THE THREE STAGES OF END-TIME DELUSION - STAGE 1
READ 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12
The first phase for a person to experience strong delusion is Satanic Deception. Satan is the greatest deceiver of all time, and it is easy to see how any person could be deceived by Satan. The latter portion of verse twelve states, "...who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
The first phase (Satanic Deception) includes three steps. They include:
Loving sin rather than Jesus.
Rejecting the love of the truth.
Being deceived by sin (which is Satanically induced deception).
1. STEP ONE: Leading to Satanic Deception is: PEOPLE LOVE SIN RATHER THAN TRUTH.
That's how it all begins. The truth Paul is referring to in verse 12 is the truth of God's Word.
It is the truth about the existence of God Himself.
It is the truth about man as a sinner in desperate need of a Savior.
It is the truth about what Christ has done on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.
It is the truth about the terrible deadliness and deception of sin.
But this verse says that individuals sometimes will not believe the truth because they have pleasure in unrighteousness. That means they make a conscious choice. They choose sin instead of Jesus Christ. They choose the pleasure of sin.
The Bible very clearly talks about the pleasures of sin. We are sinners because we are born into this world with a fallen nature, we can choose sin.
Don't ever get the idea that everybody out here in this world, outside of Jesus, is miserable. They are not. There are some who are having a BIG time. They are living it up. They are taking pleasure in sin, enjoying their sin.
Deception, most often, is moral before it is intellectual. Many people get into an intellectual problem in their relationship with God because they have a moral problem in their relationship with God.
As stated in yesterday’s introduction, not only is it true what you believe ultimately determines how you behave, it is also true that how you behave will influence what you believe.
Those people, who reject the truth and do not believe it, and enjoy sin instead of Jesus, not only are sinners themselves, but they become pushers. They want other people to be sinners also. They want to get other people pulled into the web of deception.
So, step number one -- they love sin rather than Jesus, they have pleasure in unrighteousness. Satanic Deception.
2. STEP TWO: Which Leads to Demonic Deception is: REJECTING THE LOVE OF THE TRUTH.
2 Thessalonians 2:10(b), "Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved."
The devil and God have different agendas. God has one desire for man; the devil has another desire. Those two different agendas are revealed in verse 10.
God's desire for man is that we might be saved. God's desire for you is that you might be saved. The Bible says that He will have all men to repent and come to the knowledge of the truth.
The devil has an entirely different agenda. His agenda, in verse 10, is in the word, perish.
The devil wants you to perish. God wants you to be saved. The devil wants you to go to hell. God wants you to go to heaven. The devil wants you to be doomed.
God gets the Gospel, the truth of the Gospel, to an individual. Not a person can walk out of a Bible-preaching church and be unresponsible to God because you will hear the Gospel.
What does he mean here by the "love of the truth?" I think he's talking about the truth of the Gospel.
The truth of the Gospel is that Jesus died on that cross for your sins, and Jesus was buried in that tomb to put away your sins forever. Three days later the Lord Jesus Christ rose again from that tomb, and He is alive, real, and in this world, today, to save whosoever will come unto Him. That's the truth of the Gospel.
However, it's not enough to just hear the Gospel, you must receive the love of the truth of the Gospel. In other words, you must respond to it. You must receive it. The word, receive, carries the idea of welcome or to embrace. Have you embraced the truth? Have you said I do believe Jesus died for me, and I accept what He did for my sin payment? If you have received that, you are saved and going to heaven when you die.
Those who are on this downward spiral path of deception "receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved" (10b). Watch what happens. (Step 1) They love sin. They take pleasure in unrighteousness. (Step 2) Then, they receive not the love of the truth.
3. STEP THREE: Leading to Satanic Deception is: BEING DECEIVED BY SIN – vs. 10(a) "with all deceivableness of unrighteousness."
The word, deceivableness, means deceitfulness. It is talking about Satanic deception. That statement in verse 10 is tied in verse 9 where it says, “...whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.” The Antichrist will have a coming that will be after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders.
Counterfeit miracles. In the Great Tribulation period, those who have rejected the truth will receive these counterfeit miracles. They will fall for these counterfeit miracles. It is always that way.
When you reject God's truth you open yourself wide open for the deception of the devil.
That's why it is so serious for a person to quit coming to God's house to hear the Bible.
When you turn away from the truth, you are now open to deception. You have opened yourself up for satanic deception.
In the end times, during the Great Tribulation, Jesus said, in Matthew 24:24, there would be such counterfeit miracles, such counterfeit signs, and wonders, that if it were possible, it would deceive the very elect. If it would almost deceive the very elect, what do you think it will do to those people who have rejected the Gospel?
These are the three steps involved in being satanically deceived.
Your Friend and HIS,
Pastor Abbott
MEDITATIONS
1. What is your relationship to sin? Do you abhor sin, or do you enjoy sin? Do you love Jesus and hate sin, or do you love sin and do little with Jesus?
2. What part does the Gospel play in guarding you against Satanic deception? If you are saved, is it still possible for you to be deceived by Satan? Explain.
3. Describe how someone can be deceived by sin.
4. Do you think most people believe they can manage the consequences of their sin? Why?