Escaping Deception — Aaron Hurst

Father, we come in the name of Jesus, and we thank you that where your people are gathered in your name, there you are in the midst. And Father, we ask that you would open our eyes that we may see Jesus, open our ears that we may hear the voice of the Good Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ, the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking truth to our hearts.

Bless this congregation, bless the visitors, bless each one that has come, Father. Lord, may we encounter you in a beautiful reality, in living reality, living truth, O God. Do not pass any of us by. Lord, I stand in need of you.

Oh, I need you, Lord. We all need you, Lord. We need your touch, Lord. All is vain unless your Spirit comes. And so, Father, we just look unto Jesus, asking in the name of Jesus for the living bread, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, the living Word.

Thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Welcome to each one. We're very blessed and privileged to gather like this this morning. Did you bring your sword? I have the Word of God. Amen. Let's open the Bible to 2 Corinthians chapter 11.

Paul's Warning About Another Jesus and Another Gospel

I had this message sort of simmering on my heart for quite a long time and felt like I would desire to bring a message today entitled, Escaping Deception. Have your Bibles opened to 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 1.

Would to God ye would bear with me a little in my folly, and indeed bear with me. For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if he receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear well with him.

The apostle Paul speaks of a fear that he has in his heart, a concern, because that very first sin in the garden with Adam and Eve, the serpent came to Eve with a very crafty, deceptive message. Why don't we turn there and read that.

Genesis chapter 3. Genesis chapter 3 and verse 1. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat, and the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.

You know, the devil comes as a roaring lion in 1 Peter 5 .8. He walks about seeking whom he may devour. He also comes as an angel of light in 2 Corinthians 11 .14. But he also comes as a deceiver, as a serpent to deceive.

And he comes questioning God. The authority of God. He comes questioning the nature and character of God, of who God is. Striking at the very core with question. Yea, hath God said. And Eve begins a dialogue with the serpent.

The woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

And so the serpent is also called a liar, and the father of lies. And the serpent lied very blatantly to Eve. The serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die. That same lie has been one of the devil's favorites.

You can disobey God and not die. You can disobey God and suffer no consequence for disobedience. In fact, if you disobey God, you will find that if you obey my voice, the serpent, if you follow what the serpent says, oh, you're going to find wisdom, you're going to find fulfillment, you're going to find real meaning to life, you're going to find life, you won't die.

You see, God is withholding something good from you because God knows that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as God's. The deceiver, the liar, is still lying today on the character and the nature of God.

And if he can get you to question the goodness of God, the wisdom of God, the authority of God, and choose your own way instead of God's way, the serpent, the deceiver. We haven't seen too much of the devil in America in these last number of years as a roaring lion.

Now, at times you do see that. But how many would agree we have seen that old serpent, the liar, the deceiver, as an angel of light? Have we seen him stick up his head that way? Yes, we have. Escaping deception.

Standing on God's Word Against Temptation

How shall we escape deception? Well, Eve began to reason and to question. And when she began that and began into a dialogue with the deceiver, the serpent, that was the beginning of going down the path to defeat and to sin.

What do you think would have happened if Eve would have stood on the Word of God and said, I believe God. God has spoken and God has said and declared it. And I believe God. Get behind me, Satan. Let's go over to Matthew chapter 4.

Escaping deception. The old devil, the serpent, appears in Matthew chapter 4. The devil. Matthew chapter 4. How shall we escape deception? Listen to these words. We have another day in which the devil, the serpent, appears unto the man, Christ Jesus.

Matthew 4. Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward and hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command these stones be made bread.

Again, the same tactic. If. Questioning the nature and the character and the authority of God. If thou be the Son of God. But Jesus answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

How shall we overcome this sly, deceptive devil? By believing every word that God has written and has spoken and has declared and by standing upon the promises of God. Standing on the promises of God, I shall not, I cannot fail.

Amen? Escaping deception. You know, the test comes to all of us. Will I trust God? Will I believe the Word of God? Will I believe the nature and character of God and stand upon the written Word of God?

You see, we are all tested. The great temptation and testing of the serpent is upon all of us. He is called in Revelation the deceiver of the whole world. And he walketh about in the earth, seeking whom he may devour.

He is after your soul, brother, sister. And we must be anchored in Jehovah, secure in the Word of God. As obedient children, hallelujah, standing upon the Word of God. Will you trust God? Now let's go back to 2 Corinthians again.

Holiness, Separation From the World, and the Bride of Christ

Chapter 11. Paul says, I am jealous over you. 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 2. With a godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, and I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. Oh, Jesus is coming back!

He's coming back! I just heard recently of a testimony of a person who's had some dreams of the Lord's return and is just so burdened that Jesus is coming and my friends and some of my relatives are not saved.

We don't need a dream to tell us that. But I do believe, the Bible says, that they shall be filled with the Spirit in the last days, and they shall dream dreams, they shall see visions. It's not wrong.

It's biblical. But our dreams must be verified and authenticated that they're true from God by the Word of God. I have espoused you to one husband, and I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. Oh, brother, sister, Jesus is coming back for a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.

The grace of God has appeared unto all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly in this wicked, evil world. Separately, we should be sanctified wholly unto Christ Jesus, a chaste virgin.

There's quite a few analogies in Scripture or word pictures of the man who says he's a Christian or the woman who says she belongs to Jesus, but then fools around with the world. James says in James 4, it's like the adulterer is an adulteress.

Don't you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? And so we try to mix this together. And just like this morning in our Sunday school class, we talked about the false prophets and the walls being tempered with an untempered mortar, trying to make it look good.

One of the brothers brought out in our class about that untempered mortar is like whitewash. You ever hear of whitewash? They whitewash the barn, you know. And wow, you whitewash them boards and you go over that old barn with whitewash, you can make it look pretty good.

But if you'll come along with a pick and start checking the soundness of the boards, some of those boards are rotted and they're not sound. Untempered mortar is like putting whitewash over it. But inside there's carnal lust, there's pride, there's lying, selfishness, all manner of things.

As our brother Daniel shared this morning, the devotional, we're living and moving after the flesh, but oh, we whitewash it on Sunday morning and it all looks so nice. Oh no, we're not fooling around like a harlot with the world on Sunday morning.

We're sitting in church nice and straight and clean. What would you think if you were to bridegroom and you're about to be wed and your chaste virgin is fooling around with other men? Oh, brother, sister, how sad that anyone who names the name of Christ is not departing from iniquity.

He that nameth the name of Christ, let him depart from iniquity. Let him depart from sin. Let him depart from his own way. Let him love God with all of his heart. A passionate love for God with all the mind, soul, and strength in being.

This is the first commandment, my brother, my sister, and then to love your neighbor as yourself. You know, a true mark that you're a child of God is your departing from iniquity. You name the name of Christ, you love God, you will loathe sin.

You won't excuse it. You will loathe it. And you will want to depart from it. And when you sin, it grieves your heart. You don't just smile and smirk about it. It grieves your heart. And you are sorry with a godly sorrow.

And you repent and turn away from sin. That grieves my Savior. It's a spot upon my life. I am jealous, Paul said over you, Corinthians, you who name the name of Christ in Corinth. I am jealous over you, lest by any means as a serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus.

And you begin to entertain philosophies of men. Better your life. Improve your life. There are myriads and multitudes of those kinds of teaching today. Positive thinking. The power of the positive thought and all of that.

But alienated from Christ. I believe in the power of believing. Faith in God. But it's very different from positive thinking in what this man can do. I don't pull myself up by my own bootstraps. I don't conquer by my own strength.

But I have a mighty God. A mighty Savior who is able to deliver and save to the uttermost all those that will come to God by Him. Ah, do you know Him? Is He your Savior? Has He delivered you from this present evil world?

And is He continuing to deliver you from this present evil world? I fear lest a serpent beguile Eve in his subtlety so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preaches another Jesus who am not preached, or he receive another spirit who am not received, or another gospel he have not accepted.

Rejecting the False Gospel and Easy Believism

I have to say this today. I have to warn you. There is another Jesus being preached today. There is another Jesus being preached. And He's not one that asks you to take up a cross and follow Him. You just believe on Him and be so thankful that He died on the cross for your sins.

But there is no requirement of holiness upon your life. There is no requirement of you to separate from this wicked evil world in your conduct and in your character and in your everyday activities and all of these matters.

There's no need for self-denial. No, this Jesus is just a good buddy. And you just believe on Him and you'll go sailing right into heaven. Movie stars, idols of this world where they sit and watch them perform stunts and events and pay them millions of dollars.

You know, see our idolatry just looks a little different than Baal worship. But I challenge us today out of Christian love from a pastor's heart. Please, brother, sister. Jesus is coming back for a chaste virgin who has not defiled her garments.

She has made herself ready. She's dressed in white. She's longing to see her bridegroom. She's not fooling around. No, she's no adulteress. She's not a fornicator with this world. She loves Jesus, the real Jesus.

How shall we escape deception? One day the disciples came to Jesus and said, when's the end of the world going to be anyway? When's the culmination of all this going to come together? Matthew 24. Why don't you turn there?

Matthew 24. They asked Him a number of questions concerning the end of the world, the end of the age. Matthew 24, verse 3. They sat upon the Mount of Olives and disciples came to Him privately saying, tell us when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of thy coming and the end of the world?

And Jesus answered and said unto them, take heed that no man deceive you. Very first words out of our Lord Jesus' lips concerning the last days, the end of the age, the end of the world, the sign of your coming is take heed that no man deceive you.

For many shall come in My name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many. Deception. Last days deception. Dropping down to verse 11, many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive a few. Did I read that correctly?

No, they shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of a few shall wax cold. The love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. Hallelujah!

Hearing is the patience of the saints. They hold fast, obedient to Jesus Christ, steadfast unto the end. In fact, if we go over to verse 21, then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world unto this time, no, nor ever shall be.

And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. Praise God for that. God knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation.

He knows when it's enough. And He will not allow the devil to destroy the Christian people to where there's no remnant left. He says those days are going to be shortened. Brother, sister, if you are walking faithfully with Jesus Christ today, He will keep you in the hour that shall come upon the whole world to try the whole world.

He will keep you in that hour. But if we're fooling around with the world today and we're living in complacency and lukewarmness and indifference and in pleasures and choked with the cares of life, I don't know I can guarantee you the promise that He will keep you in that hour.

Are you keeping yourself today in the love of Christ? Are you today mortifying the deeds of the flesh and of the body? Are you putting off the old man with his deeds, crucifying the flesh today? Oh, brother, sister, if you're walking faithfully with God today, we can have the assurance that His grace that is carrying us through today will carry us through in that day.

Aren't you glad for that? How shall we escape deception? Listen to what He says. If any man say, lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders insomuch that if it were possible they should deceive the very elect.

Behold, I have told you before. False prophets, false Christ showing great signs and wonders. Wherefore, if they say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert. Go not forth. He is in the secret chamber. Believe it not.

For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. This will not be done in a corner in secret. As the lightning shineth out of the east unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.

So therefore, if they say, Oh, He came in secret. Don't believe it. Well, yeah, He's out in the desert. Don't believe it. I am constantly... I don't know if the word amazed is the right word, but maybe a little surprised of how people that profess to know Jesus Christ continue to set dates of His return.

And then they modify them. And then soon they finally admit while they were off they were wrong. Brother, sister, how shall we escape deception? Let's go... Maybe we won't take time to go there. I think this clock is stuck.

I don't think it's 10 of 10. Anyway, Jesus said, You shall know them by their signs and their miracles? No. You shall know them by their fruits. It is so important today in order to escape the deception, the great deception.

And there are so many Scriptures we could bring in. Jude talks about, they speak with great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of their eloquent speech and all these things and their hard sayings and all these things that they do.

But you will know them not by that. Matthew 7, 21 says they will perform all kinds of miracles in the name of Jesus. And then Jesus says, Depart from Me, I don't know you. You are workers of iniquity.

You will know them by their fruit. Do they live a holy life? Are they putting off iniquity? Are they preaching against sin? Or are they just preaching an easy believism and everybody is just going to heaven?

Warning! Warning! The false prophets will preach an easy road to heaven. No self-denial. No need to take up your cross daily and follow Jesus and die daily. The Bible says they will preach. It says they have taught in your synagogues and in your streets.

The Bible says they will say we have even cast out devils. We have done many mighty wonderful works in your name. So they will use the name of Jesus. But it's another Jesus. How shall we escape that deception, lying wonders and signs from heaven?

You shall escape by holding fast to the Word of Jesus Christ and to examine them by their fruit. Ye shall know them by their fruit. It's very sad. The mockery and the blasphemy to the name of Christ by those who have professed Jesus and then later it comes out of an immoral life, of a lavish mansion they lived in with golden faucets and whatever from the monies they took of the people.

And so with faint words, fair speeches, they make merchandise of the people and tell them, sow a seed of faith by giving of your pension check, your Social Security and rob widows' houses. It's awful.

Oh, the Judgment Day is going to be an amazing, awful day when all these things are reckoned. But brother, sister, how shall we escape? We shall know them by their fruit. There is another Gospel. And I could say so many things.

Old Covenant principles being brought forward. Deuteronomy 28. Health and wealth Gospel. The prosperity Gospel. That's Old Covenant Gospel. Jesus said in the New Covenant, all those who will follow Me and walk after Me will take up a cross and they shall suffer persecution.

Oh, and they shall receive eternal life. Glory! Yes. But houses and lands and wealth and health, not guaranteed. But God did give gifts to His church. He did give gifts of healing and miracles and so forth.

And I'd long to see more of the supernatural revelation of God in our midst. And I believe God will show Himself strong where the people are humble, and will obey God. Oh, brother, sister, let's not sell ourselves up short.

But you will not be able to recognize and tell whether a man is true or not by his giftings and by his works of miracles and so forth. Ah, you will know him by his fruit. Yes. Well, let's go to 1 John 4.

Testing Spirits and Discerning False Prophecy

Escaping deception. We do not need to be afraid of the devil. But we need to have a reverential godly fear in our hearts of God. 1 John chapter 4. Are we okay yet? I know this is a sobering serious message.

1 John 4 verse 1. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby we know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come into flesh is of God.

And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ has come into flesh is not of God. And this is that spirit of Antichrist. Wherever you have heard that it should come, and even now already, is in the world.

I think we'll stop reading there for a moment here. Beloved, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits. I've been in a few situations in my life where my involvement also, along with others, but such a hunger and desire to hear God speak.

Such a desire for revelation. And so when a supernatural word came, you just take it as from God because, wow, this is spiritual. No man did this. This must be God. I remember in one instance, this person was made to believe that God revealed some deep secret to them.

Had some inside knowledge that others don't have, whether by dream or by some word that came. Began to wonder, why was I given this revelation? What do I do with this? I'm not sure if it's safe to share it with anyone.

I fear what might happen. This one case that I know of very well. In fact, the Spirit warned the person that if you share it with the pastor, they won't understand. If you share it with your parents, they won't understand.

In fact, if you share it with your elders or your parents, you'll be rejected. And you must not disobey this revelation. This revelation is from God. If you disobey this revelation, you will quench and grieve the Holy Spirit.

And so there's two responses when this happens to an individual. And I saw them both in my lifetime. I'm only 61, but I saw these both. Two responses. One is the person becomes fearful because they have this revelation that God gave to them.

God, in quotes, gave to them. And they can't share it. Maybe only with a few peers who understand. Who also maybe got some revelation as well. And so we share it just amongst a few peers. And so they become weighed down with heaviness and confusion.

They begin to feel an alienation from the body of Christ, from their parents, from their pastor, because I'm carrying this revelation. And sometimes the revelation is quite out there. It's like God showed me something about my church or something about my elder or something about people in the church.

But I can't share it because that would be misunderstood. And so they begin to feel alienated from the body. And they begin to seclude themselves and just them and God and their revelation and maybe a few peers.

And I must bear this burden alone. And some people have really become depressed and discouraged and lost their way. The other response is this one. And I've seen this one also. I heard from God. God spoke to me.

I must be very special. God showed me hidden things, secret things. I must be very special. And pride begins to creep into the heart and puff them up. And they say, I must be obedient to the revelation no matter what my pastor, no matter what my parents, no matter what any brother or sister would say to me, no matter what Scripture they bring to me.

I must be obedient to the revelation. And they do to their own destruction. Though clearly in the Word of God it will expose that prophecy, that revelation as false by the Word of God. But pride is an awful thing.

And I will not hear. So why do I share all this? I share this because I love you and I care for you. When God gives me a dream or a revelation, the first thing the Bible tells me, when I receive something from a spirit, it says, believe not every spirit.

But try the spirit. There is a lot of wickedness going on, a lot of iniquity happening under the guise of, oh, but the Holy Spirit is making us do this. The Holy Spirit is in control. And it is very sad.

I do not want you to be deceived. How shall you escape that deception? By standing upon the written Word of God just like Jesus did. It is written. And by immersing and bathing ourselves in the Word of God so that we know the truth.

And when we know the truth, the truth will expose the lie. Ah, that is the devil, that liar. You know, it is very good. The Bible does not say for nothing, know those who labor among you. Know them. Know their life.

Know their fruit. Know their conduct, their walk of life. And today's age, you can get all manner of biblical teaching from all corners of the world so quick, just by the push of a couple of buttons. And I am not opposed.

I am not saying we have a monopoly on God and the only person you should ever listen to preach is Aaron Hearst. I am not saying that. There are godly men and godly women who have suffered and have walked with Jesus and are sincere, real Christians.

But I tell you, it is really good to check out their lives before you just listen. Because sometimes I have been very disappointed, I think is the proper word, disappointed to find out this person later came out as gay.

But he was writing Christian songs, singing Christian lyrics, but now he comes out gay. It is very important, brother, sister, to know the life who you are listening to. To know their life message. I could say a whole lot more there, but I want the Holy Spirit to interpret to us.

Loving the Truth to Escape Strong Delusion

However, I do want to be faithful. Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians 2. We will close here very shortly, I believe. I feel like the Lord is bringing it to a close here. Escaping deception. 2 Thessalonians 2.

For sake of time, we are going to just drop in. Verse 7. 2 Thessalonians 2. Verse 7. The mystery of iniquity does already work. Only He who now let us will let until He be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming.

Even Him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. Why are they perishing? Listen. Listen.

How shall we escape deception? Because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. Brother, sister, we must love the truth. Thy Word is truth. Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee.

We must love the truth about God, who He is and what He says is true and tried and solid and it will never fail. Heaven and earth will pass away. God's Word will never fail. It will never pass away. But we must not just stop there.

We must love the truth. When the Holy Spirit of God speaks to me and says, Aaron, that was a prideful thought. That was very selfish of you, Aaron. When the Holy Spirit speaks into my heart and life about my sin, I must love the truth and embrace it and repent.

I believe, according to Scripture, if we will do this one thing, the other things will be added and we will be protected from deception. To be lovers of truth. Oh, hallelujah! Acknowledging the truth.

Embracing the truth. And the truth sets us free from the wiles and the lies of the devil. Do you believe that? I do. I believe the Word of God is the authority that we have to stand upon and in the name of Jesus and the Word of God, we rebuke the devil and he has to flee from us.

Oh, but if I'm living in secret sin back here, you think the devil is going to flee? I don't think so. A house divided cannot stand. Now, did you hear what I said? Living in secret sin. I didn't say you somehow tripped and fell and you were grieved in your heart that you fell and you got up again repentant.

That's a whole different story. But I'm saying, you sitting here today, no, I'm a hypocrite! I'm living in secret sin! Oh, brother, sister, today, if you hear His voice, harden not your heart. Today! Today is the day of salvation.

Today is the day to repent. Today is the day to love the truth and agree with God. They perish. They fall to those lying signs and wonders that the devil does in the name of Jesus. Those false prophets, they fall to that.

Why? It says it right here, with all deceitfulness and unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. Brother, sister, he that endures steadfast unto the end, as Jesus said, shall be saved.

We must fight that good fight of faith. We're not going to go on flowery beds of ease. Oh, but the other gospel would tell you, yes, you'll get there that way too. Listen. For this cause, God will send them a strong delusion.

God. Do you hear that? That is very sobering. Brother, sister, if you love not the truth, God shall send a strong delusion to believe a lie. We asked that question in our Sunday school this morning. Do you think those false prophets knew they were false prophets?

Do you think they knew it? Well, here it tells us that if we do not receive the love of the truth, God sends a strong delusion that they should believe a lie. There's many other scriptures we could go to to confirm that, right?

I don't have to go to Romans 1 to confirm that. God gives them over to delusion, to reprobation, because they do not want to receive the truth of God. They should believe a lie that they might all be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Who will be deceived? Those who receive not the love of the truth. Brother, sister, this is no game. This is war. But the devil is not coming like a roaring lion if you don't quite see it as war. But it's war.