Do Not Be Deceived, Part 1

David W Palmer

Jesus had concluded his ministry in the temple; he had made one final attempt to bring life to the chief priests, scribes, lawyers, and Pharisees. But he had denounced their current state, and he had warned others not to imitate it.

(Matthew 24:1 NKJV) Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple.

As they were departing, the Master’s apprentices mentioned the awesome stones and buildings of the temple. He responded with a prophecy:

(Matthew 24:2 NKJV) And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

The disciples—having finally learned from his extensive teaching on the parable of the sower—came to him privately for more detail on what he had just said. They now understood that it was “those around him with the twelve” who receive “the mystery of the kingdom of God” (Mark 4:10–11 NKJV):

(Matthew 24:3 NKJV) Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

Jesus’s apprentices sincerely wanted to know about the future; they knew they were in the right place, and using the right approach to find out. So in private, when he was sitting on the Mount of Olives ready to talk, they asked him three questions:

“When will these things be?” This referred to Jesus’s previous statement about the buildings of the temple that stood in their day: “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another that shall not be thrown down.” Wisely, the disciples came back to him “privately,” asking when the destruction of the temple would take place.

“What will be the sign of your coming?” This was another brilliant question; but just because they asked their first two questions together that doesn’t necessarily imply that they will happen concurrently.

“What will be the sign of … the end of the age?” This question may be coupled to the preceding one.

(Matthew 24:4 CSB) Jesus replied to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you.”

To begin his answer, our Lord brought up a crucial topic, deception. What’s more, he revealed something critical to our avoidance of it; because he said this as a directive— “watch out”—we can see that the power to avoid deception is in our hands. The Holy Spirit concurs, and expands this point many times. He repeatedly says, “Do not be deceived.” For example, through John the Holy Spirit said:

(1 John 2:26–29 NKJV) “These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. {27} But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. {28} And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. {29} If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.”

The Holy Spirit is keen for us to know that through his word—these things I have “written” to you—and his abiding inner communion with us, he can help keep us out of deception. As we saw in Mat. 24:4 (CSB), Jesus urges us to “watch out” so that we avoid deception. The word he uses here is “blepo,” the same word he used when he said: “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He ‘sees’ the Father do” (John 5:19); and when he said, “‘Take heed’ what you hear” (Mark 4:24). It means: to see, to look on, to perceive, to discover, and to see with the mind’s eye.

When Jesus said he only did what he “sees” with his Father, because God is a spirit, he was talking about seeing something in the spirit realm. This is what the Holy Spirit exhorts us to do too, if we want to avoid deception; he is saying that we should imitate Jesus; we should meditate on God’s word, while communing with the Holy Spirit. As we obtain his revelation of it, we will have the light we need to see any deception a mile off, so to speak. But remember; in this process, Jesus emphatically taught:

(Mark 4:24–25 NKJV) Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. {25} For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”

(Matthew 24:4 BSB) Jesus answered, “See to it that no one deceives you.”

If we want to obey Jesus’s directive here and avoid the enemy’s deception in these treacherous end times, we need to follow the Holy Spirit’s advice. After all, his presence— “the anointing which you have received from Him”—abides in you (1 John 2:27 NKJV); and he is the “Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive” (John 14:17 NKJV). He is guiding you into all truth (John 16:13). So, we already have the three essential ingredients for receiving all the revelation we need in order to avoid deception:

The new birth—without which you can’t even “see” the Kingdom of God (John 3:3)

The written word of God—the whole bag full of God’s precious seeds (“I have written to you”)

The Holy Spirit—the agent of revelation

We lack nothing that we need to heed and obey both Jesus and the Holy Spirit in their warnings: “Watch out that no one deceives you”; “do not be deceived.” Praise the Lord for that, because the Master went on to say:

(Matthew 24:5 NKJV) “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.”

Not only did Jesus say that the perpetrators of evil and deception will deceive people over his identity, but he said that it would work on “many” people.

Today, in view of this, I feel to impress upon you the urgency of seeking the true revelation of God’s word with fresh zeal and heartfelt passion—like never before. This is the day when the battle for truth is on.

Near the end of his epistles to us, the Holy Spirit said through Jude:

(Jude 1:3–4 AMPC) “Beloved, my whole concern was to write to you in regard to our common salvation. But I found it necessary and was impelled to write you, and urgently appeal to, and exhort you to, contend for the faith, which was once for all handed down to the saints {4} For certain men have crept in stealthily—gaining entrance secretly by a side door. Their doom was predicted long ago, ungodly (impious, profane) persons, who pervert the grace (the spiritual blessing and favor) of our God into lawlessness and wantonness and immorality, and disown and deny our sole Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).”

We are going to have to “contend earnestly for the [true] faith” (Jude 1:3 NKJV). This is not only talking about debating those who disagree with us—after all, we could be burning up a lot of precious time and energy while casting our proverbial pearls before swine if we do this unwisely. The Holy Spirit is talking about contending with the enemy for the truth in our own hearts and minds and in those for whom he has given us responsibility. In view of his exhortation to “contend earnestly,” it sounds like the warfare over the truth in our hearts is going to be heating up. I exhort you; making time to be at Jesus’s feet with the Holy Spirit in God’s word is our priority. Deception is real; it comes from, and leads directly back to hell.

Beginning now, and then intensifying until the time of Jesus’s return, we are going to encounter the “certain men” that the Holy Spirit says “have crept in stealthily.” These deceivers want to replace true “grace” (which is God’s power to live a holy life) with a license to sin. They say that all of our sin was completely dealt with at the cross—past, present, and future. This of course is close to the truth, so it makes an effective way to introduce a deception. However, their application of what Jesus achieved is license, not grace; they wrongly conclude that there is, therefore, no need to ever repent or confess any sin. This could quickly lead to the assumption that if you are saved, sin doesn’t matter; so you can simply commit it without any consequences.

What’s more, the Holy Spirit says they will “deny our sole Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” Surely we would spot this abhorrent lie if they flatly denied him to our face. However, because the enemy’s strategy is to creep in stealthily, they will not try to deceive us into disowning him outright. They begin subtly, saying that some—or even all—of Jesus’s teachings don’t apply to us. So, they don’t yet deny that he existed, or that he is God, or even that he died for our sins; but they deny his right to teach and lead us.

If we are truly trusting Jesus for our salvation; and if we truly love him, then we will really hear him saying:

(John 14:15 NKJV) “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”

(John 14:21 CEV) “If you love me, you will do what I have said, and my Father will love you. I will also love you and show you what I am like.”

And we will heed the Holy Spirit’s doctrine:

(Hebrews 5:9 NKJV) And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.

NOTE: Because Jesus dealt fully with all sin, we could commit sin that we didn’t know about and still have a clear conscience. (For example, you may have inadvertently turned your back on someone in church, or accidentally walked on something you didn’t see.) But if we are conscious of having committed sin—and especially if it leads to a guilty conscience that hinders our full and bold approach to God’s throne—we need to apply 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness” (NKJV).

Today, I encourage you to make the most of the essential ingredients that God has provided to you to avoid deception: the new birth, the written word, and the indwelling Spirit of truth. That’s why John wrote:

(1 John 2:26–29 NKJV) “These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. {27} But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. {28} And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. {29} If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.”

P.S. When the Holy Spirit says through John, “You do not need that anyone teach you,” he is obviously not talking about the teachers he has anointed and placed in his body as part of the 5-fold ministry. That is, provided that the Holy Spirit is teaching through them. In that case, it is the same anointing that abides within you that is teaching. On the other hand, he is warning against anyone who is teaching his or her own ideas, or who doesn’t have the Holy Spirit teaching through them. In that case, the anointing within will be unsettling you with inner alarm bells; do not listen to them.