Ephesians 5:6 - Let No One Deceive You (11-20-11)

Ephesians 5:6 - "Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience."

Satan will often use other people to try and deceive us. Aside from the exhortations that say "do not be deceived." we're also given the exhortation to "let no one deceive you." The verse that directly proceeds this verse reads - "For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God." You remember that we were told in First Corinthians 6 - "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God." There it says do not be deceived about who will enter the kingdom of God. Now we're told "Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience." The unrighteous will not enter the kingdom of God but rather the wrath of God will come upon them. The wrath of God is an unpopular subject, and there are people in this world whom the devil has deceived into believing that everyone is going to get to heaven. And after being deceived about this they turn and deceive others. If you preach the truth about the wrath of God you aren't going to attract much of a crowd, because that's not what people want to hear. So they heap up teachers in accordance with their own lust to tell them what they want to hear, they turn their ears away from the truth and are letting them self be enticed by fables. They have let themselves be deceived concerning the wrath of God. There are preachers today with a brand of so called "Christianity" who are attracting large crowds by preaching messages and writing books which distort Scripture by claiming that God is just too loving to send anyone to hell. This is a heresy. This teaching contradicts Gods Word, Gods character, and Gods nature. And all those people who have been lead astray by those who preach this false gospel have not taken heed to this verse. People have been deceived with empty words because they don't know the Word of God. We need to have an understanding of the word of God so that when someone is teaching us we will know whether it is the truth or not. And the only way to
have a clear understanding of Gods word is to prayerfully spend time study it. There are all kinds of beliefs out there that sound very convincing and are pleasing to the ear, but they are contrary to sound doctrine. Paul says in Colossians 2:8 - "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ." Spend time in Gods word. Spend time gazing on the person of Christ and talking to Him that you may be strong in the things of the Lord, and that you may not be deceived by the teachings of ignorant men.

Colossians 2:4 - "I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument."