"These I wrote to you [all] about the [ones] deceiving you."
-Most sins which we commit against another person are right out there for them to see. Anger, impatience, unkindness, selfishness, etc. But if I deceive you, you don’t know it. Is there any more pernicious, treacherous form of unrighteousness then when I am going to try my level best to convince you that you can trust that which is false, that my lie is true? That you can trust me (when in fact you cannot)? I am leading you down the primrose path, probably a friend, or person of influence, and you are going to trust my word. You come to trust me, yet you will regret it, cuz not only do I not have your back I am going to stab you in it. Yes, we call these people backstabbers. And it's a long, sinister blade they use, cuz it actually goes all they way to your heart. They fundamentally wound your trust, and can ultimately destroy it. In the process they have quite possibly convinced you to make some unwise decision, a fateful choice which you may regret. It’s double damage, especially because trust is not easily rebuilt.
-Trust is indeed a precious commodity. Aristotle said, ‘Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope". As we grow older, we give out trust more begrudgingly - or should? Life teaches us that, sadly, people cannot be trusted. Even Jesus was careful about putting His trust in people (John 2.23-25). He knows our thoughts, everything that is in our hearts, our every thought, our motives, our intentions. Are you aware of how Scripture over and over again states that He know our thoughts? Here are just a few passages - Acts 1.24, 15.8; Matthew 9.4, 12.25; Luke 6.8, 9.47; John 6.64; cf Genesis 6.5! And our heart is deceitful above all else (Jeremiah 17.9)! Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue (Psalm 120.2). Such a great prayer. How significant it is when Jesus can’t help but announce publicly when He first encounters Nathanael that here is one in whom there is NO deceit! That what Jesus says - John 1.47. How blessed is the man in whose spirit there is NO deceit (Psalm 32.2). Truly, this is to be a hallmark of God’s people, a people who tell no lies, no deceitful tongues will be found in their mouths (Zephaniah 3.13). In the meantime, in the world, the default position of man IS deceit. Deceiving and being deceived (2Timothy 3.13) and increasingly so, everyone deceives his neighbor (Jeremiah 9.5) and through deceit, they refuse to know me, declares the Lord (Jeremiah 9.6). They deceive themselves, and they might not even know it! What a tragic state, this. Sadly it can even be a fallback position for believers, and particularly for professing-but-not-really-believing "believers".
-So John is writing these true believers - and us - to warn us about these deceivers. There are definitely deceivers. They are out there. Misleaders. Charlatans. In John’s context, these are ones who have gone out from the assembly of believers, who are now saying that Jesus is not the way, that He is not the Son of God. And as is the case with most rebellion, it loves company. These anti-christs will no doubt try to get you to sympathize with them, go with them, to join in their apostasy. But they don’t really care about you. They do NOT have your back. They are just trying to reinforce their own shaky position. And if they can you get to go along with them, they will feel better about themselves. Many of these deceivers, so-called antichrists, have gone out into the world, ravenous wolves. Somebody needs to warn the flock to watch out! That’s precisely what John is doing. Be careful, brothers!
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