Don't Let Anyone Take Your Crown - Tim Conway

The apostle is clearly
indicating that false teachers

are involved in this
"every wind of doctrine"

and that spiritual children
are especially vulnerable.

But keep reading.

"By craftiness and deceitful schemes,"

or "in cunning craftiness

lying in wait to deceive,"

or "deceitful plotting"

or "deceitful scheming."

That word "scheming," "schemes."

You know it only shows up
one other time in Scripture -

right here in this epistle

where Paul says this:

"Put on the whole armor of God

that you may be able to stand

against the schemes of the devil."

Here's the thing about a scheme,

or plotting,

it's intentional.

They know what they're doing.

Do you know several years ago,

I preached on each one of
those churches in Asia Minor

that come out of Revelation 2 and 3.

I preached some of those over
and over throughout the years.

I just brought up the
church at Philadelphia

to the brethren up there at Fond-du-lac.

I'm reminded all over again,

there's a very haunting statement

said by the Lord to those at Philadelphia.

Listen to these.

"I am coming soon.

Hold fast what you have

so that no one may seize your crown."

We can just read that.

Yes, you know, I see it. I hear it.

"...So that no one may seize your crown."

Do you ever stop and think

why would He say that?

Why does He look at His people and say,

"You better watch out

that nobody seize your crown"?

That's an odd thing to say.

Unless of course

there are people running around

and there are people in
the crowd real close to you

who are crown seizers.

And that would be a healthy warning.

Remember, they know what they're doing.

There's craftiness.

And you know what Scripture says?

There's these men who it says

"through the insincerity of liars

whose consciences are seared."

You've got people around you -

they're liars.

Oh, and the picture is
they infiltrate the church.

They're here among us now.

They're liars.

And see, we can look at somebody and say

how could they be so bold?

Listen, you have to hear
what's said there.

Their consciences are seared.

You get people around you that can't feel.

They don't care if you go to hell

because they can't feel.

They don't feel any sympathy for you.

But you know what it says?

It says that in the later times,

you're going to have these people

that depart from the faith.

And it says they're going to be devoted

to deceitful spirits and
the teachings of demons.

Even if men's consciences are seared,

even if there's an ignorance aspect

to some of the things that people do,

you can know this:

There are spirits and demons
behind these things.

And even if men sometimes are ignorant

and don't know what they're doing

or their consciences are so seared

they can't feel what they're doing,

I'll tell you this, the demons know
exactly what they're doing.

When you get to chapter 6,

that's where it talks about
the schemes of the devil.

And this is the thing about being novice.

This is the thing about not knowing
how to handle the Scriptures.

This is the thing about
being a child spiritually.

There is a danger.

And when you hear about cunning

and craftiness and deceitful schemes,

when the Lord says to His church -

and this was a healthy
church at Philadelphia -

"Beware that nobody take your crown..."

There are people who by scheme and plot

are reaching for it.

That's the picture in Scripture.

And the warnings are profuse.

Constant warnings against

this kind of particular
danger throughout Scripture.

Didn't Jesus Christ say it?

Matthew 7 - we know there on
the Sermon on the Mount.

He said "beware of false prophets." Why?

Why must you beware?

Don't fall to sleep. Why?

Because they come to
you in sheep's clothing,

but inwardly they're ravening wolves.

Do you know what that means?

You see what's so difficult about this?

We hear about crown stealers.

And you envision this
really ugly, scary guy

and he's reaching for it.

It's like the guy you meet in the dark

that you'd never want to meet in the dark.

But that's not what they look like.

They come in sheep's clothing.

They look like a Christian.

In fact, you may remember
me saying in the past,

Lloyd-Jones was quite convinced

that it's the guy rough around the edges

and the guy that's ugly
that is usually God's man.

You get people - they look good.

They look good.

The problem is these people have names

and they're often friendly and likable

and at least externally,
they're nice guys.

They're attractive.

Listen, the devil is behind these people

and he wants to take your crown

and he wants to damn your soul.

And while we're children,
we're vulnerable.

This is why you need
to grow up out of this

because we're vulnerable.

But inside, they are ravenous.

They have faces and they have names

that you associate with Christianity.

You associate with going
to church on Sunday.

You call them brother!

But I'll tell you what,
eternity will show.

When the veil is pulled back,

you're going to be startled
by some of the people.

And they knew what they were doing.

Or the demons behind them,
they full well knew

what was going on.

And you know where they are?

They're in here.

They're on the Internet.

They're on Facebook.

They're on YouTube.

They're on the radio.

Spiritual infants -
they're the easiest prey.

These people look like sheep.

They're all around us.

This excerpt was taken
from the full sermon:

No Longer Children