Don't be deceived

Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words.  – Colossians 2.4

Deception for God's people is nothing new. In fact it has been around since the very beginning. The very first thing I think about here is a scene in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve had just been created and given instructions that they were free to eat from any tree except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

So what happens? Satan, the great deceiver, shows up to try and turn them away from God. He appeals to their pride and their lust and their desires. He cast doubts on what God had said. He makes them wonder if what God said is really true.

And he wins. He deceives them so that they turn away from what God told them.

The sad things is that deceivers have been around ever since, and just like Satan in the garden they try to turn us away from the truth with persuasive words. Most of the time they don't launch a full frontal assault. The false teachers are not going to come to us and deny God or, normally, openly attack our doctrine or theology.

Instead they use nice, polite, even kind sounding persuasive words to draw us away from the truth. They try to make their teaching sound logical and helpful and even beneficial and godly.

We are going to see that these false teachers Paul writes about are trying to burden us down with rules and laws and restrictions on our liberty.

There are several Bible warnings about the deceivers. We do well to pay heed to those warnings.

Don’t be deceived by the smooth talkers. They are subtle and persuasive. Get grounded – and that’s our topic for tomorrow.