What If You Are Being Deceived and do not Know it

Speaker A: Why? I didn't know it was Friday. It's for Friday, October 2, 2026. And today is National Smarties Day. You know that little roll candy that you usually only, only see at Halloween time or the Dollar tree. They have it year round at the Dollar Tree. Anyway, it's Smarties Day and they have been around since 1949. And here is the original flavor lineup in a roll of Smarties. The white is orange, cream, the yellow is pineapple, the pink is cherry, green is strawberry, purple is grape and orange is orange. Looking ahead to the weekend, Saturday, National Techies Day. You know those people who are into technology and seem to be able to know everything about technology. So Saturday's the day we celebrate you, if that's you. And Sunday is National 104 day. Referring back to the CB Radios and Truckers and you know, made popular back in the 70s, I guess it was early 80s with movies like Smokey and the Bandit and TV shows like BJ and the Bear. Here's some common CB radio terms. Handle means CB nickname. Smokey is law enforcement. What's your 20 is where? It's your location. And finally, the Rubber Duck. It's the lead truck in a convoy. There you go. Some stuff about the CB radios you never knew. On this day, October 2nd, back in 1895, the very first comic strip appeared in the New York World newspaper and it was titled Yellow kid on Saturday 10 3. Back in 1863, Abraham Lincoln, then President, designated the fourth Thursday of November as Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays because I like to eat so. And finally on Sunday 104 in 1675, Dutch mathematician Christian Hewers patted it. Patience. The pocket watch. There you go. Some useful, useful things you didn't know. And maybe I'll help you out in some tribute, tribute games someday if you're reading through the Bible with us. We're in. We've been studying about the, the history of ancient Israel. And we're in First Kings, chapter six through nine today, Saturday First Kings chapters 10 through 14 and Sunday chapters 15 through 18 of First Kings. I certainly hope that you, that you're reading along in these Bible readings here today. We're going to continue, I guess I could say continue talking. We've been talking about, about those who resist the truth. We've been talking about those who are, who are twisting the scriptures. We're talking about false teachings, false doctrines, and we're going to talk a little bit more about that today. But we're going to talk a little more today on the subject of do you Know you're being deceived? Do you really know what you believe? Do you know what the truth is? You know. You don't. You won't be able to tell the counterfeit from the real thing if you don't know what the real thing is. And that's what we're going to talk about today. We're going to be in second Timothy, chapter number three. And we're going to start in verse number eight today. And we're going to read down through verse number 17. Scripture says, Now Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses. So do these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further, for their folly shall be manifest unto all men as theirs was also. But thou hast fully known my doctrine. Manner of life, purpose, faith, long suffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium and Lystra, what persecutions I endured. But out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them. That from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God. And is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for. For instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Let's jump into this. We got a lot to look at today. We start off this. This section here, verses 8 and 9, looking at the ending of those who resist the truth. And. And the names Paul gives here now. Janies and Jambres. I hope I'm pronouncing that right. These are the traditional names of the Egyptian musician magicians that Pharaoh had used to directly oppose Moses. These are the names that came from Jewish traditions and writings. And Paul calls them out here. He says, now, Janies and Jambres withstood Moses. He's using that to give us an illustration, to give us an understanding that they were opposing God's power. These were men. And much like the false teachers that Timothy would be facing and the false teachers that we deal with today, they try to mimic the things of God. They try to make their ministry, make their teaching, make their way of life to close enough to the real thing that you think you're getting the real thing. You know, I like looking, looking on social media and one of the, one of the pages on Facebook that I like looking at is about Aldi, you know, the supermarket chain Aldi's and somebody. All throughout the day people will post a picture of something that they, they purchased at Aldi's and they'll say, does this taste like the real thing? Like somebody just yesterday posted a box of, of the Aldi brand macaroni and cheese shells and cheese. And the question they said, does this taste like the Velveeta shells and cheese? And you know, you, if you've never had the real Velveeta shells and cheese, then you don't know what this false or what does counterfeit one supposed to taste like. And that's what, what Paul is trying to teach Timothy here and trying to teach us here today that as we live in these perilous times, as we're living in, in these times, that that people are, are resisting the truth. We need to make sure we know the truth. We need to make sure that we're grounded in the truth. We need to make sure that we know the real thing so that when the counterfeit comes up, we don't fall victim to it. And that's what he's trying to teach us. He said. So do these also resist the truth? Just like these magicians of Pharaoh, these people who are, who are lovers of their own selves, These people that have the form of godliness but are denying it, these people that are never coming to a knowledge of truth. These people resist the truth. They want their own version of the truth. They want to control what the truth is. And it's not the way it works. Paul says these are men of corrupt minds. People that minds are, are not on the things of God. That's on their own bellies, that's on their own wants, their own needs, their own desire to be popular and reprobate concerning the faith. Which means that they're never going to come to the knowledge, they're going to continue resisting the truth all the time. But then he goes into verse number nine and he says, but they shall proceed no further. There's an ending to their folly. There's an ending to their resistance. He says, for their folly shall be manifest unto all men as theirs was also. Again going back to, to Jannes and Jambres, he says, we're going to proceed no further. The people are going to deceive no further. Why? Because they're folly. Their sinful choice to live as though God doesn't matter. Their sinful choices are going to be made known to people. They're going to be exposed as frauds. They're going to be exposed as false teachers. They're going to be their. Their doctrine is going to be exposed as false doctrine. And then we jump down to verses 10 through 12 and Paul is talking about what he has gone through. He says here, but thou hast fully known my doctrine, my manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions which came to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, what persecutions I endured. But out of them all, the Lord delivered me. And yea, all that will live godly, lie godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Paul is, is telling Timothy, he's known all these things Paul, about his life. Paul was like a mentor to Timothy. He took Timothy and he taught Timothy the Scriptures. He taught them and taught him how to be a pastor. He taught him how to preach the Word. We all need spiritual mentors. And God has blessed me in my life that I've had several mentors that helped ground me and shape me and continue to help, teaching me, helping me to grow in my faith. People like Pastor Chuck Hughes was the pastor that was the. That was at my church when I got saved, when I gave my life to Christ. And he spent many hours teaching me the Bible, teaching me how to study, teaching me how to understand Scripture. And then along came Pastor Jack McLaughlin and he continued that mentorship. He taught me how to preach. He taught me how to be a teacher of the word of God. He taught me how to do the work of a pastor. I've had other great men or another one that came to the church after that was Pastor Scott. He wasn't there real long, but he taught me and helped me continue to grow in preaching and continue to grow in service to the Lord. But then there's other men like my grandfather, who was. Who was a preacher at one time. He taught me things of the Bible and we'd sit around talking about Bible passages. And even my father today still does that. My dad today still is growing me and shaping me in my relationship with the Lord. We need spiritual mentors, and it's part of discipleship. You know, that's a big thing that's missing today is we don't disciple people anymore. We get them in the church, we get them saved, we get them baptized, we get them on the church rolls, and that's where we drop it, drop the ball. At we need to disciple people. We need to be teaching them, investing in them, so that they can successfully live the Christian life. And then he goes on, let's see, verses 13 through 15. He talks about how evil is going to get worse. Let's look at this. But evil men, seducers, shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But then he sees here in verse 14 and 15, Paul says, but continue in the things which thou hast learned and has been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. Paul is telling Timothy here, people are going to get worse and they're going to get worse and worse and they're going to keep deceiving people, they're going to keep leading people astray. But he says, but you, because I've taught you my life, because I've taught you the Scriptures, he said, you continue in the things which you have learned, which you have been taught, and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures. If we back up here to verse chapter one of second Timothy, in verse number five, talking about Timothy's legacy and the faith and how he had a. A strong foundation in his faith, he says, when I call to remembrance the unfeigned or unmovable, unshakable faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and in thy mother Eunice, I am persuaded that in thee also Timothy had a history in the Scriptures and Paul is saying, from a child, you were raised up in these Scriptures. You know them, you know who taught you those things, and you need to stay in those things. We need to stay in that. You know, I've told you before, if you hear a preacher come on the thing saying, I have a new revelation from God, I have a fresh word from God, you better start running. And finally, verses 16 and 17 is the importance of staying in the Scriptures. He says, all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness. I'm going to stop right there. All Scripture is given by God and it is profitable. It is useful in our lives for doctrine, doctrine, the things that we base our faith on. Scripture is useful for doctrine, for. For Scripture is profitable for reproof to expose the faults in our life, to expose those places we've missed the mark, to expose the deceptive, false teachings. It's profitable for correction, correcting those Things not only exposing it, but correcting it as well. Then he says, and for instruction in righteousness, instruction in how to live for God and how to walk for God. It's profitable so that the man of God may be perfect. Thoroughly furnished unto all good work, works. That's the importance of Scripture and why it is so important to get in there, study the Scriptures so that we can be thoroughly furnished. You know, I always tell people, when I first learned how to drive a forklift, that's my job. I load and unload trucks. And I remember the day I first got on a forklift. I had never driven one before. I've never seen one before, let alone be behind the wheel of one. But I got my license to drive the forklift. And my supervisor at the time comes up and says, all right, you got to drive the forklift today. The other guy quit. And I said, I've never been on a forklift. I don't know what to do. She says, oh, there's the keys. Everything else is marked. I got on the forklift. Not thoroughly furnished to be able to do my job. Fortunately, God doesn't hang us out like that. He gives us the word so that we could be thoroughly furnished. The problem is, when we get to things like reproof, when we get to things like exposing our faults, exposing our sin, when we get to those things and we get to the correction, all of a sudden we want to change it a little bit so that way it fits our narrative and it fits the way we want to live. It fits what we want to stand for. And there's a danger in that. If we go back and we're going to wrap it up here with this, we go back to Galatians, chapter number one, Galatians, chapter number one. I'm hitting every book but Galatians as I'm turning here. Galatians, chapter one, verse number eight. But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. If we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel. Friends, if you are hearing another gospel, if you are hearing false teachings, false doctrine, then know that it's not from God. What's our application for today? We need to crave, and we need to stay in the true word of God. That's where spiritual discernment comes in so that we can see those false teachings, so that we can expose those false teachings for what they are, so that we don't fall victim to that. False doctrine. Doesn't always look false. Sometimes it sounds spiritual, sometimes it uses scripture, and sometimes the person teaching it sounds sincere, sounds convincing, sounds confident. That's why Paul didn't simply warn Timothy about false teachers. He pointed them back to the gospel. Because when everything around you says this is the truth, you need something more than your feelings, your opinions, or somebody else's confidence. You need the word of God. The question isn't, do I know what I believe? The question is, do I know why I believe it? Think about that as you go through this day. And remember, get into God's Word and allow God's word to get into you. And then share that word with someone today. Have a blessed day.