launch against him, don't you think, peter, who was pretty much full of himself, like many in the church today. And then he encounters a great humbling and Jesus tells him Peter, I want you to know something, that Satan has approached me and he has asked me that he could have you. So Satan knocks on the door of Jesus and says hey, can Peter come out in play? Satan had no games in mind except to destroy Peter. But Jesus, who knew all things, handed Peter over to Satan's temptations. And remember, jesus said Peter, satan has asked for you to sift you as wheat when you return. Isn't that frightening statement. When you return, strengthen your brothers. 05:27 And then, right after that, peter denies Jesus Christ three times. But he did that because he became full of himself. You see, jack, that's a mean thing to say. No, it's not. It's very accurate when Jesus said Jesus, I want you to know something that Satan has approached me and All are going to forsake me". And Peter said not me. All these other losers, they might forsake you, but not me, jesus, you can count on me. And Jesus announced to him I tell you what Peter, before the rooster crows three times, you will have denied me thrice, three times. What a shock, right? So what if I were to say to you, what if you were to say to me hey, as followers of Jesus, we better be very, very careful Now. 06:10 I do not believe personally that Satan can steal your salvation. I think if you are truly born again, you cannot be unborn again. So the burden is upon you to determine are you truly born again? And if I have to explain what that means to you, then you're not. Okay, that's a very important thing. I just said. If I have to explain to you what being born again is, then you're not, because all those who are in the family of God know that they are. But that doesn't keep us from being deceived. We can be deceived by false teachers and false prophets, and thus you and I are living in the days of deception. 06:51 And so Jesus said to the disciples when they took him to Jerusalem to show him and to kind of boast actually about it. You can read you can start reading in Matthew, chapter 23, at about verse 37, right into chapter 24. And the disciples showed Jesus all the grandeur and beauty of the temple and how beautiful it says how beautiful the stones were. And you know, if you've never been to Jerusalem what it actually is saying, because you have to witness these stones when you go to Jerusalem, when they show Jesus, all of these massive foundation stones that are, some of them the size of an 18-wheeler container shipping container truck Massive, some of the biggest stones on earth were the foundational stones to the temple. Jesus said to them I'm going to tell you something. These are all going to be torn down. And they were so shocked they said they actually asked three questions with one statement In Matthew, chapter 24. They said when's this going to happen? How can this be and what will be the sign of the end of the world? Jesus, number one answer to all three questions. By the way, that's your homework. Go to Matthew 24 and see if you can find the three questions they ask in one breath. Jesus has the same answer for all three questions. 08:34 Beware that no one deceives you. Hey Jesus, when is that going to happen? Beware that no one deceives you. How could this possibly be? Beware that nobody deceives you. When's the end of the world? Notice they equated the destruction of the temple with the end of the world, because the temple is where you met up with God. They hadn't figured out yet that God would soon be living inside of them, because the day of Pentecost had not yet come and Jesus' answer to them was be careful, beware that nobody deceives you. That's the number one thing. The biggest burden on Jesus' heart before the end came for him and his earthly life, was watch out, you guys, that nobody deceives you. He spoke that to his brethren, to the apostles. It's pretty remarkable. So check this out about deception and why this book was written living in the days of deception. So if Jesus said watch out that nobody deceives you, in Matthew, chapter 7, jesus says many false prophets will come in my name and they will do great signs and wonders and deceiving many. Okay, so Paul writes to Timothy years later. 09:57 In Timothy first, timothy, chapter 4, verse 1, he says now the Spirit expressly says that's an awesome statement. The Holy Spirit has extremely specifically, crystal-clearly, has revealed something to us. What is that? That in the latter times or the end of days, some will depart from the faith. It doesn't mean they lose their salvation. It means that they were people who were among you and I, who were looking just like you and I, maybe even better than you and I. 10:33 But when times of difficulty, trial, persecution, like 2024, for example, in the world, that the pressures that hit cause them to collapse. Okay, so listen, when difficult times come, the Christian does not need to be afraid, because the Christian and their faith will be tested and proven. True, the world might be on fire, but the believer knows. Hey, you know what. This is terrible, what's happening, but God's in control and I don't know where we're going to eat next, but we belong to God. Versus people who go to church every Sunday with you, sit right next to you and when a bad day hits them, or when their tire blows out, or when their kids got cancer, they say that's it, I'm out here. This God is a flake, I don't want anything to do with them, and they leave. That doesn't shock God and it shouldn't shock any of us. 11:31 We're living in a time of purification right now. We've been in it for a few years, but it's heating up. So the Spirit especially says that in the latter time, some will depart from the faith. Here it is giving heat to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. That's what you and I are living through right now. These are the days of deception, deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. Deceiving spirits refers to demonic, satanic fallen angels and or demons. Yes, there's a difference between the two, but they are grouped together under their leader, their master Lucifer Satan, to perpetrate deception. That's the goal, that's the plan to get you deceived. And if they were able to deceive Satan was able to deceive so many for the last 2000 years very subtly, remember what Satan said. 12:26 It might be the only true thing Satan has ever said. That's recorded in the Bible. He says, skin for skin, man will do anything to save his own skin, and that's a fact. Satan said that to God regarding Job. Man will do anything to save his own skin unless there's a greater love that lives inside that man, and that greater love is gotta be the dwelling of God in your life. Only then will you lay down your life for others. But Satan knows us pretty well and he knows that we are susceptible to deception. 13:04 And the more blatantly bold the deception, the less effective it is. The more subtle, silent, veiled, the more dressed up in morality, goodness, religion, faith, christianity, the more dangerous it is. And so Jesus is warning us. And here we are. In the last days and that is not my opinion Jesus said, john said in 1st and 2nd John it's the last days. These are the last days. What does that mean? That means regarding the church, it's quite possible that the church's lifespan, from Pentecost to the raptures maybe 2000 years old. We're at the end of all this. 13:52 The culmination of the age regarding the church is clearly evident to all who'll see. Look around the world the church is all but irrelevant. Look around the world the church is all but silent. Look around the world the church is all but effective. Look around the world the church is all but a little bit. Maybe Philadelphia and somewhere it's predominantly a Laodicean church. It's a Laodicean church world. But glory be to God. 14:21 If you stay in the Word and you are committed to Him and to the proclamation of the gospel and you do not deny His word or His name, then it's going to end well with you. But we must stay clear of deception. And so when Paul says to Timothy, these very specific attacks are going to come by the doctrines of demons, the word doctrine is simply teachings. We could say, in a business sense, the protocols, the procedures. Well, in a spiritual sense, there's going to be teachings. 14:58 Now, listen, everyone, there's going to be teachings that you and I are going to hear by someone that looks just like us, they are being operated by demonic doctrines. Do they know it? They may or may not know it, but they have gotten off of the orthodoxy of Scripture and they're teaching things that might be listen, that might be a new revelation from God. I just got it last night when I was praying and God told me this you won't find it in the Bible per se, but this is the word of the Lord to you. And boom, they say something and think about it. If you ever hear such a thing and you don't get up and walk out, then you're sitting in a pool, a cesspool of people that are deceived, if they can hear stuff like that and chuckle oh wow, ooh, listen, he's going to tell us something that's not in the Bible. Ooh, what could that be? This is going to be great. You're deceived. You're in the state of being deceived, if you're not already deceived. 16:21 Paul said in Acts 1711, search the Scriptures regarding every single thing I say, judge it against the Bible. Man, churches ought to be doing that. Why? Because doctrines of demons today are prevailing. Big names, friends, big names. You have some of their books on your shelf and they have drifted. You may or may not know them yet as having drifted. But there are famous household bestselling names of authors and Christian leaders, pastors, and they have departed from orthodoxy, but they're living off the fame of their name and no one dare mention their names because they are household religious icons, because people like the Corinthians fell for the line of deception and embraced personality cults. Oh, he makes me laugh. Oh, he's such a beautiful author. This person can write these stories. He's such a great storyteller. I've got all of his books, or all of her books, and don't you dare say anything bad about them. You're stuck in a personality cult and many of them have departed from the faith. But the news, or the, I guess yeah, I'll say it this way the news hasn't hit the fan. But when it does, it might be too late for you if you're swallowing what they are selling. So be very, very careful about that. 17:58 And so it's not only doctrines of demons, but it's just deceiving spirits themselves. Doctrines of demons and deceiving spirits. The spirit in this portion of scripture would be functioning this way. The spirit is saying you know, I think God just wants you sincere about whatever it is you believe in. He knows your heart. You're basically a very good person. In fact, look around, do you know anybody else that is quite like you? Yeah, I know those other people. They need to read their Bibles or they need to go to church because you see, they're weak, but not you. You're different, you're very special. 18:48 And so you see this kind of it's Satan coming along and didn't he say psst to Eve Heth? God said oh, eve, he God knows he doesn't want competition, he knows that the day that you eat of the fruits, you're going to be just like him. And truth is he doesn't want you like him. And he lies to her and in her mind, remember, she's perfect, you're not perfect, I'm not perfect, she was perfect. In her mind, she thinks, yeah, I guess God's been holding out on me, because if I would have been God, I would have made sure that Adam and I had this fruit. And so, yeah, I think you're right, feels right to me. And so she eats of it and plunged you and I and everybody else into the predicament that we're in right now. And how'd that come about? 19:45 Deception, deceiving spirits will whisper to you, demons will give you false doctrine, and they work together. And that is a very, very important thing to remember. Listen to this in Scripture. First Thessalonians, chapter 5, check this out. First Thessalonians, chapter 5,. 20:06 The Bible says now, concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves know, wow, you yourselves know that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. Do you believe that this is a trick question? Do you believe that the Lord… so comes as a thief in the night? I believe it, but pay close attention to what I'm going to read to you. I believe it applies to certain people and I am not going to be by his grace. Those people. Listen carefully. Hopefully I got your attention on that, for you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. 21:01 That's interesting. Listen up everybody. That implies that there is a way of escape, because those who say peace and safety, they're not reading the scriptures, they're not being aware, they're not in tune, they are not aware that there is a way of escape, because the Bible here tells you they shall not. They shall not escape the natural question in your Bible class would be who are they that do not escape, and what does escape mean? Escape from what? 21:40 You have to ask these questions when you read in the Bible and it says that you brethren or, but you brethren are not in darkness. Notice the difference between they and brethren. And Paul calls the brethren you. He puts himself among the brethren, but you, brethren, are not in darkness so that this day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep. He's talking about being spiritually lazy, as others do, but let us watch and be sober For those who sleep. Spiritually lazy for those who sleep, sleep at night and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and, as a helmet, the hope of salvation, for God did not appoint us to wrath. Interesting know, the escape is the escaping of God's wrath. Did you see that the Bible just answered the question that you just had about escaping? But to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, and whether we are awake or asleep, living or dead, we should live together with Him. Therefore, comfort each other and edify one another, just as you are also doing. What an amazing, amazing promise. 23:17 Don't be deceived. If you are being deceived, it's because you've allowed yourself to be deceived. Wow, I got to tell you. This is going to sound kind of crummy. There's a good chance that you're not going to believe me. I get it. I wouldn't have believed me either if I would have said this 10 years ago. But unless someone's dead, I don't want to hear from them. Isn't that a terrible thing to say? You say well, if I plug that to you, I'm going to turn you off. I get it, turn me off. I totally get it. But when I'm talking about doctrine, bible teaching, sermons, reading books unless they're dead, they're not read Because people who are alive, they can fall into these categories of being deceived. 24:07 And I can mention one book after another that we have had over the last several years removed from our bookstore at our church because these guys have fallen from Orthodox Christian character. It's pretty hard for Charles Spurgeon to fall from Christian character he's dead. It's pretty tough for AW Tozer to mess up, or AB Simpson or JC Ryle or Phil and the Blank, charles Stanley dead, right, chuck Smith dead. Everything they've done is out there and you approach everything that they've done by reading the Bible, judging whatever they've said. That's the tough part for you and I you and I are still alive right now. At this moment. 24:54 Now God has given pastor teachers to churches. The problem, scary thing about that, is evangelists pastors who are teachers and teachers. You can be a pastor but you have to have the gift of teaching. You can be a teacher and not be a pastor. That's a gift or gifts in the Bible makes it clear Ephesians 4. That's another study for some other day. You can be an evangelist. These are verbal gifts, right. 25:23 The tough thing about these things is that these are callings of God and they are implemented by God, but it doesn't keep somebody from crashing their calling. There may be people in your life that have hurt you terribly, that were in the ministry. They may be Christians and they may be going to heaven, but they got sideways and all messed up and they wound up disqualifying themselves and in the wake of their antics, are a bunch of broken people like you. I get it the only comfort that I have right now, and even being behind this microphone right now, is because I'm in the Word of God every single day. To prevent myself from being deceived Because of this, I listen and spend more time in this book than any other thing Period, period and I want you to start doing the same thing. 26:24 If your Bible is not your primary diet, then you're in danger. In these last days Listen, friends, big stuff going on, crazy world. So listen. As always, you guys know this as always, we believe that it's always time for us to live out our faith in Jesus Christ in a real and tangible way, in a very, very practical way. So it's always time to live out what it is that you believe in, that's what we believe, that's what we believe here at Real Life. And so because of that, friends, judge everything that you hear in this program against the Bible, and that goes for everybody else, because what you get in, what you allow in, even if you don't like it, it's going to be part of your DNA, spiritually speaking. God bless you guys, take care. 27:23 - Announcer (Announcement) This Jack Hibbs podcast, as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities, are listener supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibbs.com to learn more and stay connected.