Okay, well we're going to have
to start. Today, Lord willing, I want to talk about a great
delusion that exists in the world. It's a delusion that's so often
misunderstood. It's a delusion that's so often
very, very dangerous to our faith and to our souls. It's a delusion
that's prolific in this world and even more prolific more prolific in the false religions
of this world. Sadly, it's also a delusion common
in professing Christian religion, a delusion that even lies in the
flesh of every believer. Which is why I'd like to concentrate
mainly on the nature of this delusion or how it works in our
own lives today. because we're far more susceptible
to its influences than we actually think. So let's start by defining
delusion. It's a false belief or judgment
about an external reality held despite incontrovertible evidence
to the contrary. Occurring especially in mental
conditions, it's a fixed and false conviction in something
that's not real. So this is a topical sermon,
which means we don't have one text. So that's why I've handed
out those sheets. I hope everyone's got an eye
on them. It might help you from flicking through your Bibles
or just help you to keep up. Just make it easier for you,
really. Lord Willingham will finish in 2 Corinthians 3, but
first it's important for us to understand just where this delusion
comes from. Many in religion speak of a sovereign
God, and yet as soon as trials come, difficulties come, confusion
comes, they completely forget that our God worketh all things. only the good things, he works
all things after the counsel of his own will. Ephesians 1.11. So today, before we look at the
nature of how it actually works in the lives of men, I just want
to start with a number of scriptures that speak plainly about the
origin of this delusion and of God's purposes of using it in
this world. Remember, of him and through
him and to him are all things. Romans 11.36. So let's start
at Isaiah 45.7 and we'll just have a look at what the scriptures
say or what some of the scriptures say about the origin of this
delusion. God says, I form the light. and
create darkness. I make peace, and look at this,
I create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. In 1 Kings 22 verse 23, Micaiah
the prophet tells King Ahab, now therefore behold, the Lord
hath put an lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets.
and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee. In Job 12, verses 16 and 17,
with him, that's with God, is strength and wisdom, the deceived
and the deceiver are his. He leadeth counsellors away spoiled
and maketh the judges fools. And again, in Job 12, verses
24 and 25, it's a good description of a delusion, isn't it? We may not comprehend how these
things work, but we always need to remember that nothing ever
happens in this world apart from the sovereignty of our God. And
yes, even the bad stuff. In John 12, verses 37 to 41,
and we covered it recently in church, but John says, but though
he, though the Lord, had done so many miracles before them,
yet they believed not on him that the saying of Isaiah, the
prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed
our report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? So they believed not on him,
verse 39, therefore, They could not believe, because
that Uzziah said again, he, that's God, hath blinded their eyes
and hardened their hearts. And he did it with purpose. That
they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their
heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things
said Uzziah when he saw his glory and spoke of him. We're gonna
read a little bit more out of Isaiah 6 later on, but this leads
us into God's purposes in sending this delusion, in creating this
spiritual blindness in people. Look back at John 12, 37. They believed not on him. They rejected him. Just the same
way we rejected him in the garden in Eden, just like we reject
him so often in our own lives, daily. So in looking at God's
purposes in this delusion, we're just going to run through a few
more scriptures that fine-tune an idea of what's going on in
this world in regard to this. In 2 Thessalonians 2 verses 9
to 12, Paul Speaking of the religious deception
in these days says, whose coming is after the working of Satan,
with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish. And why do they perish? Because they receive not the
love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause,
God shall send them strong delusion, and again with the purpose that
they should believe a lie. Now that's the lie of Satan,
the same lie that is declared from pulpits all over the world
by professing Christian religion. It's the lie of works righteousness,
of being able to qualify yourself to enter the presence of God
through your own wisdom and activities. Verse 12. Again, part of that purpose that
they all might all be damned who believe not the truth, but
had pleasure in unrighteousness. Now we need to realize that that
unrighteousness spoken of there isn't just the open wickedness
of sin that we see so often in ourselves and in this world.
This is religious unrighteousness. These are people that are trusting
and promoting a trust in man's wisdom and man's works. And you know, the sobering thought
about it all is that God gave them up to exactly what they
wanted. So do you think if our sovereign
God sends a strong delusion that men can actually be deceived
or blinded to the truth? It's sort of a no-brainer, isn't
it? He's a sovereign God. So this, this is both a punishment
from God for their rejection of his gospel, but it's also
the natural outworkings of that very same rejection. In Titus 1 verses 9 to 11, Paul encourages Titus, and even
us now, you've got to remember these are letters to us now,
he encourages us to hold fast the faithful word as he had been
taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine to both exhort
and to convince the gainsayers. Gainsayers are people that contradict
the gospel, that act in opposition to the gospel, people that are
deceived, and people that deceive others for their own gains. Let's read on. Verse 10, for
or because there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision. These are people that profess
Christianity. The circumcision is a picture
of professing Christian religion today. These are good, moral,
caring, kind-seeming people and yet they proclaim law instead
of grace and they do it Paul goes on to say, whose mouths
must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, and houses there
can often mean churches. It means it infiltrates and influences
every member eventually, if it's left unchecked. And they teach things which they
ought not. Not when they're standing there
representing God. And the reason they do it, is
it for love of the brethren? No, it's for their own gain.
It's for filthy Luke's sake, their own gain, their own profits. In 2 John 7, for many deceivers,
deluders, deceptors are entered into the world who confess not
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. They seem to acknowledge Christ,
they seem to speak of grace, but the reality is that they
can't say that Christ finished the work of salvation or sanctification. And so as much as they talk,
they will in some way influence works righteousness. And no matter how nice they are,
Look what John says, this is a deceiver and an antichrist. They're very, very strong words,
aren't they? In 2 Corinthians 11 verses 13
to 15, for such, those workmongers, those people that bring works
righteousness to us as a way to enter the presence of God, Those workmongers, they're false
apostles, they're deceitful workers, they're transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of life. Therefore, it is no
great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness. And look at this, whose end shall
be according to their works. They preach law, they've been
given law, and they'll be judged by law. And the sad thing is
that judgment of law will be eternal. My main point here is that while
our sovereign God orders all things, he himself has no sin. Sin originates in the unbelief
and the rebellion of his creatures. So the responsibility for all
sin lies squarely upon the individual rebel and not upon our sovereign
God. Which is why to understand the
nature of this delusion a little better we need to go back to
where it's first revealed in the scriptures, in Genesis 3
verses 1 to 5. Now the serpent was more subtle,
more deceitful, more deceptive, again, than any beast of the
field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman,
Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the
garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the
fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree
which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, Ye shall
not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. And
the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die, for
God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes
shall be opened and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and
evil. The tree of the knowledge of
good and evil represents the glory of God in the Lord. and especially it represents
our personal responsibility for righteousness before our holy
God that comes with law. The very moment we ate of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we rejected the grace
of God that had actually sustained us both physically and spiritually. And then we took on responsibility
for our own standing before our God. That very same moment, we
died spiritually, just as God had promised in Genesis 2.17. And in that, we also lost all
discernment regarding the spiritual realm that surrounds us, especially
regarding how we approach our God. We were infected. with the same delusion as Satan. Look at Isaiah 14 verses 13 and
14. Now doesn't that describe the flesh of all of us? Five times he says, I will, just
in that. You see, man in this spiritual
blindness, he can't comprehend the holiness of God. He doesn't
realize the arrogance of entering into God's holy presence, robed
in the filthy rags of his own righteousness. He can't see the futility of
his labors. and he's certainly too proud
to even see the grace and the glory of God in the gospel. See, this delusion, it's a blinding
of men spiritually by the revelation of God, just like Paul on the
road to Damascus. To get back to Isaiah 6 verses
9 and 10, you know, this is actually Isaiah's first commission in
preaching the gospel, which is quite a surprise. And he, God
said, go and tell these people, hear ye indeed, but understand
not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people
fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand
with their heart, and convert, and be healed. It's gotta be
challenging to false religion, doesn't it? If God loves everyone,
and God makes a statement like this, it's gotta challenge the
heart of their proclamation. In Revelation 14, John likens
the everlasting gospel of verse 6 to a sickle thrust into the
earth reaping humanity. In 14, And I looked, and behold,
a white cloud, and upon the cloud sat one like unto the Son of
Man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp
sickle. And another angel came out of
the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the
cloud, thrust in thy sickle and reap. For the time has come for
thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he
that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and
the earth was reaped. You see this is happening right
now in the world. As the Lord continues to send
his gospel, his glory, it illuminates his
chosen children and it guides them to himself. And yet at the
very same time it blinds all others to his salvation, just
as he's always done throughout history. In Exodus 14 verse 9,
11 and 20, And the angel of God, which went
before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them. And the
pillar of the cloud went before their face and stood behind them.
Went from, sorry. And look at this, it was a cloud
of darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these so that
the one came not near the other all night. So this is just another
way that the Lord uses his gospel to protect us. But in doing so,
it just further reveals that gospel division that we read
about in Revelation 14. And as God retrieves his sheep
in this world by revealing his glory in his gospel, he blinds
others through that same proclamation of his gospel. So this is the
great delusion of the world. that men are naturally blinded
by the glory of God, whether it's in his law or in his gospel. And unless they experience the
grace of God, in their blindness, they seek to establish their
own righteousness by which they imagine they'll be able to approach
a holy God. And in that itself, They willfully
reject their only hope of salvation. So finally, let's get to 2 Corinthians
3. I know we've looked at the passage
a number of times, and I know there's a number of themes that
run through it, but I really can't think of a better illustration
in the scriptures of how this great delusion actually operates
in our lives today, even in our own church. In 2 Corinthians
3, 12-18, our Lord shows very clearly the nature and the subtlety
of this delusion, but he also shows us how to defend ourselves
from its dangerous influences. In the earlier verses, the Apostle
Paul makes a comparison between the ministry of the gospel and
the ministry of works righteousness. And in that, he shows a blinding
impact of God's glory upon nation Israel, physically. But then he applies that same
principle, showing how there's a subtle but powerful spiritual
blinding that takes place today, even in believers when they're
exposed to works, righteous law keeping. And remember, this again
is another book written to us, to believers. And finally, he
shows the only cure for such a great delusion as this. So
let's start at verse 12. Seeing then that we have such
hope, this is a gospel hope, a hope that the Holy Spirit administers
a true righteousness. through his gospel that equips
God's chosen children to enter the presence of their God. So
since we have this hope, we use great plainness of speech. We
just speak simply and clearly, declaring our gospel, because
it's a ministry of God the Holy Spirit. It's not a ministry of
men. It's a ministry that reveals
salvation, not hide it. Look at verse 13, not as Moses
would put a veil over his face. Why did he put a veil over his
face? Look on. That the children of Israel could
not steadfastly look to the end of that which is being abolished.
It's the law he's speaking about. The law is infinite and it's
eternal and we have no hope. There is only one end to the
law of God, and our gospel actually declares that end. See, it reveals
Christ, who according to Romans 10.4 is the end of the law to
everyone that believes. Our Lord Jesus Christ at the
cross of Calvary, he completely fulfilled God's holy law perfectly. And he did it on behalf of all
those he represented, all those he died for. He is the end of the law for
those who believe, and yet we fulfill the law daily by faith
according to Romans 3. Verse 14, but their minds, this
is Israel in Exodus, their minds were blinded It's a blinding
of unbelief. You can read it in Hebrews 3
and 4, it's in detail. For until this day, so from Exodus
all the way through to this was written, and even before that,
from Genesis 3 to this is written, until this day, there remaineth
the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament. See, law reveals God's glory
in judgment. And in that, at the same time,
it veils and blinds our minds from all spiritual discernment.
It turns us back to rely on our own self-righteousness. And where
did that begin? In the garden in Genesis 3. But look what he goes on to say,
which veil is done away in Christ. It's our only hope. Only God
in grace through his son can take away that veil, that blindness,
that delusion, that great delusion. And that's why we preach Christ
and him crucified, not law. That's why we preach free grace
and not obligation or responsibility. Verse 15, but even under this
day, even now in this gospel age, right now in our own lives,
when Moses is read, what he means is when law is encouraged for
any spiritual benefit, whether it's in our pulpit, whether it's
in our fellowship with one another, whether it's in our testimony
in this world, anything that promotes, works righteousness
of any kind, and the veil is upon their or even our heart. See, this veil is the spiritual
blindness of that great delusion. It's unbelief. And it's even
happening today. Do you believe it's that simple?
Do you believe it's that subtle? Do you believe that such a small
thing as trusting anything to your own strength can be so detrimental
to yourself and to others? Elsewhere in the scriptures it's
called yeast because it influences everything that it comes in contact
with. In Genesis 3, it's every man's natural disposition apart
from the grace of God. Look at Peter the Apostle in
Galatians. It was a small move. He showed
a preference to those of the circumcision and he led others. You know, it was a delusion,
but he was rebuked. God sent Paul to rebuke him. But if he can fall, what chance
do we have? But by the grace of God. Thankfully, in verse 16 to 18,
we're also given the cure of this delusion of self-righteousness
and unbelief. Nevertheless, when the individual
heart or the heart of the church as a whole shall turn to the
Lord, turn in faith, turn believing and trusting in the gospel again,
when that happens, the veil, this delusion, it'll be taken
away. Verse 17, now the Lord is that
spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty,
and saving faith brings liberty, liberty from all requirements,
in salvation and in sanctification. We just rest in our Savior's
finished work. Verse 18, but we all, all believers,
all those that have turned to the Lord, And this is how we
get our credentials to enter God's presence, that righteousness,
how we become qualified, given what we need. But we all with
open face beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord. That glass
is a mirror and they didn't have glass the way we have it back
then, it was polished metal. And one of the things about it,
apparently, was the more you looked at it and studied it,
the more detail you were able to comprehend. God the Holy Spirit's written this,
and look what He said there. This is like a mirror. When we
look at this mirror, what do we see? We're looking at the
glory of the Lord. It's our reflection, spiritually,
because of what He's done. And with our eyes fixed firmly
on our Saviour and His victory on our behalf, gazing at Christ
in us, our hope of glory, we're actually changed by God into
the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit
of the Lord. We know that John says we'll
be like Him in heaven, 1 John 3. But in 1 John 4 he says we're
like him right now in the world. Right now believers are one in
and with their Saviour. So this change, this transformation,
it's a spiritual revealing of what we are in our great Saviour. And as our unbelief and self-righteousness
gives way to simple faith, we begin to see ourselves complete
in Christ. As we continue to focus on Him
and His finished work, we begin to see ourselves in spite of
our continued falls and fails, just as our Father sees us in
His Son. and unblameable and unreprovable. And finally, we also see that
this is a complete work of God the Holy Spirit, not our work. Look back at verse 18 at the
end there, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. And in this, we
begin to experience a real comfort and a real security that only
the gospel can bring to our hearts and to our lives, no matter how
bad things are, which in turn changes our attitudes to this
world and changes its influences upon us and grows us in the grace
and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. May God give us the grace
to look away from ourselves, to turn away from trusting in
our own wisdom and strength, especially regarding our standing
in his sight. And may he cause us to simply
rest in his precious son for all things. And may he make that the testimony
of each of our hearts toward one another. Amen, let's pray. Heavenly Father, only you can
make these things happen in our lives, but we do pray that you
would just lift your son up and continue to lift him up, continue
to remind us of him in his scriptures, in the ways you deal with your
church, in the history of the church and in our relationships. Heavenly Father, just move amongst
us and in the midst of us and guide us back to yourself again
and again and again, as many times necessary. Just work mightily
in our hearts and our lives that we might be faithful witnesses
of a God who does all things necessary for salvation. And
Father, just keep us resting, resting on our Saviour. As we
come to communion, Heavenly Father, please guide us, guide our hearts
that we would remember. Make it a remembrance of that
experience where you revealed yourself to us and in us, and
you caused us to look away from this world and look away from
our own activities, our own wisdom and our own works, and to just
look to your Son for all. it desperately. We're a shocking,
fickle sheep. But I thank you that you show
us again and again that you do do it. You do promise these things,
Heavenly Father. You do fulfil these things and
you do them all for the sake of your Son. Father, we pray
in his name and for your glory's sake. Amen.