Do Not Be Deceived
David W Palmer
(Matthew 24:4 CSB) Jesus replied to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you.”
When Jesus said this, he was in his final few days before his crucifixion. Knowing what was going to happen to him must have caused much deep thought; it must have brought his whole mission into clear focus. This was a time not only for reflection, for counting the cost, and for deep and holy communion with his Father; this was also a time for imparting his innermost values and urgent priorities to his apprentices. The Master would certainly have wanted to highlight essential truths for them, as they launched their apostolic ministries—for which he had been training them.
In the verse above, we see that our Lord warned his apprentices about deception; and he exhorted them to be vigilant and on guard against it. He also clearly predicted that “many” would fall for the enemy’s deception in the time in which we live:
(Matthew 24:5 NKJV) “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.”
Deception is malicious, powerful, and very—dare I say it—deceptive. Deception means to be misled into believing that something wrong is right. It is the Greek word used in the New Testament to describe what happens when a sheep goes “astray” from the flock (See: Mat. 18:12). So we can see that deception is a work of the enemy that causes members of Jesus’s flock to be led astray so that they wander off.
Satan is the “father” of lies—untruths that are uttered in an attempt to deceive:
(John 8:44 NKJV) “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
(Revelation 20:2–3 NKJV) He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; (3) and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more …
We see the origin of Satan’s deceptive ways described here:
(Ezekiel 28:17–18 NIV) Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings. (18) By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries. …
After his own proud, rebellious fall and expulsion from heaven, Satan—in the form of the “serpent”—began his deception of humans in the Garden of Eden; his deceptive lie to Eve focused on God’s prohibition of their partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil:
(Genesis 3:4–5 NKJV) Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. (5) For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Without a doubt, pride led to the fall, rebellion, and corruption of Lucifer. The pride that originated in him caused him to deceive Eve, which led in turn to her disobedient fall and the ensuing depravity of the whole human race:
(2 Corinthians 11:3 NKJV) But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
So, pride leads to deception, which leads to rebellion, which in turn leads to sin and all of its consequences (See: Rom. 3:10–18).
Interestingly, Jesus explained the right path—the opposite of the one leading to depravity and destruction. It happened at the feast of Tabernacles. Jesus had gone to Jerusalem “in secret,” but then suddenly arrived and began to teach:
(John 7:12, 14–15 NKJV) And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him. Some said, “He is good”; others said, “No, on the contrary, He deceives the people.” ... (14) Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught. (15) And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?”
One of the complaints that the “people” had about Jesus was that “he deceives the people.” Then when he began to teach, the Jews “marveled”; they asked how he could know all this information, “having never studied.” Their implication was the he had not studied under them. Let’s watch as Jesus explains to them, not only the origin of his doctrine, but how we can know true teaching—in other words, how we can avoid being led astray by deception:
(John 7:16–18 NKJV) Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. (17) If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. (18) He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.
Jesus is amazing; he is the Master of bright, crisp revelations. In one succinct statement, he has solved for us the problem of becoming deceived. He simply said that the true doctrine comes from God (in his written word through the illumination of the Holy Spirit—in other words, by revelation from heaven.)
What’s more, the Master told us how to qualify to receive the true doctrine: “If anyone wills to do his will …” God reveals his truth to hearts that are humbly willing to yield to him. Our Lord Jesus humbled himself and became obedient—to the point of death (See: Phil. 2:5–11). In the same essence, He was also the Truth (John 14:6). So, just as pride leads to deception, which leads to rebellion leading to depravity; humility leads to revelation, which in turn leads to submission, leading to maturity.
Yes, to avoid deception, we should “study” to show ourselves “approved” unto God (2 Tim. 2:15 KJV), and we need to meditate in God’s word “day and night” (Psalm 1). But we also need humble hearts that are fully submissive to God—wanting to do his will. Added to this, Jesus said that we should seek God’s glory in all of this, not our own; and that we should walk in God’s righteousness—which is another way of saying, live by faith.
Having been steeped in Western culture, and having been trained in scientific thinking—which works by sheer intellectual logic and reasoning—I have often wondered why Jesus said that arriving at the truth is based on humility and submission rather than logical steps of reasoning. Then I believe the Holy Spirit showed me a simple truth:
Satan’s spirit of deception is a personal, rational, localized being who is capable of thought, choice, and who is self-aware; in other words, he is a person. Because he is also the spirit of pride and rebellion, if we muse on proud rebellious thoughts; and if we commune with their images in our hearts, we are communing with the devil. If our spiritual intimacy is with his spirit, we have opened ourselves to the spirit of deception because they are one and the same person.
If, on the other hand, our spiritual communion is with the spirit of humility and submission, he is also the Holy Spirit of true wisdom and revelation. Fellowship with him—through humility, confession of Jesus as Lord, with a heart willing to do his will—leads to revelation. This is the only path to life. It is also the only way to truth. Without true revelation and wisdom from God, we simply cannot obey him. The outcome is then obvious.
Today, I encourage you to avoid deception, stay humbly submissive to the Holy Spirit just as Jesus did. Proud heart communion with any other spirit will sever you from God’s river of light and life; it will lead you to deception, which in turn will drag you into rebellion—thinking you are doing right when you are doing wrong.
After all, those who crucified Jesus thought they were doing right. (Through these studies, we have seen that Jesus’s crucifiers were not in submission to God, or they would have submitted humbly under John’s baptism.) Deception is a wicked and powerful force; it is far stronger than human reason or mere intellectual prowess. Once the enemy has seduced his targets into joining him in pride, they become blinded to the truth; and thus they blindly stumble into deception, disobedience, and finally, destruction.
(2 Corinthians 4:4 NKJV) Whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
(Ephesians 5:6–8 NKJV) Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. (7) Therefore do not be partakers with them. ( For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
Here are some more passages to help motivate you to stay out of deception:
(Genesis 3:13 NKJV) (13) And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
(1 Corinthians 15:33 NKJV) Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.”
(Galatians 6:7 NKJV) Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
(2 Timothy 3:13 NKJV) But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
(James 1:16 NKJV) Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
(Revelation 20:10 NKJV) The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
(Romans 1:21–23 RSV) For although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. (22) Claiming to be wise, they became fools, (23) and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles.