Deception (Part 01) – Deceitfulness is in Our Nature

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I.       Definitions

1. Deception – 1. The action of deceiving or cheating.
2. Deceive – 1. trans. To ensnare; to take unawares by craft or guile; to overcome, overreach, or get the better of by trickery; to beguile or betray into mischief or sin; to mislead. Obs. (or arch.) 2. To cause to believe what is false; to mislead as to a matter of fact, lead into error, impose upon, delude, ‘take in’.  b. absol. To use deceit, act deceitfully.  c. refl. To allow oneself to be misled; to delude oneself.
3. Deceit n. – 1. The action or practice of deceiving; concealment of the truth in order to mislead; deception, fraud, cheating, false dealing.
4. The following words will also be examined and defined during this study: deceitful, subtlety, subtle, crafty, craftiness, beguile, guile, insidious, cunning, wile, delude, and sleight.

II.    Deceitfulness is wicked and is natural to mankind.

1. Deceit is a characteristic of the natural man (the reprobate, the wicked) (Psa 10:7 c/w Rom 3:13-14; Psa 36:1-3 c/w Rom 3:18).
2. Deceit n. – 1. The action or practice of deceiving; concealment of the truth in order to mislead; deception, fraud, cheating, false dealing.
3. Subtilty is a characteristic of children of the devil (Act 13:10).
4. Subtlety n. – 1. Of persons, the mind, its faculties or operations: Acuteness, sagacity, penetration: in modern use chiefly with implication of delicate or keen perception of fine distinctions or nice points. 3. Craftiness, cunning, esp. of a treacherous kind; guile, treachery. An ingenious contrivance; a crafty or cunning device; an artifice; freq. in unfavourable sense, a wily stratagem or trick, something craftily invented.
5. The children of this world are wiser than the children of light (Luk 16:8).
6. God hates deceitful people (Psa 5:6).
7. God takes deceivers in their own craftiness (Job 5:12-13).
8. Craftiness – The quality of being crafty. 1. Skilfulness, cleverness; aptitude in a handicraft. Obs. (last used in 1440) 2. Artfulness in deceiving or overreaching.
9. Crafty adj. – 1. Strong, powerful, mighty. rare. (last used in 1340) 3. In bad sense (the current use):  a. Of persons or their faculties, etc.: Skilful in devising and carrying out underhand or evil schemes; cunning, artful, wily.
10. God will cut off early deceitful men (Psa 55:23).
11. As it is with all other sinners, there is still hope for the deceitful man if He is the object of God’s grace (Pro 29:13).
12. Deceit is found in our hearts by nature (Mar 7:21-23).
13. But deceit should not be found in a Christian.
14. There is no guile in the spirit of a justified man (Psa 32:1-2; Rev 14:4-5).
15. Guile – 1. Insidious cunning, deceit, treachery.
16. Insidious – Full of wiles or plots; lying in wait or seeking to entrap or ensnare; proceeding or operating secretly or subtly so as not to excite suspicion; sly, treacherous, deceitful, underhand, artful, cunning, crafty, wily.
17. There is no guile in a good man (Joh 1:47).
18. Jesus Christ is our example: no guile was found in His mouth (1Pe 2:22).
19. The apostles were also examples of men who used not deceit and guile (1Th 2:3).
20. When a man becomes a Christian he should lay aside all guile (1Pe 2:1).
21. If we want to live a good life we must keep our tongues from speaking guile (1Pe 3:10).
22. In a society full of deceit and guile, even church members can fall prey to it (Psa 55:11-14).
23. Deceit is a sin for which a Christian will be excluded from church membership (Rom 1:29).
24. We should not tolerate deceitful people in our house or in God’s house (Psa 101:7; Psa 24:3-5).