Proverbs 2017 bread of deceit
is sweet to a man But afterwards his mouth shall be filled with
gravel Now there are a lot of Ways that this proverb is true
a man that deceives Does so Of necessity I say that
of a fleshly just necessity bread is a necessity Physically and so it's compared
here to something That is either so much a part
of this man's character that he actually thrives on it he
craves it and I believe that's certainly true the scripture
says that Those that listen to lies and are deceived by lies
without God's grace, they love lies. They delight in them. Or also, and certainly also biblically,
scripturally true, is that one deceives in order to gain the
necessities of life, in order to profit from it. His occupation,
One of deceit his livelihood is Deceit and both are true when
it comes to a false preacher Which Bread of deceit in the sense
of earthly matters is one thing certainly Undesirable and there's
nobody So maligned and despised as one
who proves to be a liar. But many liars are successful
at it. The spread of deceit when it
comes to spiritual things is eternal consequence. And a false
preacher both delights in it and he's sustained by it. If
he didn't preach the lies, his livelihood would be cut off.
He loves them, he delights in them, he profits from them. He's embraced the lies, though
he may well know that they're not according to scripture. And that's, of course, between
them and God. I suppose some are legitimately deceived, Many
are not they know that it doesn't reckon with the word of God what
they say But they Nevertheless tell us for the same reason the
rich young ruler traded eternal life for the things of this world He walked away from the Savior
You know he didn't understand that he was God and Our Lord
confronted him with that specific issue, whether he's God or not. But though he didn't understand
that, of course, certainly in a spiritual way, he knew just
from, why did he come to the Lord to
begin with? He knew that the Lord could grant him anything
that he desired if he so chose. And yet he walked away because
he had much possessions. The things of this world were
more valuable to him than the truth, than the Savior himself. And so why would a false preacher
preach lies knowing that they're lies? Same reason. He values the things of this
world, the comforts and excitements of the flesh. This world could
give him same reason Judas sold the Son of God. He knew he was
the son He'd seen him do the miracles and still Took 30 pieces
of silver But hence the word bread in our
text to see itself just lying Can in no way be said to be bread? But it is This doomed man, it is his bread. It results in his
bread. It's what satisfies him. Deceitfulness and lies against
God is what, he's not satisfied with the gospel. Why don't people come to Christ?
Because they have no desire. They don't hunger and thirst
after righteousness because they have no spiritual life. That which satisfies is alive.
This bread, it says in our text, is sweet to this man. In Psalm
62 forward, it says, they only consult to cast him down from
his excellency. They delight in lies. That's
our text. They bless with their mouth,
but they curse inwardly. Psalm 4.2, O ye sons of men,
how long will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you
love vanity and seek after leasing? Which is lies. The religious organizations and
dynasties of this world are built upon lies. And those lives are
their bread, their sustenance, the lifeblood of their empires. Everything is based on their
lives. They're able to afford all of the trappings of religion, all of
the beautiful buildings and the luxuries of their religious domain
because Directly because of their lives because people love the
lies so much If they one day preach the truth One message That's that's Christ
crucified Their entire empire would crumble That's what we mean by bread
it's their bread it's the bread of deceit Another way our text is true
is that the bread of deceit coming from one man is sweet to another
man, which also we see. Not only is it sweet to him,
it's bread, it's wonderful bread to him because he himself and
his heart thrives on it, but also because it supports him.
But that deceitfulness that comes from him is sweet for others
to hear that don't know the truth of God. and even to men in general, it's
sweet. 2 Timothy 4.2, preach the word,
be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort
with all longsuffering and doctrine, for the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own lusts, shall
they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, They crave
it. The lies that the false preacher
tells are sweet to them. And they shall turn away their
ears from the truth and be turned unto fables. Part of the allure of the lies
is their disdain for the truth. Notice the order there. They
turn away their ears from the truth. They don't want to hear
what God said. They don't want to abide by Adam
in the garden. What God said was not ambiguous
in any way. But it was turned away from for
a lie. And once you turn away your ears
from the truth, the lies are sweet. And then our text shows in the
last phrase of it that the bread of deceit It's called bread because
it satisfies, it's craved, it's desired, it's sought after. People
love to be lied to. They love to be told if you walk
down an aisle, if you say this prayer, you're going to heaven.
Who doesn't want to go to heaven? And they'll stand up there and
they'll say, you can be sure that you're sure that you're
sure. You can know that you know, that you know, that you know
that you're going to heaven. All you gotta do is this right here. Who wouldn't take a deal like
that? You can go right back out and
never worship God. You can go right back out and
live your own life, live for yourself. Love mammon, serve
mammon, but you know that you know that you know that you know
that you're going to heaven when you're gonna die. Deceit, sweet,
fulfilling deceit, but only fulfilling to the flesh, not the spirit. So the deceiver, is deceiving
you concerning the bread. It's not only bread in the sense
that it's fulfilling to them and it's sustaining to them,
it's desirable to them, it's food, bread is food in the scriptures. So when it says meat, it's not
just talking about beef and pork and chicken, it's talking about
food, bread and meat are food. in the scriptures. But what they're deceiving you
about is the bread. Our text shows that. It looks
like bread. It sounds like, it smells like
bread. We love it like we would love
food, like we would enjoy food, like we would be sustained on
food. But one day later, It doesn't specify when. If God's
merciful to you, it'll be while you're still alive. But you'll realize it's gravel. The spiritual bread, the bread
of life, the Lord Jesus Christ, the bread of deceit comes with
his name attached. His word is in hand when they
deliver this bread. His word is quoted before it's
twisted. His word is used. This bread
comes appearing so bread-like that if it were possible, even
the very elect would be deceived. By the way, have you ever thought
about why it's not possible for the elect to be deceived? It's because they're smarter. Satan is called the great deceiver. And he came after Job. Why was Job
not deceived? Why did he not curse God and
die? That hedge that God put around
him. That hedge is Christ. If you
ever know the Lord Jesus Christ, No man can pluck you out of his
hand, not even you. And you'd be the first one to
escape his hand if you could. It is not possible. Again, Satan,
the great deceiver, and he came after Judas, didn't he? He came
after Simon. But why was Judas sifted as wheat
by Satan, but Simon was not? One reason, the Lord said, I've
prayed for you. The intercession of the Son of
God. And you remember that sweet smelling
savor went up to God after the blood was applied to the mercy
seat. In conjunction with that precious
blood. And when that which is taken
in and consumed, the false bread of deceit, is shown to be what
it is, we realize that it's gravel. Now, gravel is unpleasant, to
be sure, to have in your mouth. It's not even fun to walk on
it, much less have it in your mouth. But mainly, It's not edible. That's an understatement,
isn't it? You're not going to get any,
if you're starving to death, putting gravel in your mouth
is not going to help you. It's not going to help you. And the reason you eat something
is because it tastes good. I mean, you might go on a diet.
I was on a diet one time where you had to eat beets and cottage
cheese. I'm not real crazy about either
one of them. I can handle cottage cheese in a lasagna because it's
kind of like melts, you know, and you can't really tell that's
what it is. But I had to eat like a half a peach with cottage
cheese on it and I had to have beets. And I would rather not have eaten
that. Let's just put it that way. So
you eat that, all things being equal, which is pleasant. But the day is gonna come when
not only you're gonna realize that you're dead because you
haven't been fed. You have no spiritual nutrition. You haven't been, you haven't
tasted the bread of life. You haven't tasted that Christ
is sweet. And you're gonna realize that
in this life. And the unbeliever is gonna realize it one day when
it's too late. Those who are not the elect of
God, and we're gonna talk about that now. This is part of this
lesson too, the fact that this, how you gonna get
some of this bread? How you gonna get some of it? But that which is taken in, it's
unpleasant, and it's not edible, but only when God reveals what
it really is. You're gonna savor it, and you're
gonna enjoy it, and you're gonna say, what great bread, until
God reveals to you that it was gravel, it did nothing for you,
and you're not gonna like it when you find out what it really
is. You're not gonna enjoy it. It was a ruse. You're dead spiritually
because you were fed that which is not bread. Why do you give
yourselves? Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come
ye buy and eat, yea, come. Buy wine and milk without money
and without price. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread? Because to you it looks like
bread. You perceived it as bread, and so you buy it. You spend
your time and your effort and your very heart's sustenance
for it. Why do you spend your labor for
that which satisfyeth not? It's not gonna satisfy you when
you find out what it really is. Hearken diligently unto me and
eat ye that which is good. and let your soul delight itself
in fatness. You're not gonna get fat, healthy,
eating gravel. Incline your ear, that's how
you eat this bread, by hearing. And your soul shall live. And
I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies
of David. Now that text right there, Isaiah
55, talking about bread. That which is not bread and that
which is bread. And notice that which is true
bread is an everlasting covenant. An everlasting covenant. Not
a covenant decided on by you at some kind of makeshift altar. It's the covenant of grace imposed
by the Father, ordained by the Father, sealed by the Son and
His precious blood and executed by His Holy Spirit. When it says
your soul shall live, it's the Holy Spirit that regenerates. It's the covenant of God that
He makes. I will make with you. It's not
let's make a deal with God. He makes a covenant for us. with
his son and his spirit and he includes us in that covenant
and then one day he tells us about it. Christ's precious blood being
the blood of an everlasting covenant is not subject to man's will.
It's not of him that willeth nor that runneth but of God that
showeth mercy. Now there's a lot of people talking about bread and acting
like they represent the bread of life, but they would give
you a stone for bread. And I guarantee you that person
does not love you. They will be so sweet and personable
and flattering. So was the serpent in the garden.
He had a lot of nice things to say. He came as though he was
looking out for them. But the bread from heaven, the
true manna of life said this, if a son shall ask bread of any
of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he
for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will
he offer him a scorpion? If you then being evil know how
to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall
your heavenly father? Give the Holy Spirit to them
that ask him. Ask and you shall receive. Blessed
are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, not the
bread of deceit. And thank God for a hunger for
that true bread if you have it. Thank God that nothing else will
do. By his grace, his sheep know a stone from a dinner roll. They
know, they know the difference. They know the sound of His voice
and only the manna from heaven can satisfy their soul. What
grace, what grace. And may we say as those in the
scripture did, Lord evermore, give us this bread. Amen, let's pray.